This book fills an important niche in our understanding of scottish local government within the dynamic new context of the Scottish Parliament. It provides academics, students, practitioners, journalists and others with a broad-ranging yet detailed account of how local government actually works and the main political issues and debates surrounding its multi-faceted role in contemporary Scotland. It covers issues such as:

*The nature and purpose of Scottish local government

* The strengths and weaknesses of unitary authorities

*Modernization of political management arrangements

*Roles and remuneration for counselors

*Electoral reform and new methods for encouraging citizen participation

*The growth of non-elected local governance

*Best Value and the rise of the performance culture

*The politics of council finance: including business rates, Council Tax and PFI

*The wider context of central-local relations, multi-level governance and globalization

The book contains a wealth of facts, figures, tables and diagrams. In a supportive way the analysis draws on literature from the traditions of public policy, public administration and political science. The result is a modern and accessible analysis of Scottish local government in the context of devolution. A particular focus throughout is assessing the 'distinctiveness' of scottish local government compared to the rest of the UK, and addressing the question-to what extent has devolution made a difference to scottish local government?

Key Features:

* The only modern work of its kind-fills a gap in our understanding of local government in Scotland

* Accessible-offers the facts of how scottish local government works, combined with incisive political analysis

* Places scottish local government in the context of the Scottish Parliament, Westminster, the EU and an increasingly globalized world