This book provides academics, students, practitioners, journalists and others with a broad-ranging yet detailed account, not just of how local government actually works, but also the main political issues and debates surrounding its multi-faceted roles in contemporary Scotland.

Allan McConnell is Senior Lecturer in Public Policy at the University of Sydney. He is author of The Politics and Policy of Local Taxation in Britain (1999) and State Policy Formation and the Origins of the Poll Tax (1995).