The Europeanisation of local government in Western Scotland, 1975-1997

Herbert, Stephen (2000) The Europeanisation of local government in Western Scotland, 1975-1997. PhD thesis, University of Glasgow.

Abstract

This thesis considers the impact of Europeanisation upon local government in the West of Scotland through analysing firstly, the response of Strathclyde Regional Council to Europeanising influences and the policies which SRC subsequently pursued to respond to these developments. The impact of European policies as a form of multi-level governance is also evaluated through research into the role of local government within two institutions established in Strathclyde to deal with aspects of European policy :- Strathclyde European Partnership and the Ouverture programme. Lastly, the impact of local government reorganisation upon SRC's successor unitary authorities to engage with European policy is considered.

The research findings illustrate that the process of Europeanisation has developed through a number of cyclical stages which has resulted in the development of changing and varying response from SNAs to European policy developments. The initial engagement of SRC with European Institutions occurred at an early stage as the Council attempted to discover new sources of finance. The pro-active stance of the Council resulted in financial benefits for Strathclyde but also an increasing engagement within SRC with European policy as the Council responded to the emerging Single European Market. This engagement also led SRC to attempt to utilise a variety of means to influence European policy. The research suggests that while local government was able to influence the European policy process this tended to occur where European Commission and / or member-state(s) interests overlapped with those of local government. While multi-level governance exists in Western Scotland, the key partners remain the European Commission and the member state.

• Item Type: Thesis (PhD)
• Qualification Level: Doctoral
• Subjects: J Political Science > JS Local government Municipal government; J Political Science > JN Political institutions (Europe) > JN1187 Scotland; J Political Science > JN Political institutions (Europe)
• Colleges/Schools: College of Social Sciences
• Supervisor's Name: Supervisor, not known
• Date of Award: 2000
• Depositing User: Mrs Marie Cairney
• Unique ID: glathesis:2000-3111
• Copyright: Copyright of this thesis is held by the author.
• Date Deposited: 12 Jan 2012
• Last Modified: 03 Feb 2014 16:34
• URI: https://theses.gla.ac.uk/id/eprint/3111