Local Government Reform and Economic Growth: A Case Study of Localism Act and City Deals in the UK

地方政府改革與經濟成長：以英國地方主義法及城市協議為中心

王保鍵(Pao-Chien Wang)

《中央警察大學警察行政管理學報》 11期 (2015/05) Pp. 157-178

摘要

英國1970年代末期以降，其地方政府改革歷程可分為「中央集權」（保守黨柴契爾首相）、「委任分權」（工黨布萊爾首相）、「地方分權」（聯合政府）三個浪潮。為實現「大社會」政治理念，英國2010年大選後的聯合政府制定《地方主義法》及「城市協議」政策，以推動地方政府改革。城市協議試圖將大倫敦地區以外的城市，轉型為經濟發展的火車頭；為達此目的，採行地方分權的改革途徑。而聯合政府所指稱的「地方分權」，係指將權力交還給居民及社區；有別於過去權力從中央政府移轉給地方政府的「委任分權」概念。本文之研究方法為文獻分析法及個案內研究法；而主要的研究貢獻為：（1）重新構建「地方政府改革」的概念：地方政府改革，除了組織結構及法規改革外，尚應有功能性的改革之思維（如改造地方政府為經濟發展的火車頭）；（2）引介中央與地方「雙向協議移轉權力」新模式：在雙向協議移轉權力模式架構下，取得權力的城市，也須承諾負擔特定的義務，調整過去的「單向下放權力」及「一體適用」模式。

關鍵字

地方主義法 ； 城市協議 ； 地方政府改革

並列摘要

The evolution of the British local government reform can be divided into three waves, which are the 'Centralization' (Thatcher government), 'Devolution' (Blair government), and 'Decentralization'(Coalition government)after the late 1970s. For performing the ideology of the 'Big Society', the British coalition cabinet introduces the 'Localism Act 2011', joining the 'City Deals' policy, to reform the local government. The main purpose of the City Deals is to transform the core cities, outside London, into the driving energy of the economy. The pathway of reform is the decentralization, which means giving power back to people and communities. The essay employs document analysis and within-case method as methodology. The contributions include:(1)rebuilding the concept of reforming local government: besides the structure and regulation reform, local government reform can focus on the functional reform;(2)introducing the 'two-way transaction' model: the city deals scheme brings the 'Two-way Transaction' model, which replaces the 'one-way(top-down) transaction' model and 'one-size-fits-all' model. In addition, the mutually beneficial transaction model, negotiated on the basis of 'asks' and 'offers', might be employed in Taiwan.

並列關鍵字

localism act 2011 ； city deals ； local government reform