ABSTRACT
Hardly any politician ever considers whether large and congested cities are compatible with political liberty and a society which will continue to respect the individual or whether they will ultimately produce 'other-directed men', as David Riesman has called them, worshipping the mass. The great error has been for intellectuals to assume that a society geographically organized to suit their own needs will be the one to provide the ideal environment for the great majority of men who do not breathe rarefied intellectual air. Anyone who remains sceptical of the argument so far should consider one other non-economic reason for geographical decentralization—the virtual elimination of live Local Government and the evolution of a one-tier system of national Government. Geographical decentralization is more likely to be effective if accompanied by administrative decentralization. Policies in matters bearing on administrative or geographical decentralization, unless there are important reasons to the contrary, should be fashioned.
