ABSTRACT
This chapter begins by examining the centralist tendencies of contemporary politics before analysing how intergovernmental relations have been, and might be, profitably explored. Economic development seems inevitably to lead to industrial and demographic concentration. In the unitary state the legacies of earlier reliance on devolved power has serious implications for national economic management. The nationalization of attitudes and culture has contributed to the decline in the significance of ‘place’ in politics and a growth in the significance of social and economic interest as the tie binding people together in pursuit of their political objectives. Governmental growth has been accompanied by the professionalization of the state and the growth of bureaucracies based on technical expertise. The proportion of public servants working in a locality employed by central compared with local organizations has also been used to measure decentralization. Changes in the type and extent of delegation to area governments affect the territorial distribution of power.
