Research and the Policy-Making Process in Local Government

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Abstract
The current state of local government research and intelligence is in part a reflection of the manner of its rapid growth during the course of the past decade. During this period, a large number of Units were established, with a bewildering variety of functions and a wide range of academic disciplines represented among their staffs. This expansion was in part a response to the expansion of the size of local government’s general responsibilities and, in part, the result of specific enthusiasm for new styles of policy analysis and the associated quest for rationality in decision taking in government. By the end of the seventies, the atmosphere had completely changed and the prospects for research and intelligence have become correspondingly bleak. Nevertheless, the need for well-focussed policy related research still exists: provided that certain well-organised traps are avoided, the research manager in local government should be able to survive, if not prosper, even in the changed environment of the eighties.

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