They start with a survey of the relevant theories, covering such topics as the New Right's free market ideas, public choice theory, and policy networks, as well as the shift to the “Third Way” with election of the Labour government in 1997. They provide a rapid run through the theories, and the main aim is not to engage in detailed theoretical debate but to explain the various concepts used in describing recent changes in the subnational government of the U.K.

Chapter 3 provides a brief history of local government in Britain in the twentieth century, covering such obvious topics as the various structural reorganizations and the financial reforms of Margaret Thatcher's Conservative government. Consistent with their argument that there is now a plurality of service delivery organizations in the locality, the authors cover not only local government but also changes in the National Health Service (NHS) and the role of both the private and voluntary sectors.

Chapter 4 examines community leadership. Local governance poses the problem of how to coordinate the multiplicity of local actors. Leach and Percy-Smith argue that the elected local authority is best placed to play this leadership role. However, its role cannot be limited to delivering services. It must speak for the community as a whole, accepting that there are other important players in the locality and drawing them together by creating a shared vision through the community plan. To do so, the local authority must develop its ability to create and manage formal and informal networks.

The next step is to examine the present-day health of local democracy. They find it wanting against the yardsticks of accountability, representation, participation, and responsiveness. Obviously, elected local authorities fare better than nonelected local bodies, but there is great scope for improvement for both types of organization. And if local government is to be modernized, Leach and Percy-Smith argue for a change in the culture of local authorities. They also want to see a shift in the meaning of local democracy to encompass “associative democracy” with its active citizens and participation open to all sections of the community.

Chapter 6 looks at the ability of local governance to deliver services by examining the resources at the disposal of local bodies. The relevant resources include land, personnel, and finance and less tangible resources such as legitimacy and social capital. The authors identify several problems: the complexity of local government finance, the lack of accountability of appointed public agencies, and the influence that local communities are allowed to wield over the use of scarce resources.

Public-sector management reform remains ubiquitous. It is inevitable that the book should run through the conventional nostrums that dominate thinking about service delivery in the public sector. Leach and Percy-Smith describe recent trends in market competition, contracting, quality management, customerfocused services, and performance measurement. It is a familiar litany. They also summarize the changes introduced by the New Labour government after 1997, which do not reject but build on earlier Thatcher-inspired reforms. It is mildly ironic that after two decades of change, the authors can still write: “It remains to be seen how they [local authorities] will respond to such challenges” (p. 185).

Chapter 8 examines “wicked issues,” such as urban regeneration, social exclusion, and crime. They need cross agency, collaborative working but, as important, they need new ways of policymaking. The new ways include joined-up government, a focus on outcomes, evidencebased policymaking, and engagement with communities. Leach and Percy-Smith are not optimistic. Multiplying reforms simply compounds the problem of integration. There is a dearth of good practice to share. There is an inadequate research base for evidence-based policymaking. There are also the ever-present difficulties of “defining problems, assessing interventions and measuring outcomes” (p. 209).

Chapter 9 broadens the canvas to look at governance above and below local government. Policy no longer emerges from the interactions of central and local government. Modern government is segmented and multileveled. What devolution to Scotland and Wales, the pressure for regions in England, devolution to institutions such as schools and hospital trusts, and membership in the European Union all suggest is a trend to greater complexity and more problems for local communities in influencing and setting priorities. Moreover, the drive for joined-up government contains the danger of centralization as the government stresses central, not horizontal, coordination.

Finally, in Chapter 10, Leach and Percy-Smith explore the future agenda of local governance as it confronts new technology, globalization, EU enlargement, and the erosion of its resources and powers. They continue to stress that diversity and multiplicity are here to stay. So, local authorities must devise new ways of working by embracing Third Way management with its affinity for networks and partnership rather than hierarchy or markets. They recognize that there are many obstacles to successful reform: lack of agreement on the problem and policy objectives, departmental barriers, and political pressure for short-term results. But they believe in the potentialities of local autonomy and in the need to reengage the public.

The best book on British local government remains D. Wilson and C. Game, Local Government in the United Kingdom (1998), but Leach and Percy-Smith provide a useful addition to the literature. The book's greatest merit is the distinctive emphasis on local governance. It also provides an up-to-date review of the relevant theories and applies them to local governance with many concrete illustrations. In short, it is an interpretative supplementary text. Its defects are that it provides expositions and illustrations of various ideas, rather than subjecting them to critical scrutiny. It also displays a too-easy acceptance of the modernizing agenda of the New Labour government. Although the authors note various problems, they remain essentially sympathetic to New Labour's project when the root problem with present-day policy is the distrust of local authorities. Network management and partnerships need trust and shared, negotiated aims. In practice, exercises in joined-up working, such as action zones, are predicated on local actors’ agreement with central objectives. The modernizing government agenda for local authorities has a centralizing heart. The reader needs to wear skeptical spectacles when assessing both theory and the reform agenda. Nonetheless, all serious students of British government will read it because it is a distinctive summary of recent trends in local governance.