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14 - The local political scene

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 May 2011

Geraint Parry
Affiliation:
University of Manchester
George Moyser
Affiliation:
University of Vermont
Neil Day
Affiliation:
University of Melbourne
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Summary

Modern society is more mobile than at any time in the past. People move further and more frequently to find work and in the course of their employment. Many leave their home town to pursue further education. The wider ownership of private cars and the combination of greater relative prosperity and cheaper air travel have meant that more people take their vacations further afield and become aware of other lifestyles which would have been little known to older, static generations. At the same time, the interdependency of the world economy has meant that the lives and livelihoods of people in one country can be vitally affected by political and economic decisions taken in other countries many thousands of miles away. In response to these developments, central governmental power has steadily grown in order, in part, to counteract and regulate international forces. Still further, nations have recognised interdependency formally by entering into economic and partially political unions such as the European Community.

In the face of these trends, it may be thought that local society and politics have become of very little consequence. Yet this would be misleading. We nearly all have one home base and it is still true that for many people this area can remain more or less the same throughout their lives. People send their children to local schools, use the local shops, most live within a restricted radius of their work and have, perforce, to use the local transport facilities.

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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 1992

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