Are there Tensions between Democracy and Efficiency in Local Government? A Conceptual Note on the Structural Reform Debate

The literature on local government reform has seen a vociferous and ongoing debate surrounding the merits of compulsory structural change through local council consolidation. A central theme in the local government amalgamation debate centres on potential trade-offs between the economic efficiency of local government and the vibrancy of local democracy. This review develops a simple conceptual schema for deconstructing and differentiating between alternative views on the relationship between local democracy and local efficiency. It is argued that three different views can be identified in the scholarly literature, together with an as yet unarticulated fourth view.