Civic-republican theories of democracy assume that increased levels of civic engagement lead to good government and better public services. This paper tests this assumption by analysing the impact of civic culture on the rate of failure in English public services between 2002 and 2004. The...

The relationship is analysed between size, local government structure and administrative overheads in English local authorities. Size and structure effects are tested while controlling for a range of other variables, including the relative prosperity of the local population and the diversity of...