Crisis Management: Toward a New Informational “Localisim” in Local Government Reform

The imperative of “think global, act local” takes on a pressing urgency in any strategic discussion of reforming local government functions and capabilities. A crisis management “literacy” would indicate a more comprehensive reform and re-design agenda for local government than is currently being recognized. This paper identifies a crisis management literacy appropriate for broadening and enhancing local government capabilities within a globalizing context. It identifies major reforms undertaken recently in Australian local government and, clearly, reinforces an awareness of the inadequacy of managerialist and economistic reforms undertaken from the perspective of managerial and governance capacities required to respond to identifiable vulnerabilities and predictable “creeping crises” manifest within local government communities. A new globally-informed “localism” is urgently required within on-going debates about the extent, and adequacy, of the reform agenda in Australia.