Unlike most UK citizens, I do spend many hours reflecting on the details of our governance structures and processes. What drives me to these issues, and gives them great importance for me, is a concern about how enfeebled citizens feel about their engagement with our political system and more broadly their lives in neighbourhoods and communities. Over the last decade and more I have worked with colleagues from Local Governance Research Unit, De Montfort University and the Institute for Political and Economic Governance, University of Manchester on issues of citizen engagement. I know the depth of understanding and insight they bring to the table so it's a pleasure to be able to support this book.

In a globalised and interdependent world it is increasingly challenging to offer citizens a direct sense of empowerment, which makes the importance of affording opportunities at the local level even more vital. This book is valuable above all because it recognises that if citizenship is going to be a living practice rather than a spectator sport for most citizens we need to create a far wider set of opportunities for real decisions to be made at the local level that people care about.

The 2008 White Paper Communities in control notes:

These figures suggest a gap between the local and the national sense of subjective empowerment. We are building on a stronger base at the local level but there is still a long way to go. This book offers us much valuable evidence about some the hurdles to be faced and how they might be overcome.

The Labour government since 1997 has been slow to recognise the importance of the issues of active citizenship. Its agenda for local government has been more managerial and focused on service delivery. And to an extent the agenda has delivered; local government is better managed, more strategic and more joined up than ever before. It delivers many services with efficiency and many of its practitioners have delivered real and imaginative community leadership. The trouble is that citizens have been largely left behind in this managerial revolution.