Expectations, assumptions and realities: Scottish Local Government post-devolution

This article seeks to highlight inaccurate assumptions about Scottish local government post-devolution. It is suggested that these have arisen due to a combination of expectations, ignorance, misrepresentation and misunderstanding of pre- and post-devolution developments in Scotland. These assumptions lead to implications not only for political actors in Scotland and the UK but also for the wider research agenda. The analysis in this article, highlights that Scottish local government was on a trajectory of difference and separation before 1999. Devolution has merely magnified pre-existing differences (McGarvey and Cairney 2008: 8). The research for this paper has been informed by a thorough review of key texts and journal articles in the field of both Scottish politics and local government in the UK over the past 30 years.