Small Isn't Beautiful: The Case against Localism [Hardcover]

Eat local has become a popular marketing slogan in recent years, based on the idea that food grown or raised nearby is better for you and friendlier to the environment than similar products shipped in from many miles away. That slogan reflects a broader worldview suggesting that everything local, including government and knowledge, is better than what originates somewhere else.
Small Isnt Beautiful acknowledges that some things that are local are good, but denies that whats local is always or even often better than whats far away. Localism is based on an undeserved aura of respectability, virtue, and good sense and can produce results that are misguided or even dangerous. Particularly when it comes to public policies, decisions made at the local level are rarely superior and are sometimes unjust. Small Isnt Beautiful exposes the supposed virtue of localism as a hodgepodge of weak arguments and misleading hunches. Trevor Latimer's engagingly written and provocative book will appeal to all readers who want to understand localism beyond slogans and marketing.

Trevor Latimer received his PhD in Politics from Princeton University. He has published widely on topics such as political equality and plural voting, the principle of subsidiarity, Tocqueville and white supremacy, the presidential veto, sympathy and political representation, and the work of Adam Smith.

If theres one single book most localists wont read but should, its this one&. I could not think of anything he left out. If he had done nothing more than collect and organize the theory in this way, Latimer would have done localists a good service. But of course he has done more than that. The real added value is his exhaustive investigation of the assumptions and implications of each argument&. We should think harder about how to connect our underdeveloped views about jurisdictional issues with our overdeveloped views about the issues, and we should be willing to change our minds abol“Ë