Understanding Governance

Understanding Governance

"Understanding Governance" asks: what has changed in British government over the past two decades, how and why? Why do so many government policies fail? What does the shift from government to governance mean for the practice and study of British government? This book provides a challenging reinterpretation, which interweaves an account of recent institutional changes in central, local and European Union government with methodological innovations and theoretical analysis. It emphasizes: the inability of the 'Westminster model', with its accent on parliamentary sovereignty and strong executive leadership, to account for persistent policy failure; the 'hollowing out' of British government from above (the European Union), below (special purpose bodies) and sideways (to agencies); and the need to respond to the postmodern challenge, rethinking the methodological and theoretical assumptions in the study of British government. Professor Rhodes makes a significant and timely contribution to our understanding of government and governance.

Understanding Governance asks:
What has changed in British government over the past two decades, how and why?
Why do so many government policies fail?
What does the shift from government to governance mean for the practice and study of British government?
This book provides a challenging reinterpretation which interweaves an account of recent institutional changes in central, local and European Union government with methodological innovations and theoretical analysis. It emphasizes: the inability of the 'Westminster model', with its accent on parliamentary sovereignty and strong executive leadership, to account for persistent policy failure; the 'hollowing out' of British government from above (the European Union), below (special purpose bodies) and sideways (to agencies); and the need to respond to the postmodern challenge, rethinking the methodological and theoretical assumptions in the study of British government. Professor Rhodes makes a significant and timely contribution to our understanding of government and governance.

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R A W Rhodes is Professor of Politics (Research) at the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne; Director of the Economic and Social Research Council's Whitehall Research Programme; and editor of Public Administration. The author or editor of fifteen books, his most recent publications include ( edited with Patrick Dunleavy), Prime Minister, Cabinet and Core Executive (Macmillan, 1995); and (edited with P. Weller and H. Bakvis),The Hollow Crown (Macmillan, 1996).

Inhaltsangabe

Preface
Part one: Introduction
Governing without government
order and change in British politics
Part two: Theory
Policy networks in British political science
The new governance
Part three: Methodology
The institutional approach
Part four: Applications
Reinventing Whitehall
the hollowing out of the state
Now nobody understands the system
the changing face of local government
The European Union, cohesion policy and sub-national authorities in the United Kingdom
Part five: Developments
From institutions to dogma
tradition, eclecticism and ideology in the study of British public administration
Towards a postmodern Public Administration
epoch, epistemology or narrative
Bibliography
Index.