Comparing Cabinets Dilemmas of Collective Government

by Weller, Patrick; Grube, Dennis; Rhodes, R.A.W.

• ISBN13: 9780198844945
• ISBN10: 0198844948
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2021-11-16
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Author Biography

Patrick Weller, Professor Emeritus, Griffith University,Dennis Grube, Reader in Politics and Public Policy, University of Cambridge,R.A.W. Rhodes, Professor of Government (Research) and Director of the Centre for Political Ethnography, University of Southampton

Patrick Weller is Professor Emeritus in the School of Government and International Relations at Griffith University. He has written a number of books on executive government in Australia and in comparative focus, including studies of prime ministers, ministers, departmental secretaries, and central
agencies. He has also co-authored four books on the working of international organizations. He is a fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia and was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) for his contribution 'towards an understanding of executive government in Australia'.


Dennis Grube is Reader in Politics and Public Policy at the University of Cambridge and a Fellow of Girton College. His recent books include Megaphone Bureaucracy: Speaking Truth to Power in the Age of the New Normal (2019) and Institutional Memory as Storytelling (with J. Corbett, H. Lovell and R.
J. Scott, 2020).


R.A.W. Rhodes is Professor of Government (Research) and Director of the Centre for Political Ethnography at the University of Southampton. He is the author or editor of fourty-two books including, most recently, The Art and Craft of Comparison (with J. Boswell and J. Corbett, 2019); Networks,
Governance and the Differentiated Polity. Selected Essays. Volume I. (2017), and Narrative Policy Analysis (2018). He is a Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia, and a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences (UK). In 2015, the ECPR awarded him their biennial Lifetime Achievement
Award for his 'outstanding contribution to all areas of political science, and the exceptional impact of his work'.

Table of Contents

1. Understanding Cabinet Government
Part I. National Traditions, Myths, and Practices
2. United Kingdom--Governing Traditions and Processes
3. Australian Traditions and Practices
4. Dutch Traditions and Practices
5. Danish Traditions and Practices
6. The Swiss Federal Council Traditions
Part II. Dilemmas of Cabinet Government
7. The Process Dilemma: Predictability v Political Imperatives
8. The Policy Dilemma: Puzzling v Political Risk
9. The Political Dilemma: Self-interest v Cohesion
10. The Leadership Dilemma: Command v Persuasion
11. The Accountability Dilemma: Maintaining Support v Making Unpopular Decisions
12. Conclusion: Cabinet Government's Open Secrets: Flexibility and Resilience
Appendix A
Appendix B