Interpreting British Governance

by Bevir,Mark

• ISBN13: 9780415304528
• ISBN10: 0415304520
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Nonspecific Binding
• Copyright: 2003-06-10
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

Governance in Britain has changed enormously in the past twenty years from the market led Thatcher years to Blair's 'joined up government'. This book, written by two leading scholars, is a major contribution to our understanding of the theoretical approaches to governance and of how British politics actually works in practice. The authors provide a radical challenge to traditional accounts of British politics, such as the Westminster model, and instead offer a highly original interpretive approach.

Author Biography

Mark Bevir is an Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science, University of California, Berkeley.

Table of Contents

List of tables	vi
Preface and acknowledgements	vii
1 Introduction: on governance	1	(14)
PART I The approach: on interpretation	15	(64)
2 An interpretive agenda	17	(28)
3 Governance in Britain	45	(17)
4 Decentring governance	62	(17)
PART II The public sector: on traditions and dilemmas	79	(64)
5 Comparing Britain and Denmark	81	(26)
6 Narratives of Thatcherism	107	(17)
7 New Labour's civil service	124	(19)
PART III The civil service: on history and ethnography	143	(59)
8 The roots of governance	145	(25)
9 The meaning of governance	170	(25)
10 Conclusions: on governance again	195	(7)
Bibliography	202	(25)
Index	227