Rethinking Governance: The Centrality of the State in Modern Society

by Stephen Bell , Andrew Hindmoor

• ISBN13: 9780521712835
• ISBN10: 0521712831
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2009-07-13
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

Several problems plague contemporary thinking about governance, from the multiple definitions that are often vague and confusing, to the assumption that governance strategies such as networks and markets represent attempts by Weakening states to maintain control.

Author Biography

Stephen Bell is Professor and former Heed of the School of Political Science and International Studies at the University of Queensland. Andrew Hindmoor is Senior Lecturer in the School of Political Science and International Studies at the University of Queensland.

Table of Contents

List of figures and tables	p. xi
Preface	p. xiii
A state-centric relational approach	p. 1
Society-centred governance	p. 3
A fundamental transformation?	p. 6
A State-centric relational approach	p. 10
Modes of governance	p. 16
Conclusion	p. 18
The resilient state	p. 20
Public choice theory and state failure	p. 21
Government overload and the fiscal crisis of the state	p. 23
The implementation gap?	p. 27
A crisis in legitimacy?	p. 29
The decentring of government	p. 32
Globalisation	p. 39
Conclusion	p. 44
Metagovernance and state capacity	p. 46
The functions of metagovernance	p. 47
Metagovernance as a problem of public good provision	p. 55
State capacity: a state-centric relational account	p. 59
The challenges of metagovernance	p. 66
Conclusion	p. 69
Hierarchy and top-down governance	p. 71
Rolling back the state?	p. 72
Hierarchical governance: challenges and adaptations	p. 85
Self-regulation in the shadow of hierarchy	p. 89
The growing volume of governance	p. 92
Conclusion	p. 95
Governance through persuasion	p. 97
Legitimacy, persuasion and governance without government	p. 99
The metagovernance of persuasion	p. 105
Persuading states	p. 106
Combining modes of governance: persuasion and hierarchy	p. 108
Social capital and governance through persuasion	p. 109
Conclusion	p. 113
Governance through markets and contracts	p. 115
The marketisation of governance	p. 116
State capacity and markets	p. 120
The resilience of hierarchy	p. 121
The metagovernance of markets: markets through hierarchy	p. 123
Policy learning and metagovernance	p. 126
Relational capacity	p. 129
Governance through business?	p. 131
Conclusion	p. 135
Governance through community engagement	p. 137
Citizen and community engagement	p. 139
The foundations of community engagement	p. 144
Willing and capable citizens and communities?	p. 146
Accountability and legitimacy	p. 149
A willing and able state?	p. 151
Power-sharing and the state	p. 155
Do-it-yourself community engagement	p. 158
Conclusion	p. 160
Governance through associations	p. 162
Forms of associative governance	p. 164
Private-interest government	p. 169
The role of the state within associative governance	p. 174
Governance without government?	p. 181
Conclusion	p. 184
Conclusion	p. 186
Notes	p. 192
Bibliography	p. 194
Index	p. 223
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