Governance in Whitehall

Governance theory raises conceptual and theoretical questions about the coordination of complex social systems and the evolving role of the state within that process. A central aspect of the governance debate focuses on the ability of national governments to address salient social issues. This article examines the British Labour governments' attempts to facilitate cross-departmental inter-organizational collaboration within Whitehall in an attempt to develop innovative responses to seemingly intractable social problems. The government's desire and strategy to increase its capacity to orchestrate 'joined-up' government can be interpreted as both an acceptance and a response to the challenges of modern governance. The article locates the structural, procedural and cultural responses to this challenge within the theoretical and analytical framework of governance theory. It concludes by suggesting that meaningful change in the way public policy is designed and implemented may well demand a more deep seated reappraisal of the structure of Whitehall and the dominant values of the British political elite than is currently anticipated.     

The Core Executive, Modernization and the Creation of PESC, 1960-64

The period between 1957 and 1964 was one of immense yet underestimated political and administrative change. It culminated in what many have seen as a golden age in Whitehall. This is reflected by the wealth of records now available for the study of government and policy networks. The period is thus an ideal one for collaboration between historians and political scientists.
The decisional case study examined in this article focuses on the early years of the Public Expenditure Survey Committee, as viewed from the perspective of welfare policy. The drive to 'modernize' government started with attempts to 'roll back the state' and to hive off the implementation of policy to executive agencies, very similar to those pursued in the 1980s by Mrs Thatcher and Next Steps. The reasoned rejection of such a policy was symbolized by the creation of PESC, a centralized attempt to allocate resources rationally. PESC itself, however, was initially a failure. External circumstances, such as the breakdown of political and administrative networks within the core executive, and internal tensions, including the Treasury's covert attempt to impose its own departmental interest, led the Cabinet Secretary to conclude that the prioritization and strict control of forward expenditure commitments was 'not possible'. This case study demonstrates how future studies of the core executive might be broadened and deepened.     

The international context and development of european integration

The article analyzes the evolution of Italian foreign policy from a somewhat generic support of Western positions until the early 1980s to a progressively more critical assessment of the country's medium and long-term interests. After outlining Italy's stance visa- vis the reform of the United Nations and other global issues, the article describes the country's role in Europe, with special focus on the security and economic integration aspects. In particular, the article illustrates how Italy's qualification as a founding member of Europe's economic and monetary union (EMU) has enhanced the credibility and visibility of the country on the world stage.     

Can opposites attract? Monetary union and the social market

This article evaluates the proposition that European Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) can provide a solid foundation for the establishment of a 'Social Market' version of capitalism throughout the new Euro-land, or whether their fundamental precepts are fundamentally inconsistent. An initial discussion of the elements essential to a social market is followed by an analysis of the extent to which these factors are currently identifiable, or their future development is plausible within an economic environment dominated by globalization and EMU across the EU. The article concludes by commenting upon the likely development of a social market within Euro-land within the constraints imposed by EMU, and therefore upon the strategies pursued by groups of the social democratic persuasion whose future strategy is to a large extent based upon this belief. Surviving the political consequences of neoliberal policies     

TAMING THE ‘AWKWARD STATE’? THE CHANGING FACE OF EUROPEAN POLICY‐MAKING UNDER BLAIR

This paper analyses the important changes to the European Union (EU) policy-making process within the UK core executive introduced by the Blair government between 1997 and 2007. Employing a strategic-relational network framework, it sets out to map the changing face of policy-making within the Whitehall EU network, and to evaluate and explain the impact of adaptation. The article argues that Labour's reform strategy has been double-edged: day-to-day coordination of EU policy has become increasingly informal, ad hoc and delegated downwards to departmental players while the role of the centre has been greatly strengthened in order to provide more effective strategic direction and political leadership. Despite these seemingly coherent reforms, however, many critical features of the process have been potentially detrimental to the projection of a more constructive European policy.     

THE ROLE OF POLITICIANS AND ADMINISTRATORS IN DEPARTMENTAL REORGANIZATION: THE CASE OF THE DEPARTMENT OF THE ENVIRONMENT

This article examines the history of the Department of the Environment from its creation in 1970 to the formation of the Department of Transport in 1976. Its main approach is an analysis of the roles of the Permanent Secretary and the Secretary of State in the development of the organization. The strong organizational relationship between these senior members of the department is an important factor in structural change both at the time of the initial reforms and throughout this period.
The influence of different personalities and their approaches to policy and management is considered as a determining factor in the evolution of the department. Additionally, the attempts at reorganization and reform are to be seen as largely developing within a traditional Whitehall framework, based on this relationship, which restricted its effectiveness.     

The Governance Narrative: Key Findings and Lessons from the Erc's Whitehall Programme

This article provides a personal interpretation of the key findings of the Economic and Social Research Council's Whitehall Programme. I tell the distinctive story of 'governance'— of fragmentation, networks, unintended consequences and diplomacy — challenging the dominant, managerial account of change in British govern-ment since 1979. I present a view of the world in which networks rival markets and bureaucracy as ways of allocating resources and co-ordinating policy and its implementation.     

APPOINTMENTS TO THE HIGHEST GRADES IN THE CIVIL SERVICE – DRAWING THE CURTAIN OPEN

The appointments process to the higher civil service is important but little information about it is in the public domain. This article provides such information, using material gathered from a series of interviews with senior civil servants. Part one offers an authorized account of the procedures for senior appointments. The second part makes use of information I gathered from officials closely involved in the procedures, to piece together what actually occurs, in a still highly secretive area of Whitehall proceedings and highlights the disparity between'official theory'and actual practice. The article concludes by suggesting that a dominant Prime Minister has the potential to use a system, originally fashioned by Whitehall, for Whitehall, for political purposes.     

THE WHITEHALL PROGRAMME AND AFTER: RESEARCHING GOVERNMENT IN TIME OF GOVERNANCE

This article revisits the Whitehall Programme and Rod Rhodes' crucial role in setting it up. It examines the research commissioned for the Programme and how research in this field has changed since the mid 1990s. It confirms that research on Whitehall has become more diverse and specialist – reflecting its apparent hollowing‐out – but that research employing a longer historical perspective does not support an interpretation that government in the UK was ever strongly filled‐in. It also suggests that the study of Whitehall now demonstrates more theoretical ambition than hitherto, and, in the light of the dominance of qualitative research in this field, calls for a more sophisticated methodological debate about qualitative approaches to the study of government and especially their potential contribution to theory‐building.     

Organizing For Europe: Whitehall, The British State And European Union

The article examines the adaptation of Whitehall to participation in the European Union. Following an Historical Institutionalist analysis, the article argues that the most critical juncture relating to the machinery for the handling of European business was taken in 1960–1961 well before the third, successful application to join the European Communities. Actual accession brought about an adaptation of the machinery and of the processes developed in negotiation to the wider needs of membership rather than a reform of machinery. Thus the most important alteration in Britain's overseas relations since the war was easily accommodated within Whitehall's established approach to handling policy. Developments from the 1970s onwards have largely been accretive and these developments are outlined. However, the article argues that more fundamental challenges deriving from EU membership lie ahead for the structure of the British state.     

The Welsh Office and Welsh Autonomy

This article examines the claim that, by the late 1980s, the Welsh Office possessed sufficient autonomy to implement policies that diverged from those of the functional Whitehall ministries. Two case studies, housing and education, are examined as these are areas where institutional autonomy and distinctive needs might be expected to be most apparent in Wales. The conclusion of this article is that the claims of Welsh exceptionalism (certainly in terms of policies) have been much exaggerated and that the 'centre', Westminster and Whitehall, was able to impose its preferred policies in Wales, whatever appearances to the contrary.     

THE TREASURY AS THE CENTRAL DEPARTMENT OF GOVERNMENT, 1919–1939

Sir Warren Fisher, Permanent Secretary of the Treasury from 1919 to 1939, tried to make the Treasury a 'general staff', for all of Whitehall. He was official head of the civil service, and his Department co-ordinated policy by persuading ministers to decide priorities within a balanced budget. Treasury advice on what policy should be was influential, partly because of the absence of a fully developed Cabinet Office or Prime Minister's Office. Treasury control of expenditure was also necessary to ensure that spending departments conformed to Cabinet decisions on priorities. The Treasury exercised a powerful influence, however, only so long as the Cabinet accepted the financial orthodoxy of balanced budgets.     

The Welsh Office and Welsh Autonomy

This article examines the claim that, by the late 1980s, the Welsh Office possessed sufficient autonomy to implement policies that diverged from those of the functional Whitehall ministries. Two case studies, housing and education, are examined as these are areas where institutional autonomy and distinctive needs might be expected to be most apparent in Wales. The conclusion of this article is that the claims of Welsh exceptionalism (certainly in terms of policies) have been much exaggerated and that the ‘centre’, Westminster and Whitehall, was able to impose its preferred policies in Wales, whatever appearances to the contrary.     

WORKING IN WHITEHALL: CHANGES IN PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION 1952–1982

There have been significant changes in public administration over the past thirty years, both internal to Whitehall and in its relationship to the outside world. The author offers a personal assessment based on his working experience. By taking a series of 'landmark reports published over that period he charts the extent to which they influenced, or reflected, changes in the character and style of public administration and in the general climate of public opinion within which the civil service works. He concludes that Whitehall today is better equipped than it used to be in its range of professional expertise and management techniques, but that it also faces a more sceptical and demanding audience. The next ten years may see the development of a style of public administration in which the traditional administrative skills are merged with the newer managerial concern for efficiency and effectiveness. But greater competence also requires improvements in the ways in which policy is formulated and its effects evaluated.     

Between willing and reluctant entrapment: CEE countries in NATO's non-European missions

The article focuses on Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries' experiences related to Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya, three non-European theatres of Western military operations, in predominantly Muslim lands, in the decade between 2001 and 2011. CEE countries readily became involved in two of these foreign missions (Afghanistan and Iraq) because of their deep ties to Western politico-economic structures, without direct security interests compelling them to do so, but not without normative convictions regarding what were seen by them as virtues of the two missions. In Libya, however, they were reluctant to join the Western intervention. In light of this, the article is interested in examining how political elites within the region relate to the generally constrained security policy agency that they have. A key argument advanced is that such agency may be located in how external hegemony is mediated in elite discourses of threat and legitimacy construction. This as well as the three case studies outlined in the article show that the seeming changes in CEE countries' behaviour in fact boil down to a simple set of rules guiding their behaviour. Having identified this “algorithm” as an implicit pattern of CEE foreign policy behaviour, originating in the intra-alliance security dilemma within the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), the article formulates its conclusions about the alliance policy of these countries largely within a neorealist framework.     

Cultural Aspects Of Europeanization: The Case Of The Scottish Office

This article takes an in-depth look at the cultural implications of membership of the European Union (EU) for a UK government department. As part of a broader examination of how Europeanization, in its various forms, has affected a range of Whitehall departments, Bulmer and Burch (1998) concluded that the cultural element of change in the UK has been limited in the sense that existing administrative traditions within government departments have not undergone any radical reorientation. The purpose here is to test the validity of these conclusions and in more general terms afford detailed consideration to an area of Europeanization which has tended to be neglected in the academic discourse. This is achieved by way of employing interview and documentary-based source material relating to the area of cultural change as it affected a particular UK department, the Scottish Office. In the event, the piece concludes that the detail of the Scottish Office case can be used to confirm Bulmer and Burch's general observation that cultural Europeanization has not manifested itself to any great extent within UK government departments in the sense that it has entailed wide-reaching changes to administrative approaches and working practices. More generally, the empirical basis of the analysis provides fresh insights into how specific matters, such as training and secondments, have impacted upon the work of civil servants in the UK.     

T. H. GREEN AND THE ETHICS OF SENIOR OFFICIALS IN BRITISH CENTRAL GOVERNMENT

This article is an attempt to move away from microeconomics in the study of administration and to concentrate on British administrative ethics from a philosophical perspective. Thus, ethics is used here not in the sense of the ethics of managers dealing with accounts but as the ‘science’ of ranking moral values. The intention of the article is to examine how political theory can be used to help illustrate the dilemmas of public servants working in a climate which is distinctly hostile to disinterested ideals. The ideas of T. H. Green, the English Idealist philosopher who contributed so much to our understanding of public service, form the basis of the theoretical discussion, and the work of senior officials in Whitehall is the material used for illustrative purposes. Where do the loyalties of civil servants lie? What are their duties and responsibilities to ministers? To whom, for what, and how are civil servants accountable?     

Culture,community-oriented learning and the post-2015 development agenda: a view from Laos

This article critically interrogates current policy-sector approaches to culturally sensitive development and the manner in which culture has been conceptualised within the post-2015 development agenda-setting process. By providing a brief interpretive summary of academic debates surrounding culture and development, an analysis of how ‘culturally sensitive’ practices have been pursued within the policy sector, and an examination of the insufficient consideration given to culturally sensitive development within post-2015 agenda setting, I argue that much uncertainty remains around how to translate complex academic understandings of culture and development into policy responses. Following this, I provide one case study drawn from the small, low-income country of Laos to suggest possibilities as to how culturally sensitive development may be better conceptualised and implemented within a post-2015 global development era.     

THE PARADOX OF POLICY DIVERSITY IN A UNITARY STATE: COMMUNITY CARE IN BRITAIN

Studies of policy-making and management in health and related fields have generally been confined to England even when professing to embrace Britain or the United Kingdom. The assumption of a unitary state in which the policy lead is given by Westminster/Whitehall is shown to be grossly misleading in the case of community care policy. Considerable variations exist not only in policy means but also in policy ends. The paper demonstrates the limitations of studying health and personal social services adopting a unitary state perspective. It argues for more intra-Britain comparative work aimed at evaluating the costs and benefits of service variations in different policy fields.     

THE ARCHITECTURE OF THE BRITISH CENTRAL STATE. PART II: EMPIRICAL FINDINGS

Part I of this paper (autumn issue) explained the need to improve existing research into the British central state, outlined the bureau-shaping model, and tackled a number of methodological issues involved in applying this framework. Part II demonstrates that the bureau-shaping model is highly effective in systematizing and extending our knowledge of how Whitehall and directly attached agencies are structured. The main types of organizations identified share many similarities, so that the model's categories have a clear intuitive meaning. As a result the bureau-shaping model can effectively cope with analytic problems that have constrained previous 'bureaumetric' research, such as the extreme variations in the size of central state agencies. The model also illuminates both the distribution of bureau-types across policy sectors, and the effects of different patterns of administration on public expenditure trends under the Thatcher government.