UNEQUAL PARTNERS: THE IMPLEMENTATION OF EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES POLICIES IN WESTERN EUROPE

As a general principle, equality of opportunity attracts considerable support. However, such agreement does not extend to definitions of equal opportunity policies or to the need and manner for their implementation. These policies have a variety of both ideological and historical aspects, and patterns of implementation are politically and culturally conditioned. To highlight different approaches to equal opportunity implementation, three countries are compared: France, the United Kingdom and Sweden. Indices of progress for women are presented and performances assessed, as are the instruments and mechanisms of implementation preferred under different regimes. In addition, the influence and actions of the European Community (EC) are considered. Three distinct but not mutually exclusive models of implementation are observed, each with particular benefits and drawbacks. Sweden emerges with the most sustained and effective public policy on equal opportunities, France demonstrates the value of a Ministry of Women, while the potential inherent in Britain's Equal Opportunities Commission and local authority endeavour is thwarted by a lack of political will at central government level.     

EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES POLICIES AND RACIAL INEQUALITY: THE ROLE OF PUBLIC POLICY

This article examines the seeming contradiction between the publicly stated objective of successive governments to promote greater equality of opportunity for racial minorities and the limited impact of successive policies and programmes on processes of racial discrimination and exclusion in British society. The article begins by outlining the different conceptual approaches used to analyse the development of public policies on racial inequality. It then analyses the main aspects of national policy change in this area over the past two decades, and more recent initiatives which have sought to use local government as a vehicle for promoting racial equality. This analysis offers a critical review of the achievements and limitations of both past and present policies. The concluding section takes up the question of the prospects of change in the future.     

THE LIMITS OF CHANGE: LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES FOR WOMEN

Women make up the majority of local government employees in Great Britain but are not, however, evenly represented throughout the employment structure. Rather, women are overwhelmingly concentrated in low paid, low status and often part-time jobs, and are under-represented as decision makers, either as managers or elected council members. The situation of black and ethnic minority women is one of even greater marginalization. From 1982–7 over 200 local authorities adopted equal opportunity (EO) policies, both for employment practice and service delivery, the aims of which included redressing this inequitable situation for women. The achievements of these EO policies have proved to be very limited. Most have been introduced with few resources and little managerial or political support and without mechanisms for implementation or management accountability. EO reforms have been contained within the existing relationships and structures of local authorities when by definition, successful EO policies will upset the status quo. Nevertheless important lessons have been learned from this first pioneering phase of EO policy development.     

EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES FOR WOMEN IN THE NHS: THE PROSPECTS OF SUCCESS?

The position of women in the NHS suggests widespread latent discrimination. The prospects of developing equality of opportunity are not promising, as neither external agencies nor internal managers are capable of bringing about the necessary changes. However, changing demographic factors might result in enlightened personnel policies which will assist the development of equal opportunities.     

IMPLEMENTING EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES IN THE 1980s: AN OVERVIEW

Although it is over ten years since major legislation was enacted, equal opportunities remains a controversial issue in Britain. This has affected its implementation in a variety of ways. The article reviews arguments over the meaning of equal opportunities policy, its meaning in the British case and the way it is affected by the British conception of rights. Consideration is given to the experience of implementation by the relevant administrative agencies and local authorities. Particular attention is paid to the area of training. A concluding discussion suggests that market forces may provide the impetus for new developments in the implementation of British equality policy.     

SOCIO-ECONOMIC CONDITIONS, CENTRAL POLICIES AND LOCAL AUTHORITY STAFFING LEVELS

This paper analyses whether central pressure on local authorities to cut staff has resulted in greater efficiency by concentrating reductions in the more heavily staffed authorities. A measure of staffing levels is derived which takes into account the different socio-economic conditions faced by different authorities. The relationship between this measure and changes in staffing levels since 1980 is then analysed. The statistical results show that staff cuts have not fallen systematically on the more heavily staffed authorities. It is concluded that the indiscriminate impact of central government pressure to reduce staff indicates that a more informed and more selective policy towards public sector employment is required.     

LOCAL BROADCASTING AND THE LOCAL AUTHORITY

The development of local radio in Britain was expected to have significant and positive effects on local political communication. This article discusses the extent and character of local radio's engagement with the local political system, drawing upon some of the evidence obtained from a wide-ranging study of what radio stations are doing. The nature of local government coverage is discussed, with appropriate examples. The limitations of local radio's engagement with the local political system are highlighted, reflected in both the quantity and quality of its coverage. Some reasons for these limitations are suggested (size of local radio areas, lack of expertise in local government matters, attitudes of broadcasters) and the need to overcome them is stressed if the original promise of local radio in this field is to be fulfilled.     

THE INSTITUTIONAL AND ORGANIZATIONAL CAPABILITIES OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Local government is the subject of official review. This paper suggests that any review of the system of local government should consider at the outset the purposes or values which provide the rationale for local government, and should examine how the institutional framework and prevailing organizational practices promote or hinder achievement of those values. The values of local government as traditionally understood are summarized and aspects of the institutional framework and organizational practices are explored.     

NEW MODES OF GOVERNANCE IN ITALY AND THE NETHERLANDS: THE CASE OF ACTIVATION POLICIES

This article discusses the growing importance of operational reforms in the context of welfare state transformation processes, and the role that principles of new governance play in shaping these reforms. It focuses specifically on one social policy area considered crucial in reforming welfare states: the provision of activation services that aim at increasing the employability and labour‐market participation of people dependent on benefits or social assistance. The article argues that besides the reforms of the programmatic aspects of social policies and social services (formal policy reforms), reforms of the way in which policies and services are organized, administered and delivered (operational policy reforms) have received increasing attention as a ’second strand’ of welfare state reforms. It illustrates this by analysing and comparing reforms of the provision of activation services in two European countries: Italy and The Netherlands. The article not only reveals the growing emphasis in both countries on operational policy reforms which are to an important degree inspired by principles of new governance, but also shows significant similarities and differences in their concrete manifestations, which could be interpreted as pointing out processes of ‘path‐dependent convergence’.     

NEGLECTED FACES OF EUROPEANIZATION: THE DIFFERENTIAL IMPACT OF THE EU ON THE DISMANTLING AND EXPANSION OF DOMESTIC POLICIES

The objective of this article is to clarify the extent and the conditions under which the European Union (EU) induces changes in the policy arrangements of its member states. For an accurate measurement of our dependent variable, we distinguish between EU-induced policy expansion and EU-induced policy dismantling. We argue that the extent to which European requirements lead to an expansion or dismantling of national policy arrangements is crucially affected by the respective governance logic underlying the regulatory activities at the European level, that is: (1) compliance with EU rules; (2) competition between national administrative systems to achieve EU requirements; and (3) communication between regulatory agents across national levels arranged in an EU legal or institutional framework. To illustrate our theoretical argument, we develop hypotheses on the likelihood and direction of national policy change under these three modes of governance, in addition, providing empirical examples from different policy areas.     

THE CHANGING ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF LOCAL AUTHORITY CHIEF OFFICERS

This article argues that recent political change in Britain has brought about a crisis of adjustment for local government chief officers in their relationship with the elected members. Key aspects of this political change are the break-up of the post-war political consensus and the passing of the earlier period of growth. As the ideological distance between the two main parties has widened and the end of growth has intensified conflicts, the professional stance of neutrality towards partisan politics has become more difficult to sustain. So for chief officers the crisis of adjustment has taken the form of a search for new ways of work with the politicians as the earlier, relatively harmonious relationship has passed into history.
Against this background of increased politicization, the impact of current changes on the three aspects of the chief officer role is examined: as professional adviser, as departmental manager and as a 'bureaucratic politician'. Finally, some of the changes that have been proposed to ease this crisis for chief officers are discussed.     

THE IMPLEMENTATION OF HOUSING POLICY: THE SCOTTISH SPECIAL HOUSING ASSOCIATION AND

Extreme housing conditions in inter-war urban Scotland form the background to the creation of a specialist agency, the Scottish Special Housing Association, charged with the responsibility to both relieve the housing situation and provide employment. The expansion of SSHA activities, which by 1980 made it the second largest housing authority in Scotland with 10,000 dwellings, is examined. The escalation of SSHA activities is considered in the light of inter-organizational relationships between the SSHA and the Scottish Office. The paper concludes that in the successive reformulations of housing policy the SSHA was not neutral, that it frequently anticiated policy reorientations, and was thus well placed to execute new policies once formally announced. Though it conformed to the broad outline of a'mandated agency with elements of power and resource dependency, the SSHA successfully established a degree of operational autonomy while simultaneously offering the Scottish Office a mechanism to contain the power of local government.     

PUBLIC EXPENDITURE AND POLICY IMPLEMENTATION: THE CASE OF COMMUNITY CARE

This article explores the contention that the conventions of public expenditure accounting conceal, rather than reveal, the real nature and implications of resource trends. A benchmark — a constant level of service output — is established as a basis for examining the relationship between trends in expenditure inputs and service outputs. Changes in unit costs are identified as the major source of deviation between expenditure and output trends. The impact of resource constraint on policy and policy-implementation is then examined in relation to one, essentially stable, area of policy in the personal social services: community care.
The meaning of the term'policy' is far from straightforward and community care is best understood as the interaction of relatively independent streams of policy, towards service outputs and resource inputs, extant in both central and local government. Mechanisms by which policy streams could be reconciled are of particular interest and an innovative example — joint finance — is examined in some detail.     

THE STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT FINANCE

The 'dual state' thesis provides a useful starting point in analysing the relationship between the central and local state. However the history of reform in local government finance suggests that the dual state approach underemphasizes a number of important features of the relationship. Notably the degree of diversity which exists between the interests displayed by different sectors of the central state, the vertical linkages which exist between national and local levels and the difficulty of pursuing coherent long term strategies in local finance.     

THE NEW SYSTEM OF LOCAL TAXATION IN SCOTLAND: PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE

This article examines the new system of Scottish local government finance in theory and practice. It argues that reform is based on an economic theory of local fiscal behaviour, and examines the empirical evidence regarding the application of marginal cost pricing principles through the linking of marginal spending to taxation. The research reveals that the application of such principles in practice will be difficult, as only a few services offer direct benefits to all individuals, and as yet the technical precision needed in assessing needs for grant distribution has not materialized. There is little evidence of any impact of financial reform on local expenditure, as a number of intervening variables and assumptions can skew the accountability process.     

DECISION-MAKING IN CENTRAL AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT IN THE ABSENCE OF POLITICAL MAJORITY

A possible outcome of the next general election is that no party will have a majority in the House of Commons, a situation experienced only briefly in recent central government. In local government, by contrast, more than half the county councils in England and Wales and many district councils have no overall political majority. Some have been so for many years. This paper examines the style of decision-making in one such local authority, Cheshire County Council, in terms of the roles of politicians and officials and the relationship between them. Recognizing the constitutional differences between central and local government, it goes on to discuss how much of this experience would be relevant to central government in the event of no overall parliamentary majority. The paper argues that many of the working practices developed in local authorities would be valid in a central government context, though they would not necessarily take the same form. To avoid value judgments, the absence of overall majority, whether in a local authority or in parliament, is referred to simply as 'no-majority'.     

DEMOCRATIC GOVERNANCE AND POLITICAL RATIONALITIES IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE WATER FRAMEWORK DIRECTIVE IN THE NETHERLANDS

Multi‐level governance, network governance, and, more recently, experimentalist governance are important analytical frameworks through which to understand democratic governance in the EU. However, these analytical frameworks carry normative assumptions that build on functionalist roots and undervalue political dynamics. This can result in a lack of understanding of the challenges that democratic governance faces in practice. This article proposes the analysis of democratic governance from the perspective of multiple political rationalities to correct such assumptions. It analyses the implementation of the Water Framework Directive in the Netherlands as a paradigmatic case study by showing how governmental, instrumental, and deliberative rationalities are at work in each of the governance elements that it introduces. The article concludes by discussing the implications of a perspective of multiple political rationalities for the understanding and promotion of democratic governance in practice.     

TAKING STOCK OF THE LOCAL AUTHORITY ASSOCIATIONS

This article examines the achievements of the local authority associations in the period from 1974 to the present. In particular, it considers whether the associations have met the major objectives set by their predecessors. The conclusion indicates that there are a number of factors which have inhibited the achievement of these objectives.
Two of the main inhibiting factors are the close connection between the associations and central government, and their readiness to respond to every move the centre makes. The associations might now consider adopting a weaker connection and a more discriminating response in relation to central government.