CHARACTERIZING AGRICULTURAL POLICY-MAKING

This article examines the contemporary agricultural policy-making environment in Britain and suggests that the growing complexity of interest articulation and policy making has eroded NFU dominance as a peak association. We would suggest that it is this clientelistic attitude to agriculture rather than a specific relationship with one interest group (however influential) that shapes the agricultural agenda. This article rejects a version of events which sees policy outputs as being the result of exclusive MAFF/NFU interactions as exaggerating policy-making closure, and the exclusion of environmental and other externality interests. It portrays the policy sector as fragmented and competitive, with a wide cast list of pressure participants all vying for policy influence. It identifies flexible policy communities operating at the sub-sectoral level, and within such arrangements the NFU often has to defer to the specialist or niche expertise of single commodity groups or agricultural processing companies.     

‘Meeting the Challenge’? The Liberal Democrats' Policy Review of 2005–2006

Even before the 2005 election, the Liberal Democrats' Federal Policy Committee had agreed on the need for a review of party policy, in response both to domestic and international political developments since 2001. Intended to build upon the 2002 policy document 'It's About Freedom', 2005 heralded the launch of a Meeting the Challenge policy review, which provided an unprecedented opportunity for party members at all levels to contribute towards the refinement of Liberal Democrat policies and develop a clearer political narrative. This would enable the party to articulate its principles and goals more effectively in the run-up to the next general election. Through a variety of intra-party channels, conduits and forums, hundreds of responses from party members, and local and regional Liberal Democrat parties, offered analyses and policy suggestions. On various issues, these revealed ongoing debates between the party's ( Orange Book ) 'liberals' and 'social democrats'. The outcome of this intra-party consultation exercise was the 2006 policy document 'Trust in People', which was emphatically endorsed at the party's annual conference. This will now provide the framework for further policy development and clarification during the next two years.     

Culture Change in Three Taxation Administrations: From Command-and-Control to Responsive Regulation

Law and policy is one thing, but their implementation and administration is affected by organizational cultures. Meidinger has argued that knowledge of regulatory and organizational cultures assists understanding of how law and policy work in practice. This article examines three revenue administrations that are moving from a command-and-control style of regulation to a more persuasive and responsive style of regulation. The central argument is that there is a determining step in the process of clarification, reconciliation, responsiveness, and design of a tax system. That step is the extent to which organizational culture can be changed to embrace inclusive discussion and creative solutions to the administration of tax law and policy.     

THE RISE OF THE INTERMEDIATE LEVEL INSTITUTION IN BRITISH PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION: THE CASE OF THE ARTS AND TRAINING

During the 1980s there was both centralization and decentralization in the British policy process. The centre was to be responsible for broad policy whilst the institutions in closest contact with those who consumed or used a service were to be responsible for implementation. This style was, in part, a reaction to the perception that organized interests acted as a severe restraint on the centre. Experience, however, demonstrated government's dependence on the cooperation of organized interests and their intermediate organizations. This article argues that effective policy-making requires the formation of intermediate organizations linking macro- and micro-institutions. These organizations are vital for communication, representation and negotiation and therefore they inevitably constrain the centre's freedom. Effective policy requires a partnership between the centre and sub-centre via intermediate institutions and these institutions are likely to become more important as decentralization continues. The role of intermediate institutions are explored via case studies of training and arts policy.     

THE MANAGEMENT OF CHANGE IN WHITEHALL: THE EXPERIENCE OF THE FMI

The Conservative government announced the Financial Management Initiative in 1982. This article is based on research into the genesis, development and impact of the FMI. The findings suggest that the FMI has contributed significantly to the institutionalization of resource management in general and cost awareness in particular. Implementation has been influenced, however, by the differentiation of departmental tasks and contexts, the inevitable tension between management and politics, and the difficulty of meeting the conditions for the successful engineering of cultural change.