The Local Government Review: An Inter-Organizational Perspective

This article uses Benson's 'political economy' model of inter-organizational relations to interpret inter-authority relationships during the course of the local government review process in England (1992-95) and in particular to explain the preparedness of large numbers of district councils to support proposals which implied their own destruction. Six more specific influences are identified which led to this outcome:
(i) The changing pattern of expectations and perceived possibilities as the Review progressed.
(ii) The conflictual context of relations within the network linking individual counties and districts, and their respective associations.
(iii) The influence of the districts' national representative body - the ADC - which was arguing strongly for a 'super-district' solution.
(iv) The plausibility of the view of some mergers as de facto takeovers of one authority by another.
(v) The special nature of local authorities as (party) political institutions as well as public sector bureaucracies.
(vi) The rationing of information through central-local networks, in the context of 'unclear rules'.
It is concluded that with certain modifications Benson's framework provides a helpful explanatory mechanism.     

Understanding the Local Government Review: A Retrospective Analysis

Reorganizations have provided fertile ground for researchers and practitioners seeking to draw lessons about the nature of public administration. The review leading to the reorganization of British local government in 1991-96 sustains the tradition. In an extraordinary unfolding of events key features of the policy and political system are laid bare. This article provides a background analysis of the review, examines the main turning points in the process, assesses the performance of key players and concludes with a judgement about the sustainability of the settlement that ultimately emerged. A number of lessons are drawn about the nature of the British political system as revealed through the impact of the challenge of a large-scale structural review of local government.     

Decisions: Carltona and the CUC Code

The Committee of University Chairman publishes a code of good practice designed, among other things, to ensure clarity about the authority on which decisions are taken on behalf of universities, subordinate domestic legislation created and the exercise of discretion regulated. In Carltona Ltd.v. Commissioners of Works [1943] 2 All ER 560 AC the question was whether civil servants were acting ultra vires if they acted on behalf of a competent authority without reference to that authority. Oxford and Cambridge, which preserve an ancient system of governance by direct academic democracy, remain testbeds of this principle, for their administrators are in effect their ‘civil servants’, not their managers. This article examines the questions which are arising as both universities begin to create Senior Management Teams, and the implications for the higher education sector more widely.     

INITIATING A COMPARABLE WORTH WAGE POLICY IN MINNESOTA: NOTES FROM THE FIELD

As of January 1986, Minnesota has progressed farther than any other state in implementing acomparable worth (pay equity) wage policy, with two laws requiring pay equity, one covering state employees and a second covering employees of all types of jurisdictions. This article presents a discussion of Minnesota's importance as a case study, a definition of comparable worth, the history and politics o f pay equity policy in Minnesota, and an analysis of Minnesota's role in a national campaign to change wage policy. The article shows that implementation has been more straight-forward in state government than for the 1,583 local jurisdictions, many of which had less-developed personnel systems than did the state. The passage of the local pay equity law ushered in a new stage in this policy, where the issue Is no longer controlled by a small number of legislators, bureaucrats, and lobbyists.     

Symbolic state-building in contemporary Russia

Vladimir Putin has made state-building a central goal of his presidency and recent scholarship has demonstrated that Russian formal institutions have indeed been deliberately reformed. Unlike studies that ass’ess state-building vis-à-vis a particular outcome, our research examines what kind of state Russian political elites seek to build, and focuses on symbolic state-building strategies. To capture symbolic state-building in the Putin era, we examine the Pryamaya Liniya broadcasts: annual, high-profile TV broadcasts in which citizens pose questions to the president. We find that a broad range of formal institutions appear to be central to Putin’s state-building project, a finding that runs counter to claims that governance is largely deinstitutionalized, informal and personal. We argue that symbolic state-building seeks to reconcile personalism and institutionalism, by conveying a dual image of a state in citizens’ everyday lives – emphasizing both formal institutions, while also affirming Putin as the personal guarantor of the state’s authority.     

Commonwealth Diplomacy and the End of Apartheid

This article recounts the struggle that those fighting for an end to apartheid in South Africa faced and the role that the Commonwealth played in that struggle. The author recounts the contribution of the Whitlam, Fraser and Hawke administrations in Australia in bringing down the apartheid regime but stresses that these leaders chose the Commonwealth as their primary vehicle for change. In the author’s view, the fight against apartheid was, arguably, the finest achievement of the modern Commonwealth.