Abolishing the Audit Commission: Framing,Discourse Coalitions and Administrative Reform |
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Authors: | Katherine Tonkiss Chris Skelcher |
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Affiliation: | 1. School of Languages and Social Sciences, Aston University, Birmingham, UKk.tonkiss@aston.ac.uk;3. Institute of Local Government Studies, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK |
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Abstract: | The abolition of the Audit Commission in England raises questions about how a major reform was achieved with so little controversy, why the agency lacked the institutional stickiness commonly described in the literature on organisational reform and why it did not strategise to survive. In this paper, we apply argumentative discourse analysis to rich empirical data to reveal the pattern and evolution of storylines and discourse coalitions, and the ways in which these interact with and affect the practices of Parliament, the media and the Audit Commission itself. Our analysis shows that the politics of administrative reform are as much about discursive framing and the ability of pro-reformers to gain discursive structuration and institutionalisation as they are about the material resources available to a newly elected government and its ministers. Questions of technical feasibility are unlikely to derail a reform initiative once its promoters gain discursive ascendency. |
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Keywords: | Audit Commission reform discourse coalition institutional stickiness local government |
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