A Guide to the Esrc's Whitehall Programme, 1994-1999

This article introduces a symposium based on the findings of the ESRC's Whitehall Programme. It describes the Programme's origins, covering its objectives and themes. It provides a summary of the Programme's activities and publications. It allows the Programme Director to identify some of his personal highlights under the headings: from goverment to governance; publications; interdisciplinary work; international links and élite seminars. In the conclusions I identify four broad topics for future research: network steering, decentralization, anti-foundational epistemology and methods, and comparing Westminster systems. Finally in Appendix 1, I list all the programme publications so far and, in Appendix 2, I provide a list of projects along with the contact details for the principal investigator.