Abstract
The spread of new-public management inspired initiatives across advanced liberal democracies in the 1980s and 1990s were driven by a desire to increase the economic efficiency of state systems - to get ‘more bang for each buck’ to use Osborne and Gaebler’s well known phrase (Osborne/ Gaebler 1992). The disaggregation or deconstruction of large multi-purpose bureaucratic structures into quasi-autonomous single purpose bodies combined with where possible the introduction of market principles would, so the theory suggested, lead to greater specialisation, customer focus and transparency. As the work of the OECD (OECD 2002) has demonstrated in detail, this farreaching wave of administrative reform led to the rapid ‘unbundling’ (PoUitt/ Talbot 2003) or ‘unravelling’ (Hooghe/ Marks 2003, p. 233–243) of the state with a concomitant growth in what has become known as ‘distributed’ or ‘delegated’ public governance (Flinders 2004a, 2004b; Flinders/ Thiel/ Gréve 1999) - the location of key state responsibilities beyond the direct control of elected politicians and their officials. The creation of a dense and administratively complex tier of delegated governance within the topography of most state systems has created both political and leadership challenges. From the political perspective the key challenge lies in designing and implementing new mechanisms of democratic accountability through which this ‘fugitive power’ (Morison 1998) can be scrutinised and ‘blame games’ between organisational leaders and politicians avoided (Hood 2002; see also Flinders 2004c).
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Audit Commission/ Healthcare Commission/ National Audit Office (2006), Tackling Child Obesity-First Steps, London: HMSO
Bache, I./ Bristow, G. (2003), Devolution and the Gatekeeping Role of the Core Executive: The Struggle for European Funds, in: British Journal of Politics and International Relations, Vol. 5, No. 3, pp. 405–428
Bache, I./ Flinders, M. (eds.) (2004), Multi-level Governance, Oxford: Oxford University Press
Barker, A. (1997), Political Responsibility for UK Prison Security-Ministers Escape Again, in: Public Administration, Vol. 76, No. 1, pp. 1–23
Blair, T. (2001), Prime Minister’s Speech on Public Service Reform, London, 16. October 2001
Blair, T. (2004), We Should Not Shy Away from Radical Reform, Speech at a Guardian Summit on Public Service Reform, London, 29. January 2004
Bogdanor, V. (ed.) (2005), Joined-Up Government, Oxford: Oxford University Press
Bovens, M. (1998), The Quest for Responsibility, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Burch, M./ Holliday, I. (2004), The Blair Government and the Core Executive, in: Government and Opposition, Vol. 39, No. 1, pp. 1–21
Cabinet Office (2000), Citizens First-Modernising Government Annual Report 2000, London: Cabinet Office
Cm. 3978 (1998), Stability and Investment for the Long Term-Economic and Fiscal Strategy Report 1998, London: HMSO
Cm. 4011 (1998), Modern Public Services for Britain: Investing in Reform-Comprehensive Spending Review: New Public Spending Plans 1999–2002, London: HMSO
Cm. 4181 (1998), Public Services for the Future: Modernisation, Reform, Accountability. Comprehensive Spending Review: Public Service Agreements 1999–2002, London: HMSO
Cm. 4808 (2000), 2000 Spending Review: Public Service Agreements 2001–4, London: HMSO
Cm. 5571 (2002), Spending Review 2002: Public Service Agreements 2003–06, London: HMSO
Cm. 6238 (2004), Spending Review 2004: Public Service Agreements 2005–08, London: HMSO
Evans, P. (1997), The Eclipse of the State: Reflections on Stateness in an Era of Globalization, in: World Politics, Vol. 50, No. 1, pp. 62–87
Flinders, M. (2001), The Politics of Accountability in the Modern State, London: Ashgate
Flinders, M. (2002), Governance in Whitehall, in: Public Administration, Vol. 80, No. 1, pp. 51–75
Flinders, M. (2004a), Distributed Public Governance in Britain, in: Public Administration, Vol. 82, No. 4, pp. 883–909
Flinders, M. (2004b), Distributed Public Governance in the European Union, in: Journal of European Public Policy, Vol. 11, No. 3, pp. 520–544
Flinders, M. (2004c), Icebergs and MPs: Delegated Governance and Parliament, Parliamentary Affairs, Vol. 57, No. 4, pp. 767–784
Flinders, M. (2005), The Politics of Public-Private Partnerships, in: British Journal of Politics and International Relations, Vol. 7, No. 2, pp. 543–567
Flinders, M./ Thiel, van S./ Greve, C. (1999), Quangos-What’s in a Name?-Defining Quangos from a Comparative Perspective, in: Governance, Vol. 12, No. 2, pp. 129–147
Friedman, M. (1962), Capitalism and Freedom, Chicago: University of Chicago Press
Gaille, W. B. (1956), Essentially Contested Concepts, Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, Vol. 56, No. 1, pp. 167–198
Gamble, A. (2000), Policy Agenda in a Multi-level Polity, in: Dunleavy P./ Gamble, A./ Holliday, I./ Peele, G. (eds.), Developments in British Politics 6, London: Macmillan
Gershon, Sir P. (2004), Releasing Resources to the Front Line-Independent Review of Public Sector Efficiency, London: HMSO
Goldsmith, S./ Eggers, W. (2004), Governing by Network, Washington DC: Brookings Institute
Hayek, F. (1944), Road to Serfdom, London: Routledge
Hayward, J./ Wright, V. (2000), Governing from the Centre: Policy Coordination in Six European Core Executives, in: Rhodes, R. A. W. (ed.), Transforming British Government: Vol. 2, Changing Roles and Relationships, London: Macmillan, pp. 27–46
HC 82 (1998), The Roles and Responsibility of the Minister for the Cabinet Office, Minutes of Evidence-Public Administration Select Committee, Session 1998–9, London: HMSO
HC 960-II (1998), The New Fiscal Framework and the Comprehensive Spending Review: Minutes of Evidence, Eight Report of the Treasury Select Committee, Session 1997–8, London: HMSO
HC 209 (1999), Quangos, Sixth Report of the Public Administration Select Committee, Session 1998–1999, London: HMSO
HC 378 (1999), Public Service Agreements, Seventh Report of the Select Committee on Treasury, Session 1998–9, London: HMSO
HC 849 (1999), Public Service Agreements: The Government’s Response to the Committee’s Seventh Report of Session 1998–99, Seventh Special Report; London: HMSO
HC 73-I (2001), HM Treasury, Third Report of the Treasury Select Committee, Session 2000–1, London: HMSO
HC 73-II (2001), HM Treasury: Minutes of Evidence, Third Report of the Treasury Select Committee, Session 2000–1, London: HMSO
HC 367 (2001), Mapping the Quango State, Fifth Report of the Public Administration Select Committee, Session 2000–2001, London: HMSO
HC 1092-II (2002), Spending Review 2002-Minutes of Evidence for Thursday 18 July 2002, London: HMSO
HC 62-I (2003), On Target? Government by Measurement, Fifth Report of the Public Administration Select Committee, Session 2002–3, London: HMSO
HC 62-II (2003), On Target? Government by Measurement: Appendices, Fifth Report of the Public Administration Select Committee, Session 2002–3, London: HMSO
HC 331-I (2005), Performance Targets and Monitoring-Minutes of Oral Evidence given by Rt Hon Paul Boateng MP, Chief Secretary, Mr Gus O’Donnell CB, HM Treasury, 9 February 2005, Minutes of Evidence-Treasury Select Committee, Session 2004–5, London: HMSO
HM Treasury (2003), Background Paper: The UK Government’s Public Service Agreement Framework, London: HM Treasury
HM Treasury and Cabinet Office (2004), Devolving Decision Making: 1-Delivering Better Public Services: Refining Targets and Performance Management, London: HMSO
Hodges, R. (ed.) (2005), Governance and the Public Sector, London: Edward Elgar
Holliday, I. (2000), Is the British State Hollowing Out?, in: Political Quarterly, Vol. 71, No. 2, pp. 167–177
Hood, C. (2002), The Risk Game and the Blame Game, in: Government and Opposition, Vol. 37, No. 1, pp. 15–37
Hood, C. (2006), Gaming in Targetworld: The Targets Approach to Managing British Public Services, in: Public Administration Review, Vol. 66, No. 4, pp. 515–521
Hooghe, L./ Marks, G. (2001), Multi-Level Governance and European Integration, London: Rowman and Littlefield
Hooghe, L./ Marks, G. (2003), Unraveling the Central State, but How? Types of Multilevel Governance, in: American Political Science Review, Vol. 97, No. 2, pp. 233–243
James, O. (2003), The Executive Agency Revolution in Whitehall: Public Interest versus Bureau-Shaping Perspectives, London: Palgrave Macmillan
James, O. (2004), The UK Core Executive’s use of Public Service Agreements as a Tool of Governance, in: Public Administration, Vol. 82, No. 2, pp. 397–419
Jessop, B. (1998), The Rise of Governance and the Risks of Failure: The Case of Economic Development, in: International Social Science Journal, Vol. 50, No. 155, pp. 40–44
Jessop, B. (2004), Multi-level Governance and Multi-level Metagovernance-Changes in the European Union as Integral Moments in the Transformation and Reorientation of Contemporary Statehood, in: Bache, I./ Flinders, M. (eds.), Multi-level Governance, pp. 49–74
Kavanagh, D./ Richards, D. (2001), Departmentalism and Joined-Up Government: Back to the Future?, in: Parliamentary Affairs, Vol. 54, No. 1, pp. 1–18
Kickert, W./ Klijn, E./ Koppenjan, J. (1977), Managing Complex Networks, London: Sage
King, A. (1975), Overload: Problems of Governing in the 1970s, in: Political Studies, Vol. 23, No. 2-3, pp. 284–296
Kjaer, A. (2004), Governance, Oxford: Polity
Lee, S./ Woodward, D. (2002), Implementing the Third Way: Public Services Under Blair, in: Public Money and Management, Vol. 22, No. 4, pp. 49–56
Lewis, D. (1997), Hidden Agendas-Politics, Law and Disorder, London: Hamish Hamilton
Ling, T. (2002), Delivering Joined-Up Government in the UK: Dimensions, Issues and Problems, in: Public Administration, Vol. 80, No. 4, pp. 615–642
Luhmann, N. (1986), The Autopoiesis of Social Systems, in: Geyer, F./ Zouwen, J. van der (eds.), Sociocybernetic Paradoxes, London: Sage, pp. 172–192
Marsh, D./ Richards, D./ Smith, M. (2003), Unequal Power: Towards and Asymmetric Power Model of the British Polity, in: Government and Opposition, Vol. 38, No. 3, pp. 306–322
Milburn, A. (2003), A Prospectus for Pilot Authorities, Speech to the Social Market Foundation, London, 30. April 2003, London: ODPM
Morison, J. (1998), The Case Against Constitutional Reform?, in: Journal of Law and Society, Vol. 25, No. 4, pp. 510–535
National Audit Office (2001), Measuring the Performance of Government Departments, London: HMSO
National Audit Office (2005a), Joint Working, London: National Audit Office
National Audit Office (2005b), Public Service Agreements: Managing Data Quality-Compendium Report, London: HMSO
Niskanen, W. A. (1971), Bureaucracies and Representative Government, Chicago: Aldine Atherton
Niskanen, W. A. (1982), Bureaucracies and Representative Government, in: Public Administration, Vol. 60, No. 1, pp. 23–41
OECD (2002), Distributed Public Governance, Paris: OECD
Osbourne, D./ Gaebler, T. (1992), Re-Inventing Government, London: Plume
Performance and Innovation Unit (2000a), Wiring it Up-Whitehall’s Management of Cross-Cutting Policies and Services, London: HMSO
Performance and Innovation Unit (2000b), Reaching Out-The Role of Central Government at Regional and Local Level, London: HMSO
Pierre, J. (2000), Debating Governance: Authority, Steering and Democracy, Oxford: Oxford University Press
Pierre, J./ Peters, B. G. (2000), Governance, Politics and the State, London: Macmillan
Pollitt, C./ Talbot, C. (eds.) (2003), Unbundling Government, London: Taylor and Francis
Richards, D./ Smith, M. J. (2004), The Hybrid State: Labour’s Response to the Challenge of Governance, in: Smith, M. J./ Ludlam, S. (eds.), Governing as New Labour, Basingstoke: Palgrave, pp. 106–126
Rhodes, R. A. W. (1994), The Hollowing Out of the State, in: Political Quarterly, Vol. 65, No. 1, pp. 138–151
Rhodes, R. A. W. (1997), Understanding Governance-Policy Networks, Governance, Reflexivity and Accountability, Buckingham: Oxford University Press
Rose, R. (1976), Ungovernability: Is there Fire behind the Smoke?, in: Political Studies, Vol. 27, No. 3, pp. 351–370
Rosenau, J. (1995), Governance in the Twenty-First Century, in: Global Governance, Vol. 1, No. 1, pp. 13–43
Rosenau, J./ Czempiel, E. (1992), Governing with Government, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Sartori, G. (1970), Concept Misinformation in Comparative Politics, in: American Political Science Review, Vol. 64, No. 4, pp. 1033–1053
Scharpf, F. (1994), Games Real Actors Could Play, in: Journal of Theoretical Politics, Vol. 6, No. 1, pp. 38–41
Shaw, E. (2004), What Matters is What Works: The Third Way and the Private Finance Initiative, in: Hale, S./ Leggett, W./ Martell, L. (eds.), The Third Way and Beyond, Manchester: Manchester University Press
Social Market Foundation (2005), To the Point: A Blueprint for Good Targets, London: Social Market Foundation
Stoker, G. (1998), Governance as Theory: Five Propositions, in: International Journal of Social Science, Vol. 50, No. 155, pp. 17–28
Strange, S. (1996), The Retreat of the State: The Diffusion of Power in the World Economy, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Stubbs, P. (2005), Stretching Concepts too Far? Multi-Level Governance, Policy Transfer and the Politics of Scale in South East Europe, in: Southern European Politics, Vol. 6, No. 2, pp. 66–87
Talbot, C. (2000), Performing Performance-A Comedy in Five Acts, in: Public Money and Management, Vol. 20, No. 4, pp. 63–68
Taylor, A. (2000), Hollowing out or Filling in? Task Forces and the Management of Cross-cutting Issues in the British Government, in: British Journal of Politics and International Relations, Vol. 2, No. 1, pp. 46–71
Teenage Pregnancy Unit (2005), Teenage Pregnancy Strategy Evaluation-Final Report, London: London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
Thain, C. (2004), Treasury Rules OK? The Further Evolution of a British Institution, in: British Journal of Politics and International Relations, Vol. 6, No. 1, pp. 121–128
Weiss, L. (1998), The Myth of the Powerless State: Governing the Economy in a Global Era, Cambridge: Polity
Weller, P./ Bakvis, H. (1997), The Hollow Crown: Coherence and Capacity in Central Government, in: Weller, P./ Bakvis, H./ Rhodes, R. A. W. (eds.), The Hollow Crown, pp. 1–15
Weller, P./ Bakvis, H./ Rhodes, R. A. W. (eds.) (1997), The Hollow Crown-Countervailing Trends in Core Executives, Basingstoke: Macmillan
Wilson, R. (1999), The Civil Service in the New Millennium, speech given at City University, London, 5. May 1999
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2007 Deutscher Universitäts-Verlag | GWV Fachverlage GmbH, Wiesbaden
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Flinders, M., Matthews, F. (2007). Rebuilding Strategic Capacity? Multi-Level Governance, Leadership and Public Service Agreements in Britain. In: Koch, R., Dixon, J. (eds) Public Governance and Leadership. DUV. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-8350-9100-9_9
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-8350-9100-9_9
Publisher Name: DUV
Print ISBN: 978-3-8350-0176-3
Online ISBN: 978-3-8350-9100-9
eBook Packages: Business and EconomicsEconomics and Finance (R0)