Edward C. Page

Policy Transfer among Local Governments: An Information–Theory Approach

We argue that the burgeoning literature on policy transfer suffers from the lack of an analytical framework that would facilitate understanding and, thus, theory–building. We suggest that policy transfer be conceptualized as occurring through a communications and information framework and that it focus on information networks that include producers, senders, and facilitators of information, as well as recipients. We apply this framework to an illustrative study of how British local–authority officials involved in the area of urban regeneration policy learn from each other’s experience. Utilizing this approach, the results of our case study yield several testable hypotheses for future study. In particular, they direct us towards the importance of informal networks in the policy–transfer process, towards an examination of the motivations of producers, senders, and disseminators of information, and towards the difficulty all participants in the network have in assessing the quality and validity of the information they receive.

Central and local government relations : a comparative analysis of West European unitary states

Central and Local Government Relations considers how best to organize local government units, and what powers and responsibilities should be devolved to local government. The book presents a comparative analysis of local governments in seven unitary states - Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Britain, France, Italy and Spain. It tests the hypothesis that any convincing explanation for the emergence of a particular pattern of central-local relations in one country must be able to explain why identical patterns are or are not found in others. The ability of local government to shape public services is discussed on the basis of three dimensions - the functions of local government, the type of discretion that it has, and the extent to which local political actors can influence central processes of decision making. The editors distinguish between the type of local governmnent system found in Britain and Scandinavia and that found in Southern European nations, and explore the reasons which explain these differences.

People who run Europe

In the minds of many, Brussels is very closely associated with bureaucracy. Yet we know little about the character of the European Unions bureaucracy. Professor Page draws upon a wide range of empirical sources to present a picture of the administrative system of the EU. He discusses the complexities of its internal organization and goes on to explore the people who work in it. As a multinational organization its procedures for appointment and promotion reflect in part the need to maintain a professional career civil service and in part the desire to secure a fair mix of nationalities among top officials. People who Run Europe looks at the distinctive features of the administrative system which these two principles help to produce as well as at the nature of the people - their backgrounds, careers and skills - who are attracted to it. The author also examines the role of top officials in the decision making process, above all in their dealings with politicians and interest groups.

A Critique of the Consumption Cleavage Approach in British Voting Studies

In recent years the theory of consumption cleavages has progressed far towards supplanting traditional explanations of voting behaviour resting on socialization and issue-based electoral choice. What is not often realized is that the new theory cannot readily coexist with traditional explanations. If consumption cleavage theory is right then much of what we thought we understood about political behaviour is wrong; and the implications of this confrontation extend far beyond voting studies or even political science, to fields as diverse as anthropology and social psychology. In this paper it is argued that traditional explanations of voting choice have not been proved defective by the consumption cleavage theorists, nor has the proposed replacement been proved superior in this field of study. The consumption cleavage approach is questioned because its adoption would involve great sacrifices while offering little in return.

Has the Whitehall Model survived

The expression ‘Whitehall Model’ has a certain heuristic value for describing four key features of the British civil service, namely political neutrality, generalism, life-long career paths and a strong policy advisory role. This model has been challenged by politicization, changes in career management and recruitment as well as increasing competition from other sources of policy advice. The UK civil service’s role in relation to ministers seems to have become increasingly defined in managerial terms and decreasingly as policy advisers, not least because a range of other individuals and bodies (advisers, consultants, think tanks, party research departments) now share this role. While it appears to be enjoying a diminishing policy role, the senior civil service has not, at least so far, managed to occupy the high ground in its managerial role. The biggest change in the model is a collapse of confidence in the civil service, not only among citizens, but also among politicians and civil servants themselves. Points for practitioners In many of its features, the Whitehall Model, describing the UK civil service and its political role, has been remarkably resilient in the face of major changes to the UK politico-administrative system. Top civil servants have traditionally avoided becoming involved in managing the detailed development of policy. With the decline in the political power of the civil service as the most noticeable of the changes in the Whitehall Model, greater attention to this policy development role might help improve the quality of decision-making.

Accountability as a Bureaucratic Minefield: Lessons from a Comparative Study

The large and growing literature on accountability highlights a variety of mechanisms by which bureaucrats may be held accountable as regards their role in the policy-making process. This paper looks at accountability mechanisms from the bureaucrats perspective using material gathered for a study of bureaucratic roles in rulemaking in Sweden, Germany, the United States, France, the United Kingdom and the European Union. It asks to which of the mechanisms for securing public accountability for executive decisions do bureaucrats pay particular attention when helping develop policy: where are the minefields they feel they have to negotiate? The most important of the minefields is political executive approval. It shapes the way the other mechanisms (group opinion, the legislative and judicial branches of government) are negotiated. Thus ‘ministerial responsibility’ and its equivalents in the other countries remain crucial features of systems of administrative accountability.

Time, Parties and Budgetary Change: Fiscal Decisions in English Cities, 1974–88

The ideological differences between the Labour and Conservative parties in the 1980s are greater than at any time in the postwar era. Consequently one would expect party control at the local level to have an increasing effect on local government decisions. Using an approach to cross-time analysis that avoids some of the major shortcomings of other studies, the relationship between party control and local fiscal decisions in English cities between 1974 and 1988 can be traced. The method allows not only an exploration of the direct effect of party control, but also its indirect effects, mediated through grant penalties and rate-capping. Under Mrs Thatchers administration the impact of party on local fiscal decisions has increased quite substantially.

German responses to regime change: Culture, class, economy or context?

How have Germans, East and West, responded to dramatic changes in their political and economic regimes resulting from re‐unification? Since every German has lived under at least two regimes, evaluations of the present are made in the light of experience of their previous regime, the pre‐unification Federal Republic or the German Democratic Republic. This article analyses the 1993 German Re‐Unification Survey to test the extent to which Germans have shown a common response, as implied by theories of pan‐German culture or, in the case of the GDR, that Sovietisation matters. In both parts of Germany, people are divided. It then tests three competing hypotheses about the causes of differing evaluations of regime change. At first glance, economic costs and benefits appear most important. But a causal model shows that context ‐ evaluating regimes in the light of experience of the GDR or the Federal Republic ‐is most important, indirectly and directly. A follow up survey shows that positive responses are increas...

British Political Science and Comparative Politics

The internationalization of political science makes it especially difficult to identify a distinctive British approach to comparative politics. While there is certainly evidence of a distaste for cross-national comparison in Britain, this is no more marked than in other countries. In fact, on the evidence of a survey of major journals, Britons make relatively heavy use of the comparative method. British comparative research is less likely to use statistical indicators and methods than that found in other countries. Apart from this, the distinctions between comparative politics here and elsewhere are more matters of style and less matters of substance.

Fiscal stress in cities

Acknowledgements 1. Can government control itself? Richard Rose and Edward Page 2. Pressures in Whitehall Maurice Wright 3. Pressures from Whitehall Royston Greenwood 4. The decline of urban economies Ken Young and Liz Mills 5. Local government as an employer Andrew Thomson 6. Do fewer pupils mean falling expenditure? S. J. Bailey 7. Local autonomy and intergovernmental finance in Britain and the United States Harold Wolman 8. Chronic instability in fiscal systems Richard Rose and Edward Page Tables Figures.