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Blair and Governance

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posted on 2023-05-22, 12:08 authored by Rhodes, RAW

There is much talk of a ‘Blair Presidency’. Although people are not always clear about the meaning of this expression, it commonly refers to the centralisation of power on the prime minister and his office at No. 10 Downing Street. However, even as people tell tales of a centralised Blair presidency, they also tell stories of fragmented British governance; of the unintended consequences and failures of policy making. This chapter explores the paradox between presidential claims and governance failure. It is an exploration of the limits to public leadership.

The first section of the paper establishes that journalists, practitioners and academics talk of a Blair presidency. The second section outlines the governance narrative, introducing the ideas of policy networks, governance with and through networks, core executive, and the hollowing out of the state. The third section applies these ideas to a review of policy making under Blair. I distinguish between policy audits that identify the gap between policy aims and outcomes and policy critique that places such fault-finding in a broader, historical perspective. Finally, I comment on the implications of this analysis for the study of public leadership.

History

Publication title

Public Governance and Leadership: Political and Managerial Problems in Making Public Governance Changes the Driver for Re-Constituting Leadership

Editors

J Dixon and R Koch

Pagination

95-116

ISBN

9783835001763

Department/School

School of Social Sciences

Publisher

Deutscher Universitats-Verlag

Place of publication

Wiesbaden

Extent

25

Rights statement

Copyright 2007 Deutscher Universitäts-Verlag/GWV Fachverlage GmbH, Wiesbaden

Repository Status

  • Restricted

Socio-economic Objectives

Government and politics not elsewhere classified

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