The Core Executive in Britain

ISBN-13: 9780333605165 / Angielski / Miękka / 1999 / 280 str.

Martin J. Smith

Opis

The study of central government has been dominated by the recurring questions of Prime Ministerial versus Cabinet government and civil service versus ministerial power. Using the idea of 'power dependence' this book challenges these simplicities to provide a definitive assessment of - and introduction to - power and policy at the core of British political life. It undermines traditional approaches by demonstrating that power in the core executive is complex, and flows between actors and institutions. The Prime Minister can only exercise power with the support of the Cabinet, and ministers and officials are often partners rather than competitors.

Spis treści

Introducing the Core Executive.- Analysing the Core Executive.- The Core Executive in Historical Perspective.- The Core of the Core: Relations between the Prime Minister and Cabinet.- Ministers, Civil Servants and Departments: the Core Executive and Policy Making.- Coordinating the Core Executive: the Cabinet Office, the Prime Minister's Office and the Treasury.- Reforming the Core Executive.- Constraints on the Core Executive.- Constitution, State and Core Executive.- Bibliography.- Index.

O autorze

MARTIN J. SMITH is Senior Lecturer in Politics, University of Sheffield. His previous publications include Contemporary British Conservatism (Macmillan, 1996).