Who really runs the European Union? In his revealing study, Page provides a fascinating insight into the administrative machinery in Brussels, exploring the backgrounds and careers of top officials, and their relationship to their political masters.

This collection provides valuable information about the structures and composition of the higher civil service and its position in the political structure through a comparative analysis of Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands, Austria, Greece, Denmark, and Sweden. The book explores how higher civil service has developed in the light of the massive changes in European societies in the past thirty years.

This collection provides valuable information about the structures and composition of the higher civil service and its position in the political structure through a comparative analysis of Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands, Austria, Greece, Denmark, and Sweden. The book explores how higher civil service has developed in the light of the massive changes in European societies in the past thirty years.

Policy making is not only about the cut and thrust of politics. It is also a bureaucratic activity. In this ground-breaking work, two leading authorities come together to examine the world of the policy bureaucrat for the first time. The volume draws in crucial debates over accountability and democratic ideology, hierarchy and expertise, and should establish itself as a central point of reference for scholars and practitioners alike.

Governing by Numbers is a jargon-free account of how delegated legislation - laws that do not pass through the full legislative scrutiny to which Acts of Parliament are subjected - is made. It is based on new research involving an analysis of nearly 30,000 pieces of delegated legislation; detailed investigation of 46 recent regulations based on in-depth interviews with those involved in developing, writing and scrutinising them and a major survey of nearly 400 interest groups. Delegated legislation is examined as a form of -everyday policy-making-. It deals with important issues, from the...

Conflicting pressures to increase public expenditure and restrict taxation have created fiscal stress in many major cities. In Britain, the problem is highlighted because central government is responsible for so large a portion of local government revenue, but not for its spending. The object of this book is to identify the extent, the causes and consequences of fiscal stress as it affected local government in the 1980s. To do this, the editors have brought together a multidisciplinary team of scholars working on the substantive problems facing cities, as well as experts in the urban economy...

Have bureaucrats taken over the decision making role of politicians? This book offers a direct assessment of the role of bureaucrats in policy making by analysing how they shape policy in making decrees - laws that generally do not pass through full legislative scrutiny. These are often described as "secondary legislation" and are known by a variety of names (including decrets, arretes, administrative regulations, Verordnungen, statutory instruments). Such decrees offer an important vantage point for understanding bureaucratic power not only because they account for a large proportion of...

This Handbook brings together a collection of leading international authors to reflect on the influence of central contributions, or classics, that have shaped the development of the field of public policy and administration.
The Handbook reflects on a wide range of key contributions to the field, selected on the basis of their international and wider disciplinary impact. Focusing on classics that contributed significantly to the field over the second half of the 20th century, it offers insights into works that have explored aspects of the policy process, of particular features of...