Radical reforms of the civil service during the 1980s and 90s have broken up the old unified hierarchical structures. In their place are peripheral agencies concerned with policy implementation and a central core comcerned with policy-making. The radical reforms are described and assessed in terms of the public choice and public management theories which underpin them. Bureau-maximizing and bureau-shaping models are used to predict the directions we should expect the reforms to take and their likely success. The key central chapter of the book examines the equivocal use of the term "efficiency" used to justify the managerial changes. This is the first textbook which critically examines theories of bureaucracy together with an introductory and descriptive account of the civil service today.

The Civil Service (Theory and Practice in British Politics)

Politics & Social Sciences

Dowding, Keith

Social Sciences

Routledge

Sophisticated yet easily accessible text which applies models of bureacracy to current changes in the British Civil Service and also looks at the impact of the EC.

Political Analysis and Public Choice

This book provides an introduction to the application of the techniques of formal analytic methods and quantitative analysis to the study of political science.   The book has been written with several different levels of students in mind.  It can be used for relatively simple undergraduate courses in politics that do not require high levels of mathematical competence.  However, its framework is such that it can form the core text for more advanced courses on the use of formal methods in politics that might be taught at the graduate level in both politics and economics.  To that end each chapter builds in sophistication. Amongst the core topics covered in the book can be counted rent-seeking, voting, collective action, resdistribution and pressure groups. The book cleverly covers the related but distinct disciplines of public choice and political economics and should appeal to students and researchers in both economics and political science.

Business & Money

Dewan, Torun

Larcinese, Valentino

Economics

Accounting for Ministers uses the tools of modern political science to analyse the factors which determine the fortunes of Cabinet ministers. Utilising agency theory, it describes Cabinet government as a system of incentives for prime ministerial and parliamentary rule. The authors use a unique dataset of ministers from 1945 to 2007 to examine the structural and individual characteristics that lead to the selection and durability of ministers. Sensitive to historical context, it describes the unique features of different Prime Ministers and the sorts of issues and scandals that lead to the forced exit of ministers. The authors identify the structural factors that determine ministerial performance and tenure, seeing resignation calls as performance indicators. Probing the nature of individual and collective responsibility within Westminster forms of government, its rigorous analysis provides powerful new insights into the nature of Cabinet government.

Accounting for Ministers: Scandal and Survival in British Government 1945–2007

Berlinski, Samuel

Cambridge University Press

Rational choice is the dominant theoretical approach in political science in North America and one of the main contending approaches elsewhere. This major new text provides a clear and accessible introduction assuming no prior knowledge and providing a uniquely fair-minded assessment of both the strengths and limitations of the approach. Truly international in scope and in its choice of examples, it provides broad-ranging coverage of the areas in which rational choice has been widely used and in-depth coverage of the main works of its key protagonists.

Rational Choice (Key Concepts)

Politics & Government

Polity

Rational Choice (SAGE Politics Texts series)

Hindmoor, Andrew

Sage Publications Ltd.

* What is the nature of power in society and how can we study it? * How do some lose and others benefit from the distribution of power?* Why do some groups always seem to be at an advantage in disputes?Power provides a refreshing introduction to the concept and study of political power that overcomes many of the old disputes over the nature and structure of power in society. Making the important distinction between power and luck, Dowding develops the concept of systematic luck and explains how some groups get what they want without trying, while the efforts of others bring little reward.The "who benefits?" test cannot reveal who has power, for many benefit through luck and some are systematically lucky. Using simple non-cooperative game theory, Dowding demonstrates that some groups are disadvantaged because of the way society is structured. The fact that one group lacks power does not necessarily mean another group is opposing them. In contrast, other groups may have power as well as luck.The analysis is not restricted to theoretical arguments, and the relevant concepts are used to illustrate and explain the debates on power at both the national and local level. For example, Dowding illustrates how luck and power can be marshalled to underpin arguments about the "growth machine" and "regime politics". Clearly and accessibly expressed, the complete volume will be read by undergraduates and researchers alike to explain features of society that have been hotly debated for many years.

Power (Concepts in Social Thought)

Univ of Minnesota Pr

What is the nature of power in society and how can we study it? How do some lose and others benefit from the distribution of power? Why do some groups always seem to be at an advantage in disputes? In this useful and compact treatment, Keith Dowding provides an introduction to the study of political power that overcomes many of the old disputes about the nature and structure of power in society. Making the important distinction between power and luck, Dowding develops the concept of systematic luck and explains how some groups get what they want without trying, while the efforts of others are little rewarded. He discusses the "who benefits?" test, arguing that it cannot reveal who has power because many benefit through luck and others are systematically lucky. Power does not simply put forward theoretical arguments, however; relevant concepts are used to illustrate and explain the debates on power at both the national and local level. Clearly and accessibly written, this volume is a valuable resource for anyone interested in the structure of society as it is, and as it should be.

Power (Concepts Social Thought)

Univ. of Minnesota Press

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Dowding, Keith. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Dowding, Keith

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Dowding, Keith. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

The Civil Service (Theory and Practice in British Politics)

The Civil Service (Theory and Practice in British Politics)

Political Analysis and Public Choice

Political Analysis and Public Choice

Accounting for Ministers: Scandal and Survival in British Government 1945–2007

Rational Choice (Key Concepts)

Rational Choice (SAGE Politics Texts series)

Rational Choice (SAGE Politics Texts series)

Power (Concepts in Social Thought)

Power (Concepts Social Thought)