scholarly journals Core Executive Politics in the Cameron Era, 2010–16: The Dynamics of Whitehall Reform

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-19
Author(s):  
Patrick Diamond
Keyword(s):  
Public Service ◽  
Cumulative Effect ◽  
Resource Dependency ◽  
British Government ◽  
Political Capacity ◽  
The Core ◽  
Executive Politics ◽  
Core Executive ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Rules Of The Game

Abstract By the early 1990s, the core executive was established as the ‘new orthodoxy’ in the study of British government at the centre. Thirty years on, this article avers that its main assumptions are increasingly questionable in the light of more recent empirical evidence. The core executive approach may well have outlived its usefulness. This claim is derived from analysis of the Cameron premiership from 2010 to 2016. The focus is on how Whitehall reform radically altered the relationship between politicians and civil servants, reshaping prevailing public service bargains and rules of the game. Ministers identified mechanisms to rebuild political capacity, augmenting partisan control of the bureaucracy. They drew on resources from outside the core executive while politicians increased their sway over civil service appointments. As a result, officials felt they should be ‘responsive’ to ministers. The cumulative effect was to replace interpersonal and institutional resource dependency with a ‘them and us’ model. Consequently, the risk of policy disasters and fiascos grew.

Non-Partisan Advisors in the Minister’s Office—Ghosts in the Core Executive Machine?

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rose Cole
Keyword(s):  
Public Service ◽  
Resource Dependency ◽  
Policy Coordination ◽  
Functional Approach ◽  
Change Over Time ◽  
The Core ◽  
The Past ◽  
Core Executive ◽  
Dependency Approach ◽  
Over Time

Abstract The ‘core executive’ is conceived of as the collection of organisations and procedures that coordinate executive government. Two approaches to core executive studies are: the resource dependency approach, which focusses on how roles interact and resources are utilised; and the functional approach, which focusses on how roles change over time. Both approaches are applied to non-partisan advisors (private secretaries) in ministerial office settings, actors which to date core executive studies have ignored. It reveals the resources that non-partisan advisors apply to contribute to policy coordination and maintain political neutrality; and that their role has changed since the increased presence of partisan advisors in ministers’ offices in the past 20 years. Six distinct roles describe how non-partisan advisors respond to and meet the needs of both minister and public service in the core executive. When compared with political advisory roles, five of the roles appear strongly aligned in function.

scholarly journals The Presidentialization of Political Executives

2020 ◽  
pp. 357-381
Author(s):  
Robert Elgie ◽  
Gianluca Passarelli
Keyword(s):  
Future Study ◽  
Research Agenda ◽  
Party Politics ◽  
Important Research ◽  
The Core ◽  
Executive Politics ◽  
The Future ◽  
Core Executive ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
The Relationship

This chapter aims to disentagle the ‘presidentialization’ and ‘prime ministerialization’ concepts and to clarify them. The first section begins by noting when the terms first came into common academic usage. It will also discuss the relationship between the concept of prime ministerialization and the more familiar concept of prime ministerial government as it has been used in the work on the core executive. The chapter will then focus on the most important research questions at stake in this area, noting the methods that are traditionally used to study this topic. The second section reviews the existing literature on presidentialization and prime ministerialization. The focus will be on the presidentialization of electoral or party politics only in so far as it affects the nature of executive politics. Finally, the chapter will try to set the research agenda for the future study of the presidentialization by focusing of what aspects have not been sufficiently or adequately investigated, or where there is still a lack of knowledge.

From Prime Ministerial Power to Core Executive

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. A. W. Rhodes
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Prime Minister ◽  
Central Government ◽  
Government Policies ◽  
Approaches To Studying ◽  
The Core ◽  
Executive Politics ◽  
Core Executive ◽  
The Government ◽  
Different Parts

The core executive is a new concept replacing the conventional debate about the power of the prime minister and the Cabinet. It refers to all those organizations and procedures that coordinate central government policies, and act as final arbiters of conflict between different parts of the government machine. In brief, the ‘core executive’ is the heart of the machine. The chapter reviews the several approaches to studying the British executive: prime ministerial government; prime ministerial cliques; Cabinet government; ministerial government; segmented decision-making; and bureaucratic coordination. It then discusses several ways forward by developing new theory and methods. The Afterword discusses the core executive as interlocking networks, and the fluctuating patterns of executive politics.

What Is New about ‘Network Governance’ and Why Does It Matter?

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. A. W. Rhodes
Keyword(s):  
Prime Minister ◽  
Policy Networks ◽  
Network Governance ◽  
The State ◽  
Accurate Description ◽  
British Government ◽  
The Core ◽  
Core Executive ◽  
Court Politics

This chapter replies to key criticisms about policy networks, the core executive, and governance. On networks, the chapter discusses the context of networks, and the ability of the theory to explain change. On the core executive, it discusses a shift away from a focus on the prime minister to court politics. On governance, the chapter returns to redefining the state, steering networks, metagovernance, and storytelling. It restates the case for the idea of the differentiated polity. This is edifying because it provides a vocabulary for a more accurate description of British government. Finally, the chapter provides a link to Volume II by summarizing the decentred approach to the differentiated polity.

scholarly journals High Involvement Work in the New Zealand Public Service

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Rebecca Fiona Kirkham
Keyword(s):  
Job Satisfaction ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Public Service ◽  
Latent Variable ◽  
Structural Model ◽  
Organisational Commitment ◽  
Employee Outcomes ◽  
High Involvement ◽  
The Core ◽  
The Relationship

<p>The aim of this research is to investigate the relationship between high involvement work practices (HIWP) and employee outcomes, such as job satisfaction and organisational commitment, in the core New Zealand public service. It also investigates whether certain demographic factors may influence this relationship and proposes a structural model to test this.  Information about HIWP and employee outcomes was originally gathered as part of the 2013 Workplace Dynamics Survey conducted by the New Zealand Public Service Association (PSA) and Victoria University of Wellington (Plimmer et al., 2013). Participants, all of whom were PSA members, were asked a variety of questions about their work, workplace and themselves. For the purposes of this current study, the sample was then limited to only those members of the core public sector who reported that they had no managerial responsibilities, which comprised 1,665 unique responses. The data were then analysed in order to generate descriptive statistics and trends regarding opinions, and to conduct inferential analysis. This included exploratory factor analysis to confirm the principal factors, confirmatory factor analysis to test the measurement of the constructs, and structural equation modelling to explicate the relationship between HIWP and employee outcomes. Moderating factors such as age, gender, and level of educational attainment were then introduced to the proposed structural model.  The model suggests that HIWP, as measured by items associated with power, information, rewards, and knowledge (PIRK), have a positive effect on employees’ reported job satisfaction and organisational commitment. The model tests the influence of a second-order latent variable that describes the PIRK attributes working collectively, as well as a second-order latent variable, labelled Passion, for employee outcomes, based on the work of Vandenberg, Richardson and Eastman (1999), and Langford (2009), respectively.  The findings of this study largely support the relationships proposed in the literature on HIWP, which was used to develop the theoretical model. It finds that employees reporting higher PIRK also experience higher job satisfaction and organisational commitment. It also suggests that age and level of educational attainment individually have some effect on the PIRK-Passion relationship. While gender did not affect this particular causal relationship, the model was different in some respects for men and women, particularly with respect to the effect of length of time spent working for a particular employer.  This study contributes to theoretical and practical knowledge by providing evidence of the influence of high involvement practices for people management in the New Zealand public service on employee outcomes, an under-researched area. It also highlights the need for public sector managers and HR professionals to be aware of the different experiences of different demographic groups. This research makes recommendations for further research, including in the data-gathering stage, as well as suggestions for practitioners.</p>

Intelligence and the Core Executive

2010 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-28 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin J. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Policy Process ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Security Policy ◽  
Prime Minister ◽  
Policy Outcomes ◽  
Considerable Influence ◽  
British Government ◽  
The Core ◽  
Core Executive

Much of the analysis of intelligence and security in British government has treated it as a separate and distinct sphere. This article argues that the core executive framework provides a useful mechanism for integrating security policy making with other aspects of the domestic policy process. The article analyses the changing nature of the core executive and its impact on decision-making. The article argues that if we look at intelligence through the core executive framework we can analyse intelligence as a particular form of knowledge that can provide the Prime Minister with considerable influence on policy outcomes. This is not, however, to suggest that the Prime Minister is presidential.

scholarly journals High Involvement Work in the New Zealand Public Service

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Rebecca Fiona Kirkham
Keyword(s):  
Job Satisfaction ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Public Service ◽  
Latent Variable ◽  
Structural Model ◽  
Organisational Commitment ◽  
Employee Outcomes ◽  
High Involvement ◽  
The Core ◽  
The Relationship

<p>The aim of this research is to investigate the relationship between high involvement work practices (HIWP) and employee outcomes, such as job satisfaction and organisational commitment, in the core New Zealand public service. It also investigates whether certain demographic factors may influence this relationship and proposes a structural model to test this.  Information about HIWP and employee outcomes was originally gathered as part of the 2013 Workplace Dynamics Survey conducted by the New Zealand Public Service Association (PSA) and Victoria University of Wellington (Plimmer et al., 2013). Participants, all of whom were PSA members, were asked a variety of questions about their work, workplace and themselves. For the purposes of this current study, the sample was then limited to only those members of the core public sector who reported that they had no managerial responsibilities, which comprised 1,665 unique responses. The data were then analysed in order to generate descriptive statistics and trends regarding opinions, and to conduct inferential analysis. This included exploratory factor analysis to confirm the principal factors, confirmatory factor analysis to test the measurement of the constructs, and structural equation modelling to explicate the relationship between HIWP and employee outcomes. Moderating factors such as age, gender, and level of educational attainment were then introduced to the proposed structural model.  The model suggests that HIWP, as measured by items associated with power, information, rewards, and knowledge (PIRK), have a positive effect on employees’ reported job satisfaction and organisational commitment. The model tests the influence of a second-order latent variable that describes the PIRK attributes working collectively, as well as a second-order latent variable, labelled Passion, for employee outcomes, based on the work of Vandenberg, Richardson and Eastman (1999), and Langford (2009), respectively.  The findings of this study largely support the relationships proposed in the literature on HIWP, which was used to develop the theoretical model. It finds that employees reporting higher PIRK also experience higher job satisfaction and organisational commitment. It also suggests that age and level of educational attainment individually have some effect on the PIRK-Passion relationship. While gender did not affect this particular causal relationship, the model was different in some respects for men and women, particularly with respect to the effect of length of time spent working for a particular employer.  This study contributes to theoretical and practical knowledge by providing evidence of the influence of high involvement practices for people management in the New Zealand public service on employee outcomes, an under-researched area. It also highlights the need for public sector managers and HR professionals to be aware of the different experiences of different demographic groups. This research makes recommendations for further research, including in the data-gathering stage, as well as suggestions for practitioners.</p>

Hollowing Out or Filling In? Taskforces and the Management of Cross-Cutting Issues in British Government

2000 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 46-71 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Taylor
Keyword(s):  
Social Exclusion ◽  
British Government ◽  
Policy Coherence ◽  
The Core ◽  
The Social ◽  
Core Executive ◽  
Permanent Loss ◽  
Strategic Role ◽  
Emergence Of Institutions

This article considers the problem posed by the need to build policy coherence across the levels of government but with a focus on the strategic role of the centre in the hollow state. It considers the Social Exclusion Unit (SEU) as an example of a structure, the taskforce, designed to meet the demands of coherence-building. It concludes that, far from the centre being hollowed out, resulting in a permanent loss of capacity, there is a growing emphasis in the core executive on strategic co-ordination and the emergence of institutions such as the SEU indicate a counter-tendency to hollowing out: filling in.

In a word, I’ve been there

2019 ◽  
pp. 246-256
Author(s):  
A. K. Zholkovsky
Keyword(s):  
The State ◽  
Female Characters ◽  
Political Situation ◽  
The Core ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Core Problem ◽  
Typical Solution

In his article, A. Zholkovsky discusses the contemporary detective mini-series Otlichnitsa [A Straight-A Student], which mentions O. Mandelstam’s poem for children A Galosh [Kalosha]: more than a fleeting mention, this poem prompts the characters and viewers alike to solve the mystery of its authorship. According to the show’s plot, the fact that Mandelstam penned the poem surfaces when one of the female characters confesses her involvement in his arrest. Examining this episode, Zholkovsky seeks structural parallels with the show in V. Aksyonov’s Overstocked Packaging Barrels [Zatovarennaya bochkotara] and even in B. Pasternak’s Doctor Zhivago [Doktor Zhivago]: in each of those, a member of the Soviet intelligentsia who has developed a real fascination with some unique but unattainable object is shocked to realize that the establishment have long enjoyed this exotic object without restrictions. We observe, therefore, a typical solution to the core problem of the Soviet, and more broadly, Russian cultural-political situation: the relationship between the intelligentsia and the state, and the resolution is not a confrontation, but reconciliation.

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