“…Ingham, 1984;Fine and Harris, 1985), the enduring dominance of its political elite (e.g. Sampson, 1982Sampson, , 2004Scott, 1991), the nature of its political and economic decline (see, e.g., Gamble, 1981Gamble, , 1994Wiener, 1981;Collins and Robbins, 1990;and later, Coates, 1994; and also English and Kenny, 2000), as well as the ever-present analysis of its institutional mechanics (e.g. King, 1985;Robins, 1987;Kavanagh, 1990), new developments also now began to take root and flourish.…”