Interpreting British Governance

Bevir, Mark; Rhodes, R. A. W.

doi:10.4324/9780203135914

Cited by 93 publications

(124 citation statements)

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“…Nevertheless, it has faced three critiques that have reduced its enduring influence. First, Bulpitt was a supporter of Thatcherism (Bevir and Rhodes, 2003, pp. 110–1), a position with which the majority of political scientists would not wish to be identified.…”

Section: A Centre Methodology and Historical Perspectivementioning

confidence: 99%

Territory and PowerRevisited: Theorising Territorial Politics in the United Kingdom after Devolution

Bradbury

2006

Political Studies

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The article seeks to contribute to theoretical analysis of political decentralisation in the UK occasioned by devolution to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland in 1998–9. It examines the contribution that can be made by Jim Bulpitt's 1983 book, Territory and Power in the United Kingdom. First, it argues that Bulpitt's critique of conventional wisdoms in the early 1980s remains highly relevant to reflecting on shortcomings in the literature today. Key among these is the lack of a common conceptual language for analysis, and Bulpitt's overarching re‐conceptualisation of the field as the study of ‘territorial politics’ would repay renewed reflection. Secondly, the article clarifies Bulpitt's own centre perspective and argues that its application is best understood today as a realist historical institutionalist account of UK territorial politics. In so doing Bulpitt also provides an enduring methodological and interpretative challenge to assumptions of state centralism. Thirdly, the article argues that key methodological/interpretative insights can be adapted from Territory and Power in analysis of UK territorial politics and the advent of devolution. This reinforces the utility of Bulpitt's historical institutionalism to contemporary analysis. Finally, it argues that Territory and Power's concepts and methods, understood in these ways, would bear application in comparative studies of political decentralisation.

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Section: A Centre Methodology and Historical Perspectivementioning

confidence: 99%

Territory and PowerRevisited: Theorising Territorial Politics in the United Kingdom after Devolution

Bradbury

2006

Political Studies

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“…This ‘dynamic dependency’ analysis also draws on an interpretivist or social constructionist perspective in suggesting that actors interpret how to act (Yanow 1996; Bevir and Rhodes 2003; Richards and Smith 2004; Richards 2007). It is argued that the interpretations of local bureaucrats are informed not only by the formal legalistic and operational ‘rules of the game’, which provide an action orientation supported by resource flows, but also by the internalized and informal perceptions by actors of appropriate role behaviour and how to operate.…”

Section: Dynamic Dependency and Institutional Interpretivism In Localmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Bevir and Rhodes stress that traditions are not fixed – they vary over time and across communities of meaning. When new ideas challenge traditions this creates dilemmas for actors and requires new narratives of change (Bevir and Rhodes 2003). Methodologically, therefore, an interpretivist approach requires a de‐centring of the research focus of empirical analysis to capture actors’ own interpretations of how they read and then shape the context in which they conduct themselves.…”

Section: Dynamic Dependency and Institutional Interpretivism In Localmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, those wishing to engage with interpretivist methodologies can turn to differing disciplinary, epistemological and ontological starting points (for discussions of varieties of interpretivism, see Bevir and Rhodes 2003, 2006a; Richards and Smith 2004; Finlayson 2004; Clarke and Gains 2007). Within the political literature on interpretivism there are current ontological debates over the analytical and temporal sequencing of ‘past agential activity’ and the extent to which ‘traditions’ are related to material circumstances or whether this leads to a reification of the context within which narratives and dilemmas arise (McAnulla 2006; Bevir and Rhodes 2006a, b; Bevir 2007; Richards 2008, p. 227).…”

Section: Dynamic Dependency and Institutional Interpretivism In Localmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Bevir and Rhodes call for greater clarity in what is meant by practices which ontologically speaking constrain the agency of political actors (Bevir and Rhodes 2006b, p. 7). Here, what might be called an ‘institutional interpretivist’ approach, guides the analysis, one which sees that changed material circumstances in the ‘situated context’ in which strategic actors operate (Hay 2004) often require changed practices, creating differing narratives of change and consequent dilemmas (Bevir and Rhodes 2003). The adoption of an institutional perspective to the interpretivism offered here is to denote an ontological acceptance that there are external realities which create a structured context within political and bureaucratic actors interpret their agency (Richards and Smith 2004; McAnulla 2006).…”

Section: Dynamic Dependency and Institutional Interpretivism In Localmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Narratives and Dilemmas of Local Bureaucratic Elites: Whitehall at the Coal Face?

Gains

2009

Public Administration

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The worlds of local bureaucrats are under researched and under theorized compared with those of civil servants in core executives. Yet local bureaucratic elites, sitting as they do between central states and localities, are key actors in governance networks. In England, the role and responsibilities of local bureaucratic elites has been transformed since the days of professionalized officers heading departmental structures reporting to committees, firstly by NPM and politicization in the 1980s and 1990s and, more recently, by political management reform introducing a separation of powers. Drawing on interviews in 15 local authorities, this paper examines the changing narratives and dilemmas of local government elites. In particular it explores, but argues against, early expectations that the creation of an elected executive, with considerable devolution of decision‐making responsibilities to individual cabinet member councillors, has meant a move closer to the logics of the ‘Whitehall mandarin’ tradition by local government chief officers.

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Interpreting lived experiences: The dilemmas of public sector leaders

Masud

Hossain

2021

Public Admin & Development

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Dilemmas are a useful concept for exploring leadership practices and decision-making process. Preserving the integrity of the state and yet to be representative-this classic dilemma is faced by Bangladeshi Public Sector Leaders (PSLs). Taking an interpretive approach, this research presents empirical insights in an important subfield of public administration, namely, lived experiences of PSL about the public sector reforms and governance practice. The researchers administered in-depth interviews and Focus Group Discussion (FGD). What emerged as the salient dilemmas of PSLs are: the dilemma of public sector leadership: the colonial legacy, power relationship dilemma in the system of government, domestic reform strategy versus donor reform strategy, public interest versus vested interest and lastly, commitment versus service to multiple stakeholders. It also identified that there is a significant presence of NPM overtones in the PSL response towards the reform programme that illustrates the prominent features of decentralization and bureaucratic entrepreneurship.

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Interpreting British Governance

Cited by 93 publications

References 0 publications

Territory and PowerRevisited: Theorising Territorial Politics in the United Kingdom after Devolution

Territory and PowerRevisited: Theorising Territorial Politics in the United Kingdom after Devolution

Narratives and Dilemmas of Local Bureaucratic Elites: Whitehall at the Coal Face?

Interpreting lived experiences: The dilemmas of public sector leaders

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