GERRY STOKER is Professor of Politics at the University of Strathclyde. He was Programme Director of the five-year ESRC Local Governance Research Programme (1992-7) and a member of The Commission for Local Democracy (1993-6). In 1996 he was a founding member of the New Local Government Network and in 1997 he became a member of the Academic Advisory Group to DETR.

'[A] well integrated...[and] clear assessment of the impact of New Public Management, informed by in-depth analysis of a range of initiatives in a variety of contexts.' - David Wilson, Parliamentary Affairs

• Foreword; R.RhodesIntroduction; G.StokerManagement Change in Local Governance; V.LowndesLetting Managers Manage; Decentralization and Opting-Out; C.Pollitt, J.Birchall & K.PutnamThe Contracting Out of Local Government Services; K.DooganTwo Economic Discourses in the New Management of Local Governance: 'Public Trading' and 'Public Business'; M.MackintoshThe New Management and Governance of Education; S.Ranson, J.Martin, P.McKeown & J.NixonThe New Management of Community Care; Users Groups, Citizenship and Co-Production; M.Barnes, S.Harrison, M.Mort, P.Shardlow & G.WistowReframing the Delivery of Local Housing Services: Networks and the New Competition; B.ReidCommunity Governance of Crime Control; J.Benyon & A.EdwardsNetworks in Further Education and Training; K.RileyNetworking for Local Economic Development; K.Morgan, G.Rees & S.GarmiseNetworking in Europe; J.Benington & J.HarveyThe Private Financing of Public Infrastructure; D.Heald & N.GeaughanSomething Old, Something New; J.Stanyer.