Bill Jenkins - Böcker

Policy making is not only about the cut and thrust of politics. It is also a bureaucratic activity. Long before laws are drafted, policy commitments made, or groups consulted on government proposals, officials will have been working away to shape the policy into a form in which it can be presented to ministers and the outside world. Policy bureaucracies - parts of government organizations with specific responsibility for maintaining and developing policy - have to be mobilized before most significant policy initiatives are launched. This book describes the range of work policy officials do. The 140 civil servants interviewed for this study included officials who helped originate policies which were subsequently taken over as manifesto commitments by the Labour Party; officials who helped devise the formula by which billions of pounds are allocated to local government in grants; and also officials who recommended to the Secretary of State that a controversial publisher be allowed to take over a national newspaper. The background and career paths of middle-ranking officials show them to be a diverse group who do not tend to develop long-term subject specialisms. The instructions to which these officials work - whether coming from ministers or senior officials - are often very broad and leave much to personal interpretation. Policy Bureaucracy goes on to examine how ministers and senior officials affect the work of middle ranking officials and the cues policy bureaucrats use to develop policy. The analytical approach adopted in the book is derived from Alvin Gouldner's Patterns of Industrial Bureaucracy and his elaboration of Max Weber's notion that hierarchy and expertise place a fundamental tension at the heart of modern bureaucracies. In the UK this tension is handled by combining 'invited authority' with 'improvised expertise'. The book also explores other models of handling this tension in political systems in Europe and the USA.

The International Group for Policy and Program Evaluation (INTEVAL) serves as a forum for scholars and practitioners of public policy to discuss ideas and developments as a community dedicated to enhancing the contribution of evaluation to government. From the group's studies has emerged a concern with the impact of public management reforms. Collaboration in Public Services examines collaboration in the delivery of public policies and identifies the challenges for policy and program evaluation.Written by a mix of academics, program managers, evaluators, and auditors, this volume explores the forms and challenges of collaboration in different national contexts. Chapter 1 introduces the notion and manifestations of collaboration and discusses emerging issues. Chapter 2 examines partnerships and networks of public service delivery. Chapter 3, drawing on Dutch and British data, reveals the QUANGO as both a collaborative end and means. Chapter 4 analyzes Israel's push to enhance collaboration with voluntary organizations. Chapter 5 examines the Canadian and Danish experiences.Chapter 6 suggests that the creation of markets to improve quality has not been totally successful at least in Nordic countries. Chapter 7 suggests that traditional service values such as trust and parliamentary accountability are challenged by the complexity of collaboration, but, using illustrations from Canada and other OECD countries, argues that results-based governance can increase trust, flexibility, and empowerment. Chapter 8 demonstrates from Dutch and Canadian experiences that auditor responses to collaborative delivery tend to overlook traditional roles as guardians of accountability on behalf of parliaments. Chapter 9 deliberates the efficacy of programs involving multiple partners. Chapter 10 discusses the lessons and challenges of evaluation and collaborative government.

The end of the twentieth century is shaping up as a period of volatile change and transition. As governments the world over work to sustain public policy and develop much needed policy initiatives, there is an increasing need for better budgetary management and sound evaluation of both past and prospective policies. Budgeting, Auditing, Evaluating presents in-depth, comparative examinations of budgetary processes in seven major Western governments.The contributors focus specifically on the important links between budgeting, auditing, and policy evaluation. These are examined as elements of an interactive process that plays a major role in government decision making. Although the three elements are institutionally and functionally distinct, auditing and evaluation generate information that has a measurable impact on government programs and their management. As each chapter demonstrates, national experiences show considerable variation in the development and linkage of budgeting, auditing, and evaluation. The authors identify both commonalities and divergences and make comparative statements of the consequences of these for the policy process.Contents: Andrew Gray, Bill Jenkins, and Bob Segsworth, "Perspectives on Budgeting, Auditing, and Evaluation: An Introduction," David Mathiasen, "The Separation of Powers and Political Choice" (United States), Andrew Gray and Bill Jenkins, "Separate Developments" (United Kingdom), Hans-Ulrich Derlien, 'Two-Track Processes" (Germany), Bob Segsworth, "Out of Sequence and Out of Synch" (Canada), Eduardo Zapico, "Many Reforms, Little Learning" (Spain), Rolf Sandahl, "Connected or Separated?" (Sweden), Pertti Ahonen and Esa Tammelin, "Muddling Through, Too" (Finland), Andrew Gray and Bill Jenkins, "Horses to the Water: Budgeting, Auditing, and Evaluation in Seven Governments."

The International Group for Policy and Program Evaluation (INTEVAL) serves as a forum for scholars and practitioners of public policy to discuss ideas and developments as a community dedicated to enhancing the contribution of evaluation to government. From the group's studies has emerged a concern with the impact of public management reforms. Collaboration in Public Services examines collaboration in the delivery of public policies and identifies the challenges for policy and program evaluation.Written by a mix of academics, program managers, evaluators, and auditors, this volume explores the forms and challenges of collaboration in different national contexts. Chapter 1 introduces the notion and manifestations of collaboration and discusses emerging issues. Chapter 2 examines partnerships and networks of public service delivery. Chapter 3, drawing on Dutch and British data, reveals the QUANGO as both a collaborative end and means. Chapter 4 analyzes Israel's push to enhance collaboration with voluntary organizations. Chapter 5 examines the Canadian and Danish experiences.Chapter 6 suggests that the creation of markets to improve quality has not been totally successful at least in Nordic countries. Chapter 7 suggests that traditional service values such as trust and parliamentary accountability are challenged by the complexity of collaboration, but, using illustrations from Canada and other OECD countries, argues that results-based governance can increase trust, flexibility, and empowerment. Chapter 8 demonstrates from Dutch and Canadian experiences that auditor responses to collaborative delivery tend to overlook traditional roles as guardians of accountability on behalf of parliaments. Chapter 9 deliberates the efficacy of programs involving multiple partners. Chapter 10 discusses the lessons and challenges of evaluation and collaborative government.

The end of the twentieth century is shaping up as a period of volatile change and transition. As governments the world over work to sustain public policy and develop much needed policy initiatives, there is an increasing need for better budgetary management and sound evaluation of both past and prospective policies. Budgeting, Auditing, Evaluating presents in-depth, comparative examinations of budgetary processes in seven major Western governments.The contributors focus specifically on the important links between budgeting, auditing, and policy evaluation. These are examined as elements of an interactive process that plays a major role in government decision making. Although the three elements are institutionally and functionally distinct, auditing and evaluation generate information that has a measurable impact on government programs and their management. As each chapter demonstrates, national experiences show considerable variation in the development and linkage of budgeting, auditing, and evaluation. The authors identify both commonalities and divergences and make comparative statements of the consequences of these for the policy process.Contents: Andrew Gray, Bill Jenkins, and Bob Segsworth, "Perspectives on Budgeting, Auditing, and Evaluation: An Introduction," David Mathiasen, "The Separation of Powers and Political Choice" (United States), Andrew Gray and Bill Jenkins, "Separate Developments" (United Kingdom), Hans-Ulrich Derlien, 'Two-Track Processes" (Germany), Bob Segsworth, "Out of Sequence and Out of Synch" (Canada), Eduardo Zapico, "Many Reforms, Little Learning" (Spain), Rolf Sandahl, "Connected or Separated?" (Sweden), Pertti Ahonen and Esa Tammelin, "Muddling Through, Too" (Finland), Andrew Gray and Bill Jenkins, "Horses to the Water: Budgeting, Auditing, and Evaluation in Seven Governments."

The decades between the French Revolution and the mid-nineteenth century were a period of radical transformation in Scottish society and culture on many levels. The Scottish Enlightenment had seen a striking blossoming of the natural sciences, with the development of a distinctive and influential national scientific culture. The natural philosopher David Brewster was educated in Edinburgh amidst the intellectual ferment of the late Enlightenment but lived to end his days as a grand old man of Victorian science. This book uses the long and eventful career of Brewster as a lens through which to explore themes of rupture and continuity in Scottish scientific culture in a period of dramatic social and political change.

The decades between the French Revolution and the mid-nineteenth century were a period of radical transformation in Scottish society and culture on many levels. The Scottish Enlightenment had seen a striking blossoming of the natural sciences, with the development of a distinctive and influential national scientific culture. The natural philosopher David Brewster was educated in Edinburgh amidst the intellectual ferment of the late Enlightenment but lived to end his days as a grand old man of Victorian science. This book uses the long and eventful career of Brewster as a lens through which to explore themes of rupture and continuity in Scottish scientific culture in a period of dramatic social and political change.

It was long believed that evolutionary theories received an almost universally cold reception in British natural history circles in the first half of the nineteenth century. However, a relatively recently serious doubt has been cast on this assumption. This book shows that Edinburgh in the late 1820s and early 1830s was witness to a ferment of radical new ideas on the natural world, including speculation on the origin and evolution of life, at just the time when Charles Darwin was a student in the city. Those who were students in Edinburgh at the time could have hardly avoided coming into contact with these new ideas. This book is the first major study of what was probably the most important centre or pre-Darwinian evolutionary thought in the British Isles. It sheds new light on the genesis and development of one of the most important scientific theories in the history of western thought.

It was long believed that evolutionary theories received an almost universally cold reception in British natural history circles in the first half of the nineteenth century. However, a relatively recently serious doubt has been cast on this assumption. This book shows that Edinburgh in the late 1820s and early 1830s was witness to a ferment of radical new ideas on the natural world, including speculation on the origin and evolution of life, at just the time when Charles Darwin was a student in the city. Those who were students in Edinburgh at the time could have hardly avoided coming into contact with these new ideas. This book is the first major study of what was probably the most important centre or pre-Darwinian evolutionary thought in the British Isles. It sheds new light on the genesis and development of one of the most important scientific theories in the history of western thought.

These two landmark volumes - prepared by leading authorities in the field - locate bureaucracy in its proper historical and theoretical context. They demonstrate that far from being a spent force bureaucratic organisations and processes are, and will continue to be, of central importance in the new millennium.Volume I outlines both the changing historical forms of bureaucracy and its operation in contemporary political systems before moving on to examine the detail of bureaucratic structures and processes. Volume II discusses bureaucrats in action and the political dimensions of bureaucratic power. In addition it explores the various critiques of bureaucracy before analysing the recent agendas for bureaucratic reform and the strengths and weaknesses of alternative structures.These two authoritative volumes will be essential reading for political scientists, historians, organisational and administrative theorists and students of public sector management old and new.