Reading Information:
Essential reading:
You are strongly advised to purchase and/or have continuous access for the duration of the module to the following texts:
** D. Richards and M.J. Smith, Governance and Public Policy in the United Kingdom, OxfordUniversity Press, 2002.
** P. Dorey, Policy Making in Britain: An Introduction, Sage, 2005
Multiple copies of both titles are available in Short Loan, and from BlackwellsUniversity bookshop andother suppliers (e.g.
Supplementary reading:
In addition, the following texts provide more detailed information about developments in a range of specific policy areas (economic policy, environmental policy, education policy, health policy, policing and criminal justice policy, etc.) in recent years. The starred items (*) are the most up-to-date and are strongly recommended as supplementary reading for this module.
P. Cloke (ed), Policy and Change in Thatcher’s Britain, 1992.
D. Coates and P. Lawler (eds), New Labour in Power, 2000.
* P. Dorey (ed),Developments in British Public Policy, 2005.
* P. Dunleavy et al., (eds), Developments in British Politics 8, 2006.
S. Ludlam and M.J. Smith (eds), New Labour in Government, 2001.
S. Ludlam and M.J. Smith (eds), Governing as New Labour, 2003.
D. Marsh and R.A.W. Rhodes (eds), Implementing Thatcherite Policies, 1992.
S. Savage et al., (eds), Public Policy in Britain, 1994.
S. Savage and R. Atkinson (eds), Public Policy under Blair, 2001.
A. Seldon (ed), The Blair Effect, 2001.
* A. Seldon and D. Kavanagh (eds), The Blair Effect 2001-5, 2005.
* A. Seldon (ed), Blair’s Britain, 2007.
It is essential that all students read at least the appropriate chapter or chapters in Richards and Smith (2002) and/or Dorey (2005) for each seminar, plus selected chapters from the list of edited works cited above. In addition, students are strongly encouraged to consult the following works for further information, and for the purposes of undertaking revision for the final examination, to be taken at the end of the semester.
Week 2: Understanding Governance
*M. Bevir, Democratic Governance, 2010 (e-book; on order)
P. Cerny, The Changing Architecture of Politics, 1990.
G. Davis and M. Keating (eds), The Future of Governance, 2000.
C. Fox and H. Miller, Postmodern Public Administration, 1993.
- Foster and F. Plowden, The State under Stress, 1996.
J. Kooiman, Governing as Governance, 2003.
D. Osborne and T. Gaebler, Reinventing Government, 1993.
J. Pierre and B.G. Peters, Governance, Politics and the State, 2000.
R.A.W. Rhodes, Understanding Governance, 1997.
M. Rose, The Post-Modern and the Post-Industrial, 1991.
Week 3: The Modern British State
M. Flinders, ‘Governance in Whitehall’, Public Administration, 80(1), 2002.
M. Flinders, ‘Shifting the Balance: Parliament, the Executive and the British Constitution’, Political Studies, 50(1), 2002.
W.H. Greenleaf, The British Political Tradition, Vol. 1, 1983.
P. Harling, The ModernBritishState, 2001.
- Hay, Restating Social and Political Change, 1996.
D. Marsh et al., Changing Patterns of Governance, 2001.
D. McEachern, The Expanding State, 1990.
G. Peele, ‘The Growth of the State’ in I. Holliday et al., (eds), Fundamentals in British
Politics, 1999.
Week 4: The ‘Post-War Consensus’ (and its critics)
P. Addison, The Road to 1945, 1975.
P. Dorey, British Politics since 1945, 1995.
- Heffernan, ‘The ‘Possible’ as the ‘Art’ of Politics: Understanding Consensus Politics’, Political Studies, 50(4), 2002.
K. Hickson, ‘The Postwar Consensus Revisited’, Political Quarterly, 75(2), 2004.
D. Kavanagh and P. Morris, Consensus Politics from Attlee to Thatcher, 1989.
P. Kerr, 'The Postwar Consensus: A Woozle that Wasn't', in D. Marsh et al.,Postwar
British Politics in Perspective, 1999.
Week 5: ‘Rolling back the State?’ The Conservatives 1979-97
- Kavanagh, The Reordering of British Politics, 1997.
A. Gamble, The Free Economy and the Strong State, 2nd edition, 1994.
C. Hay, Restating Social and Political Change, 1996.
R. Heffernan, New Labour and Thatcherism, 2000.
G. Jordan and N. Ashford (eds), Public Policy and the Impact of the New Right, 1993.
S. Ludlam and M.J. Smith (eds), Contemporary British Conservatism, 1996.
Week 6: ‘Globalization’
J. Baylis & S. Smith (eds), The Globalization of World Politics, 2000.
D. Held et al., Global Transformations, 1999.
C. Hay, The Political Economy of New Labour, 1999.
P. Hirst and G. Thompson, Globalisation in Question, 1996.
J. Krieger, British Politics in the Global Age, 1999.
J. Scholte, Globalization: A Critical Introduction, 2000.
L. Sklair, Globalization, 2000.
Week 7: ‘Europeanization’
I. Bache and A. Jordan, The Europeanization of British Politics, 2006.
- Bulmer and M. Burch, ‘The Europeanization of UK Government: From QuietRevolution toExplicit Step-Change?’, Public Administration, 83(4), 2005.
A. Jordan, ‘National Environmental Ministries: Managers or Cyphers of European Union
Environmental Policy’, Public Administration, 79(3), 2001.
A. Jordan, The Europeanization of Environmental Policy, 2002.
H. Wallace et al (eds), Policy-Making in the European Union, 4th Edition, 2005.
Week 8: Pressure Groups and ‘New Social Movements’
P. Byrne, Social Movements in Britain, 1997.
- Coxall, Pressure Groups in British Politics, 2001.
W. Grant, Pressure Groups and British Politics, 2000.
*W. Grant, ‘The Changing Patterns of Group Politics in Britain’, British Politics 3(2),
2008.
A. Lent, British Social Movements since 1945, 2001.
D. Marsh and R.A.W. Rhodes, Policy Networks in British Government, 1992.
M.J. Smith, Pressure, Power and Policy, 1993
Week 9: Ministers and Civil Servants
- Driscoll and J. Morris, ‘Stepping Out: Rhetorical Devices and Culture Change Management in theUK Civil Service’, Public Administration, 79(4), 2001.
C. Foster and F. Plowden (eds), The State under Stress, 1996.
J. Mackintosh, British Cabinet Government, 1977.
- Marsh et al., Changing Patterns of Governance, 2001.
P. Norton, ‘Barons in a ShrinkingKingdom’, in R.A.W. Rhodes (ed), Transforming British Government, Vol. 2, Changing Roles and Relationships, 2000.
R.A.W. Rhodes, Understanding Governance, 1997.
D. Richards, The Civil Service under the Conservatives 1979-97, 1997.
D. Richards, New Labour and the Civil Service, 2007.
M.J. Smith, The Core Executive in Britain, 1999.
Week 10: ‘New’ Labour
*P. Cairney, ‘Has Devolution Changed the “British Policy Style”?’, British Politics 3(3),
2008.
*P. Dorey, ‘Stumbling Through ‘Stage Two’: ‘New’ Labour and House of Lords Reform,
British Politics 3(1), 2008.
- Ling, ‘Delivering Joined-Up Government in the UK: Dimensions, Issues and Problems’, Public Administration, 80(4), 2002.
*D. Marsh and M. Hall, ‘The British Political Tradition: Explaining the Fate of New Labour’s Constitutional Reform Agenda’, British Politics 2(2), 2007.
G. Stoker, ‘Life is a Lottery: New Labour’s Strategy for the Reform of Devolved Governance’, Public Administration, 80(3), 2002.
V. Bogdanor (ed), Joined Up Government, 2005 (Short Loan).
For additional material, students are also strongly advised to consult the current and most recent issues of the following (quarterly) journals:
British Politics (
Parliamentary Affairs (
The Political Quarterly (
Public Administration (