摘要:

Government regulation of the railways in the United Kingdom dates back to the 1840s. Between 1840 and 1844 three regulatory Acts were passed, and a system of government inspection set up which has remained substantially unaltered to the present day. The principal Act, that of 1844, contained controversial powers of rate‐capping, state purchase of railways, and detailed price and quantity regulation. It is still frequently held that the Victorian era marked the triumph oflaissez‐faireand that W. E. Gladstone, the promoter of the 1844 Act, was one of its leading spokesmen. The article therefore explores why regulation occurred at all and why it took the forms it did. Gladstone's actions are evaluated in relation to the standard hypotheses about the origins of regulation. Hypotheses on the motives of MPS voting for and against regulation are tested using the Aydelotte dataset which contains very full personal and ideological data on the Mps of the Parliament of 184

ISSN:0033-3298    

DOI:10.1111/j.1467-9299.1992.tb00941.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1992

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

The debate in the UK on the reform of local government structure is poorly informed by empirical evidence. This article bridges part of the empirical gap by drawing upon analyses of structural effects in the USA. Two main dimensions of structure are outlined: fragmentation and concentration, both of which can vary vertically and horizontally. Fourteen structural hypotheses are identified and categorized as technical, competitive and political effects. The empirical evidence from the USA suggests that fragmentation is associated with lower spending and concentration is associated with higher spending. The implications of the evidence for structural reform in the UK are analysed. It is concluded that the creation of a single‐tier system may not lead to greater efficiency, and that the advantages of a two‐tier system have been underestima

ISSN:0033-3298    

DOI:10.1111/j.1467-9299.1992.tb00942.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1992

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

In 1988, inner city policy took on a distinctly new style. The publication that year of the government brochureAction for Citiesheralded the introduction of the ‘enterprise culture’ as the new instrument for the economic regeneration of the inner cities, the re‐moralization into self‐reliance of their inhabitants, and the defeat of welfare dependency. Simultaneously, the job of regeneration would be placed more firmly in the hands of Urban Development Corporations that would do the job that inefficient and ineffective local government had so signally failed to achieve. The dynamism of privatism would be harnessed by means of public subsidy to attract (or lever) private investment into the inner cities. The rationale or privatism as a means of abolishing urban deprivation however, rests on untested logic. At its simplest, new jobs would be created by inward investment, unemployment would fall, and there would be ‘trickle‐down’ effects to those not in the labour force. There are other and more fundamental assumptions however, the contestable nature of which throws doubt on the possibility of the privatism strategy ever working. Principal among these are that there are discrete and insulated ‘inner city economies’ that can be regenerated; that it is even now possible to reverse history in the inner cities, and that to be of benefit to inner city residents, investment must be in the her

ISSN:0033-3298    

DOI:10.1111/j.1467-9299.1992.tb00943.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1992

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

The aims of public policies are not always clearly articulated by ministers. Further the aims that are stated may not reflect all – or indeed the most important – aims. In some cases declared policy aims bear little relationship to the real intentions of ministers in undertaking an initiative. In other cases policy decisions are intended as symbolic statements, demonstrating government attitudes on a range of issues beyond the specific matter under consideration. These ideas are explored in the context of the privatizations of Harland and Wolff and Shorts, two major industrial government‐owned companies in Northern Ireland. The article concludes that government sought to use the privatizations as a symbolic statement, namely to demonstrate that the heavy dependence on the public sector within Northern Ireland had to be re

ISSN:0033-3298    

DOI:10.1111/j.1467-9299.1992.tb00944.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1992

数据来源: WILEY

ISSN:0033-3298    

DOI:10.1111/j.1467-9299.1992.tb00945.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1992

数据来源: WILEY

ISSN:0033-3298    

DOI:10.1111/j.1467-9299.1992.tb00946.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1992

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

This article examines the new approach to specifying and assessing the performance of departmental chief executives in New Zealand introduced in 1988 by the fourth Labour government (1984–1990). Drawing on the findings of a series of interviews with ministers, chief executives and other senior public servants conducted between late 1989 and late 1991 by a number of researchers, the article outlines the origins and implementation of the new policy framework, and evaluates its strengths and weaknesses. From the evidence available to date, it appears that the new model has won the support of most of the parties directly affected, and that it has enhanced the accountability of chief executives to their portfolio minister(s). However, the implementation of the new regime has highlighted the inherent problems of assessing the performance of senior personnel in the public sector and of imposing sanctions in the event of substandard performance. In addition, various issues of a constitutional nature have arisen concerning the roles and responsibilities of chief executives, the balance of power between chief executives and their portfolio minister(s), and the proper role of the Prime Minister and Cabinet in the new accountability framewor

ISSN:0033-3298    

DOI:10.1111/j.1467-9299.1992.tb00947.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1992

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Local government reorganization has been widespread throughout Europe in the postwar era. Three broad types of theory have set out to explain this phenomenon in a cross‐national context; a welfare state perspective, a functional revolution perspective and a political perspective. The validity of these theories is assessed in the specific context of Belgium. The evidence suggests that none of the prevailing theories can make much headway in explaining the timing and form of reorganization. More promising explanations are to be found through examining broader values, and beliefs and more specific political constellations. The claim or implication that the major local government reorganizations of the postwar era were, in the different countries that experienced it, independent events produced by a common pattern of domestic social, economic or political development has the trappings of scientific theory without its true substance – the ability to expl

ISSN:0033-3298    

DOI:10.1111/j.1467-9299.1992.tb00948.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1992

数据来源: WILEY

ISSN:0033-3298    

DOI:10.1111/j.1467-9299.1992.tb00949.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1992

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

GOVERNMENT IN THE UNITED KINGDOM. THE SEARCH FOR ACCOUNTABILITY, EFFECTIVENESS AND CITIZENSHIP Dawn Oliver.THE LABOUR PARTY AND WHITEHALL Kevin Theakston.THE PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE 1838–1958 John D. Cantwell.HOW ORGANISATIONS MEASURE SUCCESS N. Carter, R. Klein and P. Day.CITIZENS, CONSUMERS AND COUNCILS: LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND THE PUBLIC. John Gyford.THE WOMEN'S MOVEMENT AND LOCAL POLITICS: THE INFLUENCE ON COUNCILLORS IN LONDON J. Barry.A RADICAL AGENDA: AFTER THE NEW RIGHT AND OLD LEFT David Donnison.DISCRETIONARY POLITICS: INTERGOVERMMENTAL SOCIAL TRANSFERS IN EIGHT COUNTRIES Volume 2 of the INTERNATIONAL REVIEW OF COMPARATIVE PUBLIC POLICY Douglas E. Ashford (ed.)NORTHERN IRELAND: POLITICS AND THE CONSTITUTION Brigid Hadfield (ed.)RACE AND PUBLIC POLICY S. Sagga

ISSN:0033-3298    

DOI:10.1111/j.1467-9299.1992.tb00950.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1992

数据来源: WILEY