The Hollow Crown: Countervailing Trends in Core Executives (Transforming Government Series.)

The first volume in a series of comparative studies within the ESRC's Whitehall Programme focuses on core executives in five parliamentary democracies comparing the Westminster model as in Australia, Canada and Britain with the continental democracies of Germany and the Netherlands showing how political leadership is shackled by a vast array of constraints, from globalisation to internal fragmentation and rationalisation, making a heroic model of decisive political leadership hard to sustain. Front Matter....Pages i-xvi The Hollow Crown: Coherence and Capacity in Central Government....Pages 1-15 In Search of the Hollow Crown....Pages 16-36 Political Parties and the Core Executive....Pages 37-57 Collegiality and Collectivity: Cabinets, Cabinet Committees, and Cabinet Ministers....Pages 58-83 Advising the Executive: Think Tanks, Consultants, Political Staff and Kitchen Cabinets....Pages 84-125 Executive Coordination Mechanisms....Pages 126-147 Managing Budgets....Pages 148-175 Decentralization and Public Management Reform....Pages 176-197 ‘Shackling the Leader?’: Coherence, Capacity and the Hollow Crown....Pages 198-223 Back Matter....Pages 224-252