Path Dependency and the Reform of English Local Government

Gains, Francesca; John, Peter; Stoker, Gerry

doi:10.1111/j.0033-3298.2005.00436.x

Cited by 73 publications

(48 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…Thus, the extent of policy space and scope for variations in policy outcomes was not pre-determined by the policy itself, but was contingent on the particular interaction of factors within the two localities. In this respect, our findings are consistent with the concept of "path dependence" and the significance of history in creating divergent configurations (Gains, John and Stoker, 2005).…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 89%

Governance and public involvement in the British National Health Service: Understanding difficulties and developments

Callaghan

Wistow

2006

Social Science & Medicine

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The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-pro t purposes provided that:• a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in DRO • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders.Please consult the full DRO policy for further details. inadequate, and that we also need to look at inter-systemic and inter-personal levels for more complete explanations. Investigating the relationships between these levels, we derive an account of governance within which to situate the role of public involvement. It is against this background that we focus on why the methods of involvement deserve greater attention for their substantive contribution to its quality and effectiveness. KeywordsCommunity participation, public involvement, citizenship, governance, PCTs IntroductionThis article examines the role the public can play in the "policy space" (King and Stoker, 1996) created by the shift from government to governance, using insights from research in two primary care groups/trusts (PCG/Ts). These organisations were inserted into an NHS said to be changing from its traditional monolithic, hierarchical form to a looser 2 network structure (Milburn, 2003) 1 . Burns et al (1994) have argued that the more pluralistic institutional environment created by the move from hierarchies of government to networks of governance, offers better possibilities for democratic involvement than traditional representative systems. They suggest that "an adequate democratic project must centre itself upon recognition of the need for a plurality of power bases, modes of expression and participatory forms" (p282). Plurality alone, however, seems likely to be insufficient to achieve the desired objectives. Research into public participation in primary care has previously identified a danger that "initial efforts to engage communities will become little more than token gestures" (Alborz, Wilkin and Smith, 2002, p26) In this article we suggest that an analysis founded solely in the democratic basis of legitimacy ignores other motivations for public involvement. We draw on Jessop"s account of heterarchy and Bang"s discussion of participation to identify a a range of 1 498 PCGs were established during 1998, as subcommittees of Health Authorities, to cover "natural communities" of 100,000 people. They had three main roles: to improve health; develop primary care; and commission secondary care. General Practitioners chaired their Boards and were numerically dominant, though nurses and social services were represented and there was also one lay member. PCGs were replaced by PCTs, freestanding bodies with their own budgets, a lay chair and a lay majority on the board.

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Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 89%

Governance and public involvement in the British National Health Service: Understanding difficulties and developments

Callaghan

Wistow

2006

Social Science & Medicine

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“…Finally, Pierson's argument that institutional densities are a key factor leading to increasing returns since "the cost of exit from institutions is very high" is simply asserted with no proof offered. Although, some studies have found evidence that structures constrain change (Rayner et al, 2001), other studies have found that institutions can also promote and facilitate change, so that the one-way dynamics suggested by Pierson are not present (Gains et al, 2005).…”

Section: The Contingent Model: Path Dependency In Public Policy-makingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding the historical turn in the policy sciences: A critique of stochastic, narrative, path dependency and process-sequencing models of policy-making over time

2006

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This article evaluates four general models of historical change processes which have emerged in various fields in the social sciences -namely stochastic, historical narrative, path dependency and process sequencing -and their application to the study of public policy-making. The article sets out and assesses the merits and evidence for each, both in general social research and in the policy sciences. The article suggests that more work needs to be done examining the assumptions and presuppositions of each model before it can be concluded that any represents the general case in policy processes. However, since neither the irreversible linear reality assumed by narrative models, nor the random and chaotic world assumed by stochastic models, nor the contingent turning points and irreversible trajectories required of the path dependency model are found very often in policy-making, these models are likely to remain less significant than process-sequencing models in describing the overall general pattern of policy dynamics.

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“…The influence of political pressure on the use of turnaround management strategies As described in the Introduction to this paper, under the policy context of English local government, all local authorities are subject to continuous pressure to persistently improve organisational performance, independent of past and present outcomes or official performance ranking (McAdam and Walker 2003). This political climate of unceasing pressure and high expectations may influence local management (Gains et al 2005, Kyriakidou and Gore 2005, Schraeder et al 2005 and cause local leadership to Turnaround Management Strategies in Local Authorities 469 develop a self-perception of substandard performance and thereby motivate the use of TMS. According to McKiernan (2003), triggers for change take place at the point of the widest gap between aspirations and actual performance.…”

Section: Beerimentioning

confidence: 99%

Turnaround Management Strategies in Local Authorities: Not Only for Poor Performers

Beeri

2012

Local Government Studies

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In the past four decades, UK government policymakers have sought to improve the performance of local government by trying to achieve organisational turnaround and bring laggards up to the standards achieved by the leaders. Both the Conservative Party and New Labour led new public management reforms aimed at modernizing and improving local government authorities by adopting standards from the private sector. Given the pressure to improve, failing local authorities have been pushed to adopt a unique set of strategies known as turnaround management strategies (TMS). However, this paper, based on qualitative data and a survey of 126 senior local leaders, shows that TMS have been implemented to a high extent among both poor and excellent performers. The paper concludes that regardless of their objective performance ranking, English local authorities are characterised by a self-perception of underachievement. As a result, high performers continuously implement radical changes.

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Path Dependency and the Reform of English Local Government

Cited by 73 publications

References 27 publications

Governance and public involvement in the British National Health Service: Understanding difficulties and developments

Governance and public involvement in the British National Health Service: Understanding difficulties and developments

Understanding the historical turn in the policy sciences: A critique of stochastic, narrative, path dependency and process-sequencing models of policy-making over time

Turnaround Management Strategies in Local Authorities: Not Only for Poor Performers

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