Governance Stories

In their earlier book Interpreting British Governance, Bevir and Rhodes sought to understand changes in British government by setting out an interpretative approach to British political science, which focused on an aggregate analysis of British political traditions.
This book develops their theory further and challenges conventional approaches to political science. Bevir and Rhodes develop an anthropological epistemology and an ethnographic account of the governance narrative and seek to de-center British political science and British government. They address concerns that the interpretative approach risks neglecting the differences in the beliefs of the individual grouped together in a tradition, arguing that situated agency, the analysis of people's webs of belief and actions located in the inherited traditions and practices that informs them, plays a key role in interpretative political science. This book:
- Provides a theoretical defense of situated agency located in the historical context of British political science.
- Compares their cutting-edge approach to British political science with other forms of enquiry including, post-structural and institutional analysis.
- Provides a general account of governance as the context for ethnographic analyses of governance in action.
- Includes studies of the consumers of public services, the National Health Service, government departments and policy networks.
This new volume is a major challenge to present-day notions of political science and will be of interest to advanced students and researchers of political theory, public policy, British politics and British history.

An incisive examination of Britain today, which breaks from traditional studies, and takes a new approach to account for massive changes in the make-up of the nation. Over the last twenty years Britain has changed from being governed as a unitary state to a country ruled by the interplay of various forces: central government, the market, public-private partnerships, new local government structures (eg. the new Mayoral system), greater regional autonomy as well as the EU and transnational businesses and organizations. In their earlier book Interpreting British Governance, Bevir and Rhodes examined changes in British government by setting out an interpretative approach to British political science, which focussed on an aggregate analysis of British political traditions. This new study builds on this work to: provide a theoretical defence of situated agency located in the historical context of British political science compare their approach to British political science with others including, post-structural and institutional analysis present a general account of governance as the context for ethnographic analyses of governance in action deliver studies of the consumers of public services, the National Health Service, government departments and policy networks. This book will be of great interest to advanced students and researchers of political theory, public policy, British politics and British history.

1. Introduction: Meaning In Action 2. Interpretation and Its Others Part 1: Interpreting Traditions 3. British Political Sciences 4. Westminster Models 5. Decentring Governance Part2: Reading Practices 6. The Blair Presidency 7. Everyday Life in a Ministry 8. National Health Service Reform 9. Police Reform 10. Conclusions

Mark Bevir is Professor of Political Science at the University of California, Berkeley. Roderick Rhodes is Professor of Political Science and Head of Program in the Research School of Social Sciences, Australian National University.