Discussions of core executive operations in Britain have focused on a limited controversy about whether monocratic control is exercised by the premier or whether more collegial decision making persists in Cabinet. An extended typology of institutionalist views is examined, including the prime ministerial clique interpretation, models of ministerial government, segmented decision making, and bureaucratic coordination. This restricted debate reflects normative anxieties about Britain's unbalanced constitution, party-structured legislature and an inadequate rational policy process inside the executive. New directions for core executive research are examined, including the analysis of decisional studies, more disaggregated and differentiated accounts of the core executive, coalition politics in the core executive, and the analysis of leadership influences.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1467-9299.1990.tb00744.x

Prime Ministers and Cabinets

Core executive studies in britain

John Howard, Prime Minister for nearly a decade, leads a disciplined Cabinet and, save for a few recent rumblings, a united and orderly backbench. He runs a tightly controlled political and policy agenda that unmistakably bears his personal stamp. How can John Howard's authority be understood and explained? While undoubtedly the product of his personality and working style, his formidable political skills, experience and renowned personal discipline, it may also be attributable to the substantial and sophisticated advisory infrastructure developed to support his prime ministership. This article surveys the key institutions that provide advice and support for John Howard's prime ministership, and assesses their effectiveness.

http://www.dpac.tas.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0009/121122/3Howards_advice.PDF

Advising Howard: Interpreting changes in advisory and support structures for the Prime Minister of Australia

Although the distinctive values promulgated by successive Howard governments have been extensively analysed, less attention has been paid to the manner of their incorporation into policy. This article maps the ways in which policy processes were managed to achieve values-change in the Howard decade (1996–2006), focusing on the policy subsystem at the apex of government. Three case studies are investigated in detail: the development of welfare to work policies; strategies to combat illicit drugs; and industrial relations legislation. We show how Prime Minister Howard's leadership was built around a highly personalised system of political control, based on the seizing of opportunities as they arose; the engineering of policy networks; and the alignment of key resources such as the Cabinet Office; the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, and senior bureaucratic leadership with the Prime Minister's policy priorities. We show that this system made possible very rapid policy development, but was also assoc...

The Howard Government and Political Management: The Challenge of Policy Activism

/pdf/mindset-matters-understanding-prime-ministers-performance-in-2iv6nuccw0.pdf

Prime Ministers and Cabinets

Citations

Core executive studies in britain

Advising Howard: Interpreting changes in advisory and support structures for the Prime Minister of Australia

The Howard Government and Political Management: The Challenge of Policy Activism

"mindset matters" understanding prime ministers' performance in central and eastern europe

The core executive

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