This Article Abstract Free Full Text (Free PDF) Free Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Leach, S. Articles by Lowndes, V. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Of Roles and Rules

Analysing the Changing Relationship between Political Leaders and Chief Executives in Local Government

Local Governance Research Unit, Leicester Business School, Bosworth House, De Montfort University, The Gateway, Leicester,De Montfort University, UK,snleach{at}dmu.ac.uk

Vivien Lowndes

Local Governance Research Unit, Leicester Business School, Bosworth House, De Montfort University, UK,vlowndes{at}dmu.ac.uk

In Britain the formal institutional framework within which local leadership takes place has been transformed since 1997 — through new arrangements for executive decision-making and the introduction of `comprehensive performance assessment'. The article looks at how such changes have affected the relationship between political and managerial leaders in local government. Drawing on primary research, the article examines the interaction between the formal changes associated with `modernization' and existing conventions governing the leader—chief executive relationship. Many `informal rules' still persist, serving sometimes to reinforce new expectations and sometimes to undermine them. But other informal rules are being modified, and some entirely new rules are being created, as political leaders and chief executives interpret the new landscape and renegotiate their division of labour. Old habits do indeed die hard, but — paradoxically — they may also form the raw material out of which new working rules are fashioned. The research suggests that the most effective reform strategies are those that seek to exploit, rather than frustrate, the efforts of intelligent institutional entrepreneurs on the ground.

Key Words: chief executives • leadership • local government • local politics • mayors • new institutionalism

References

• Berger, P. and Luckman, T. (1967) The Social Constructions of Reality. New York: Doubleday Anchor.
• Blair, T. (1998) Leading the Way: A New Vision for Local Government . London: IPPR.
• Knight, J. (1992) Institutions and Social Conflict. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Kotter, J. and Lawrence, P. (1974) Mayors in Action. New York: John Wiley.
• Lanzara, G. (1998) `Self-destructive Processes in Institution Building and Some Modest Countervailing Mechanisms', European Journal of Political Research 33(1): 1—39.
• Leach, S. (2006) The Changing Role of Local Politics in Britain . Bristol: Policy Press.
• Leach, S. and Wilson, D. (2000) Local Political Leadership. Bristol: Policy Press.
• Leach, S., Hartley, J., Lowndes, V., Wilson, D. and Downe, J. (2005) Local Political Leadership in England and Wales . York: Joseph Rowntree Foundation .
• Lowndes, V. (2002) `Institutionalism', in D. Marsh and G. Stoker (eds) Theories and Methods in Political Science, 2nd edn, pp. 90—108. London: Palgrave.
• Lowndes, V. (2005) `Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed ... How Institutions Change (and Stay the Same) in Local Governance', Policy Studies 26(3): 291—309.
• Lowndes, V. and Leach, S. (2004) `Understanding Local Political Leadership: Contexts and Capabilities', Local Government Studies 30(4): 557—75.
• March, J. and Olsen, J. (1989) Rediscovering Institutions. New York: Free Press.
• North, D. (1990) Institutions, Institutional Change and Economic Performance Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Ostrom, E. (1999) `Institutional Rational Choice: An Assessment of the Institutional Analysis and Development Framework', in P. Sabatier (ed.) Theories of the Policy Process , pp. 35—72. Boulder, CO: Westview .
• Rao, N. ( 2005) `From Committees to Leaders and Cabinets: The British Experience', in R. Berg and N. Rao (eds) Transforming Local Political Leadership, pp. 42—58. Basingstoke: Palgrave .
• Selznick, P. (1957) Leadership in Administration. New York: Harper and Row.
• Stoker, G. and Wilson, D. (eds) (2004) British Local Government into the 21st Century, pp. 230—46. Basingstoke: Palgrave.
• Stoker, G. et al. (2003) Implementing the 2000 Act with Respect to the New Council Constitutions and the Ethical Framework, http://www.elgnce.org.uk
• Streeck, W. and Thelen, K. (eds) (2005) Beyond Continuity: Institutional Change in Advanced Political Economies. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Sullivan, H., Downe, J., Entwistle, T. and Sweeting, D. (2006) `The Three Challenges of Community Leadership', Local Government Studies 32(4): 489—508.
• Wilson, D. and Game, C. (2006) Local Government in the United Kingdom, 4th edn. Basingstoke: Palgrave.

Public Policy and Administration, Vol. 22, No. 2, 183-200 (2007)
DOI: 10.1177/0952076707075892


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?

This Article Abstract Free Full Text (Free PDF) Free Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Leach, S. Articles by Lowndes, V. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?