British Cabinet Ministers

The Roles of Politicians in Executive Office
1. Auflage 2024
ISBN: 978-1-032-94603-0
Verlag: Taylor & Francis

Buch, Englisch, 316 Seiten, Format (B × H): 156 mm x 234 mm, Gewicht: 740 g

Reihe: Routledge Revivals

First published in 1974, British Cabinet Ministers is about the opportunities and constraints of executive political office. It is mainly based on interviews with fifty contemporary British Ministers and twenty-five senior civil servants. Hitherto political observers have referred simply to ‘strong’ and ‘weak’ Ministers, which begs the question ‘“strong” or “weak” at what?’ Here Ministers are classified into five types—policy initiators, policy selectors, Executive and Ambassador Ministers, and Minimalists—depending on their different approaches to their jobs.

The problems Ministers face in achieving their objectives are analysed and case studies are presented of the performance in office of different types of Ministers. In this context, we review the skills and abilities of politicians themselves and the range and quality of advice they can expect to receive in Whitehall. In the final section, the author considers the consequences for British government of the finding that Ministers are better qualified to perform some of their roles than others, and also indicates lines of inquiry that need to be further pursued by students of executive political leadership.

Zielgruppe

Postgraduate

Autoren/Hrsg.

Headey, Bruce

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politische Systeme Zentralregierung
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politikwissenschaft Allgemein Politische Studien zu einzelnen Ländern und Gebieten

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Part I: The Job of Cabinet Minister 1. Cabinet Ministers and Executive Political Leadership 2. The Demands of the Job 3. A Typology of Cabinet Ministers Part II: Factors Affecting Performance in Office 4. The Skills of Ministers 5. Ministers and Their Departments I: Their Range and Quality of Advice 6. Ministers and Their Departments II: The Expectations of Civil Servants 7. Differences between Departments and Situations 8. Ministerial Policy Objectives Part III: Ministers in Office: Case Studies  9. Policy Initiators: The Key Issues Approach 10. Executive Ministers 11. Ambassador Ministers Part IV: The Consequences of Ministers 12. Selecting Cabinet Ministers: Some International Comparisons  13. The Consequences of Ministers

Über Autor(innen)

Bruce Headey is a Fellow of the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research.