Patterns of governance in local public spending bodies

Presents initial findings from research undertaken in 1996 for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation into the internal governance of further education corporations, housing associations and training and enterprise councils. Discusses the relationship between board members and senior officers in these organizations by focusing on the distinctions drawn between strategy, policy and operations. Argues that the language of policy has increasingly been replaced by the language of strategy and that this corresponds to the evacuation of policy questions from the local public sphere. Advances four hypotheses to explain this rolling back of the frontiers of politics: a reassertion of the power of chief executives/managers linked to a new generation of social entrepreneurs; the emergence of a new generation of élite volunteers who restrict their activities to vision and strategy; a response to a rapidly changing economy, society, politics and environment in which speed of decision is of the essence; and increasing centralization. Concludes that a combination of internal and external pressures has reinforced the move towards the new governance.