Rationalizing the Machinery of Government: The Conservatives, 1970–1974

1 March 1980

journal article
Published by SAGE Publications in Political Studies

Vol. 28 (1) , 84-98
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9248.1980.tb01234.x

Abstract

The White Paper The Reorganization of Central Government (Cmnd 4506) not merely announced extensive changes in the organizational structure of Whitehall, it did so in unusually ambitious and philosophically explicit terms. This paper traces the origins of the policies announced in the white paper, identifies the main groups and individuals involved, and shows how some elements were more successfully implemented than others. The concluding analysis seeks to penetrate behind the functional-rationalist vocabulary of Cmnd 4506 and identify an underlying set of choice criteria and decision procedures which permit a fuller explanation of the events of 1970—4.

Keywords

This publication has 4 references indexed in Scilit:

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Contingency Theory and Public Bureaucracies
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The Central Policy Review Staff 1970?1974
Public Administration, 1974
THE NUMBER AND SIZE OF GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENTS
The Political Quarterly, 1972