The governance narrative: Key findings and lessons from the ESRC's Whitehall Programme

This article provides a personal interpretation of the key findings of the Economic and Social Research Council's Whitehall Programme. I tell the distinctive story of 'governance' - of fragmentation, networks, unintended consequences and diplomacy - challenging the dominant, managerial account of change in British government since 1979. I present a view of the world in which networks rival markets and bureaucracy as ways of allocating resources and co-ordinating policy and its implementation.