Court government and the collapse of accountability in Canada and the United Kingdom / Donald J. Savoie.

By:

Savoie, Donald J, 1947-

Material type: Text

TextSeries: Institute of Public Administration of Canada series in public management and governancePublication details: Toronto : University of Toronto Press, ©2008.Description: 1 online resource (xiii, 441 pages)Content type:

text

Media type:

computer

Carrier type:

online resource

ISBN:

9781442687769
1442687762

Subject(s): Genre/Form:

Additional physical formats: Print version:: Court government and the collapse of accountability in Canada and the United Kingdom.DDC classification:

351.71 22

LOC classification:

JL75 .S274 2008
JF51 .S28 2008

Other classification:

88.11

Online resources:

Click here to access online

Contents:

1. Introduction -- 2. How did we get here? -- 3. Was there ever a golden era? -- 4. Disenchantment sets in -- 5. Society then and now : from an obligation to others to an obligation to self -- 6. Searching for values -- 7. Voices everywhere -- 8. Searching for loyalty -- 9. The view from the bottom : a big whale that can't swim -- 10. The view from the top : 'I'm like Hank Snow -- I have been everywhere, man' -- 11. Accountability : 'I take the blame, but I am not to blame' -- 12. Power : locating it and holding it to account -- 13. From formal processes, rules, and a doctrine to the individual.

Action note:

digitized 2010 HathiTrust Digital Library committed to preserve

Summary: There is a consensus throughout much of the western world that the public sector is in urgent need of repair. This study seeks to understand why this is so by comparing developments in Canada and the United Kingdom. It looks to changes in values both in society and inside government, and to the relationships between politicians and civil servants at the top and between civil servants and citizens at the bottom. Donald J. Savoie argues that both Canada and the UK now operate under court government rather than cabinet government. By court government, he means that effective power now rests with their respective prime ministers and a small group of carefully selected courtiers. For things that matter to prime ministers and their courts, the decision-making process shifts from formal to informal, involving only a handful of actors. For things that matter less to them, the decision-making process is horizontal, cumbersome, and consultative, and involves a multitude of actors from different government departments and agencies as well as a variety of individuals operating outside government. Court governments undermine both the traditionally bureaucratic model and basic principles that have guided the development of our Westminster-Whitehall parliamentary system. Nonetheless, Canada and the United Kingdom still cling to accountability requirements better suited to the past and the traditional bureaucratic model. Savoie concludes with a call for new accountability requirements that correspond with court government as well as the new relationships between politicians and civil servants, and civil servants and citizens.

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Electronic-Books	OPJGU Sonepat- Campus	E-Books EBSCO			Available

Includes bibliographical references.

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Electronic reproduction. [Place of publication not identified] : HathiTrust Digital Library, 2010. MiAaHDL

Master and use copy. Digital master created according to Benchmark for Faithful Digital Reproductions of Monographs and Serials, Version 1. Digital Library Federation, December 2002. MiAaHDL

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Print version record.

There is a consensus throughout much of the western world that the public sector is in urgent need of repair. This study seeks to understand why this is so by comparing developments in Canada and the United Kingdom. It looks to changes in values both in society and inside government, and to the relationships between politicians and civil servants at the top and between civil servants and citizens at the bottom. Donald J. Savoie argues that both Canada and the UK now operate under court government rather than cabinet government. By court government, he means that effective power now rests with their respective prime ministers and a small group of carefully selected courtiers. For things that matter to prime ministers and their courts, the decision-making process shifts from formal to informal, involving only a handful of actors. For things that matter less to them, the decision-making process is horizontal, cumbersome, and consultative, and involves a multitude of actors from different government departments and agencies as well as a variety of individuals operating outside government. Court governments undermine both the traditionally bureaucratic model and basic principles that have guided the development of our Westminster-Whitehall parliamentary system. Nonetheless, Canada and the United Kingdom still cling to accountability requirements better suited to the past and the traditional bureaucratic model. Savoie concludes with a call for new accountability requirements that correspond with court government as well as the new relationships between politicians and civil servants, and civil servants and citizens.

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