ACCOUNTING FOR SUBGOVERNMENTS - EXPLAINING THE PERSISTENCE OF POLICY COMMUNITIES

The article begins by comparing the use of terms such as policy commun ity and subgovernment by different authors and in different (U.S. and U.K.) political science traditions. Although accepting the major body of work that points to the erosion of subgovernments, the authors argu e that too much emphasis on the complexity and volatility of policy ma king masks underlying tendencies to stability and bargaining. The need for the resolution of conflict both leads to perennial attempts to re construct islands of stability and to attempts to ''solve'' unique dis putes by adopting some of the features that have been traditionally as sociated with subgovernments. The authors identify the key characteris tics of stable arrangements and attempt to explain their evolution by identifying the benefits of these arrangements for policy makers.