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 dist inctive story of 'governance' - of fragmentation, networks, unintended cons equences and diplomacy - challenging the dominant, managerial account of ch ange in British government since 1979. I present a view of the world in whi ch networks rival markets and bureaucracy as ways of allocating resources a nd co-ordinating policy and its implementation.