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Aristotle (384–322 BCE)
Full text linkAn overview of Aristotle's political though
Interpreting British governance
No full textHow is Britain governed? Have we entered a new era of governance? Can traditional approaches to governance help us to interpret 21st century Britain?This book develops the argument that we can understand political practices only by grasping the beliefs on which people act. It offers a governance narrative as a challenge to the Westminster model of British government and searches for a more accurate and open way of speaking about British government
The state as cultural practice
No full textThe State as Cultural Practice offers a fully worked out account of the authors' distinctive interpretive approach to political science. It challenges the new institutionalism, probably the most significant present-day strand in both American and British political science. It moves away from such notions as 'bringing the state back in', 'path dependency' and modernist empiricism. Instead, Bevir and Rhodes argue for an anti-foundational analysis, ethnographic and historical methods, and a decentred approach that rejects any essentialist definition of the state and espouses the idea of politics as cultural practice. The book has three aims:· to develop an anti-foundational theory of the state· to develop a new research agenda around the topics of rule, rationalities, and resistance· by exploring empirical shifts and debates about the changing nature of the state to show how anti-foundational theory leads us to see them differently.Bevir and Rhodes argue for the idea of 'the stateless state' or the state as meaning-in-action. So, the state is neither monolithic nor a causal agent. It consists solely of the contingent actions of specific individuals; of diverse beliefs about the public sphere, about authority and power, which are constructed differently in contending traditions. Continuity and change are products of people inheriting traditions and modifying them in response to dilemmas. A decentred approach explores the limits to the state and seeks to develop a more diverse view of state authority and its exercise. In short, political scientists need to bring people back in to the study of the state
Governance stories
No full textAn incisive examination of Britain today, which breaks from traditional studies, and takes a new approach to account for massive changes in the make-up of the nation.Over the last twenty years Britain has changed from being governed as a unitary state to a country ruled by the interplay of various forces: central government, the market, public-private partnerships, new local government structures (eg. the new Mayoral system), greater regional autonomy as well as the EU and transnational businesses and organizations.In their earlier book Interpreting British Governance, Bevir and Rhodes examined changes in British government by setting out an interpretative approach to British political science, which focussed on an aggregate analysis of British political traditions. This new study builds on this work to:* provide a theoretical defence of situated agency located in the historical context of British political science* compare their approach to British political science with others including, post-structural and institutional analysis* present a general account of governance as the context for ethnographic analyses of governance in action* deliver studies of the consumers of public services, the National Health Service, government departments and policy networks
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