Policy-making and politics

Abstract

Politics is the way society or a nation manages conflicts and disagreements. It is difficult to exclude value judgements from the study of politics. It is important, however, to discover and describe what actually happens. The purpose of this chapter is to review the executive, legislative and judicial functions of central government, the local policy-making process, theories of local government politics and the policy-making process in housing associations. The chapter will begin with an examination of central government and the functions which it performs. It will then investigate the role of local government in practice and in theory and will end with a study of housing associations’ structure and purpose. The chapter focuses specifically on: The executive, legislative and judicial functions of central government: the executive, civil service and legislature; private members’ bills; scrutiny of government by committees, and questions in the House; interest and pressure groups; Scotland and Wales; central and local government relations; sub-central structures; inter-governmental relations; central and local government relations during the 1980s. Local policy-making processes: Elected members; Local interest groups; Individuals within the policy-making process. Theories on local government politics: localist theory; public choice theory; dual state thesis; local state theory. Housing associations: structure; board/committee members. Conclusions.