What is it about?
The case of English devolution provides us with an interesting example of the interrelationship between ‘front’ and ‘back’ stage policy-making. Front stage, public officials are observable and accountable as office holders and are constrained by established bureaucratic rules and codes of conduct. Back stage describes the world of complex decision making where public officials are hidden from public scrutiny and can engage in negotiations less constrained by formal rules. Research findings reveal that the devolution deal process is has involved a small number of key actors negotiating the deals largely behind closed doors. This has implications for efficiency and democracy.
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Why is it important?
While social relationships, off the record meetings and informality and recognised in policy making there has been very little empirical research exploring this process. This is because negotiating access is difficult and researching the 'invisible' or 'opaque' is challenging. This article places an analysis of the informal at the hart of policy analysis.
Perspectives
Informal governance has been criticised by some as being secretive and lacking transparency and legitimacy. From this perspective, high levels of informal working can be viewed as the latest chapter in the power-hoarding instincts of the British political tradition. Nonetheless, the process is more nuanced than this. Evidence also indicated a genuine desire on the part of critical actors involved in the process to drive forward devolution. Informality had created an innovative space to explore policy options and to generate trust between central and local actors.
Sarah Ayres
University of Bristol
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Policy-making ‘front’ and ‘back’ stage: Assessing the implications for effectiveness and democracy, The British Journal of Politics and International Relations, July 2017, SAGE Publications,
DOI: 10.1177/1369148117721842.
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