Book Review: Ethics in the British Civil Service
| Date | 01 September 1988 |
| Author | Colin Fuller |
| Published date | 01 September 1988 |
| DOI | 10.1177/014473948800800208 |
| Subject Matter | Book Reviews |
Teaching Public
Administration:
Autumn
1988
vol.
VIII
no.2 pp48-53
prone.
Here,
the
'top-down'
focus
blurs
the
overall
picture,
leading
to
a
serious
under-estimation
of
the
complexity
of
local
authority
responses
to
central
stimuli,
of
the
innovativeness
of
local
authorities
in
many
policy
areas,
and
of
the
variety
of
resources
which
local
policymakers
use
to
defend
and
enlarge
their
patches:
in
short,
the
framework
of
anal
ys
is
emp
1
oyed
is
i
ncapab
1 e
of
recognising
local
autonomy.
Chandler
is
then
impelled
to
reject
inter-organisational
and
power-dependency
models,
while
lamely
substituting
the
very
old
fashioned
notions
of
agency
and
stewardship.
But
this
is
a
sleight
of
hand:
local
political
and
organisational
resources
will
naturally
seem
of
no
account
if
you
leave
them
out
of
the
account
in
the
first
place.
The
second
error
Chandler
falls
into
is,
curiously,
that
of
Anglo-centricity.
The
lack
of
a
comparative
dimension
produces
a
distorted
perspective
on
the
weight
to
be
accorded
to
British
local
government.
Chandler
is
impressed
by
the
influenced
enjoyed
by
French
local
politicians
at
the
centre;
yet,
despite
recent
decentralisation
reforms,
French
public
services
remain
high
1 y
central
i
sed,
and
most
French
1
oca
1
authori
ties
are
small
er
and
weaker
than
thei
r
Bri
ti
sh
counterparts.
There
has
been
a
significant
readjustment
of
the
central-local
balance
in
the
British
system,
but
large
local
authorities
are
still
major
institutions
of
government
with
budgets
greater
than
those
of
some
independent
nations.
They
probably
remain
-
in
terms
of
size,
function,
and
finances
-
the
most
powerful
local
authorities
in
the
world.
It
is
important,
in
judging
the
strengths
and
weaknesses
of
British
local
government,
to
retain
this
comparative
perspective.
But
these
are
issues
which
need
to
be
explored
and
debated,
and
Chandler's
analysis
has
the
merit
of
being
clear
and
stimulating.
Within
its
own
preset
limits,
it
is
a
concise
and
readable
account
which
will
be
very
helpful
to
students,
and
which
their
teachers
may
profitably
use
as
a
peg
on
which
to
hang
alternative
ideas.
MARTIN
MINOGUE
International
Development
Centre,
University
oT
Manchester
Ethics
in
the
British
Civil
Service
RICHARD
A
CHAPMAN
(Routledge,
1988,
338pp,
£30)
This
book
is
about
the
application
of
moral
standards
in
the
course
of
official
work
in
the
British
Civil
Service
through
an
examination
of
the
career
of
Sir
Edward
(later
Lord)
Bridges,
Head
of
the
Civil
Service
from
1945-1956.
It
is
a
sequel
to
Chapman's
book
Leadership
in
the
British
Civil
51
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