Regulating Collaborative Government: Towards Joined-Up Government?
| Published date | 01 April 1999 |
| Date | 01 April 1999 |
| DOI | 10.1177/095207679901400202 |
| Author | Jo Goodship,Stephen Cope |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Regulating
Collaborative
Government:
Towards
Joined-Up
Government?
Stephen
Cope
and
Jo
Goodship
University
of
Portsmouth
Abstract
This
article
examines
the
role
of
regulatory
agencies
in
the
development
of
joined-up
government.
It
argues
that
they
have
the
potential
to
both
control
and
influence
those
agencies
they
regulate,
and
consequently
constitute
potentially
significant
catalysts
for
joined-up
government.
However,
there
are
dangers
that
rivalry
between
regulatory
agencies
(and
their
different
sponsors)
and
non-
collaborative
regulatory
regimes
(including
game-playing
and
regulatory
capture)
may
frustrate
such
moves
towards
joined-up
government.
It
also
argues
that
joined-up
government
requires
joined-up
regulation,
otherwise
so-called
"wicked
problems"
that
spread
across
the
joins
of
government
are
likely
to
remain
unsolved,
or
at
best
partially
solved.
Moves
towards
joined-up
government,
including
joined-up
regulation,
are
likely
to
be
hindered
by
the
way
in
which
the
state
is
functionally
organised
and
the
entrenched
interests
of
politi-
cians,
bureaucrats
and
professionals
that
have
sustained
such
an
organisational
and
functional
carve-up
of
the
state.
Consequently
progress
towards
joined-up
government,
if
the
past
is
anything
to
go
by,
is
likely
to
be
slow
and
possibly
more
aspirational
than
real.
Introduction
This
article
examines
the
regulation
of
public
services
in
light
of
moves
announced
by
the
present
Labour
Government
to
promote
joined-up
government
(Cabinet
Office,
1999).
It
stems
from
a
research
project
that
compares
and
contrasts
the
regulatory
regimes
of
key
public
services
-
namely,
further
education,
health
care,
housing,
policing,
probation,
social
security
and
social
services.
This
research
project
examines
public-service
regulation,
which
embraces
government-sponsored
control,
influence
and
monitoring,
that
is
generally
performed
by
relatively
detached
regulatory
agencies
(eg
audit
and
inspection
bodies),
of
a
mix
of
public
and
private
sector
agencies
delivering
public
services.
The
research
project
deployed
a
range
of
research
methods,
Public
Policy
and
Administration
Volume
14
No.
2
Summer
1999
3
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