The Core Executive in Britain

In this text Martin Smith rejects simplistic notions of power as a fixed attribute of individual people and institutions, and demonstrates that it is much more fluid and dependent on changing structures, relationships, contexts and actions. Power is not an object that 'belongs to' cabinets or prime ministers or is inherent in the organisation of government departments. If we want to understand the operations of the core executive, the author argues, we have to trace the structures of dependency within the central state, how actors and institutions exchange resources and what tactics are deployed to achieve goals.
Using documents, memoirs and interviews, Martin Smith provides a systematic new framework for the analysis of central government that will be essential reading for all students and practitioners of British politics.