Table Of ContentOUP CORRECTED AUTOPAGE PROOFS – FINAL, 04/08/21, SPi
Comparing Cabinets
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OUP CORRECTED AUTOPAGE PROOFS – FINAL, 04/08/21, SPi
Comparing Cabinets
Dilemmas of Collective Government
PATRICK WELLER, DENNIS C. GRUBE,
and
R. A. W. RHODES
1
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1
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Acknowledgements
Any book that explores the workings of governments must be forever in the debt
of those who told us about their experiences. We have interviewed hundreds of
people at the centre of government in the United Kingdom and Australia over the
past forty years. We added interviews from both countries. We also talked to
practitioners in Denmark, The Netherlands, and Switzerland. They included
prime ministers and presidents, ministers, advisers, heads of department (espe-
cially in central agencies), and journalists. We gave them all the same commit-
ment: we would use their comments but we would protect their anonymity. We
asked them about processes and practices, rather than about individual events
where sensitivities might still exist. We identify them by position, but not by
name. The book could not have been written without their contribution. We are
ever grateful, even if we cannot mention you.
We were assisted also by many colleagues. Jørgen Grønnegård Christensen
(Aarhus University) and Paul ’t Hart (Utrecht University) were invaluable guides
to Danish and Dutch government, respectively, and provided much sage advice to
the authors. Erik- Jan van Dorp (Utrecht), Heidi Houlberg Salomonsen (Aarhus),
Katrine Sonnenschein (BI Norwegian Business School), Anna Killick (UCL), and
Michael Erne (Bern) helped us to arrange, conduct, transcribe, and, where
needed, translate the interviews. Glyn Davis (University of Melbourne) and Jack
Corbett (University of Southampton) gave their advice on various draft chapters.
Charles Lauder edited a draft of the text to mesh our different styles into a reason-
ably coherent pattern. David Clark prepared the index. Nivedha Vinayagamurthy
and her colleagues at Straive set the text. At Griffith University in Brisbane Paula
Cowan managed the project, a task which included maintaining links across five
countries. To them all, our thanks.
At Oxford University Press we would like to thank Dominic Byatt, Olivia Wells
and Jenny King. In particular we thank them for their patience, as unforeseen
circumstances derailed our original schedule.
We thank Lord Richard Wilson and the participants at the Comparing Cabinets
Workshop in Cambridge, UK, 16–17 September 2018 for helpful discussions.
Our thanks to the Bennett Institute for Public Policy for assistance with this event.
The project ‘Comparative Cabinets: How Does Collective Decision-M aking
Work?’ was funded by the Australian Research Council (DP 160100896).
This final text was the result of debates over five years, made harder by the
Covid- 19 pandemic and our inability to meet in the same room. MS Teams does
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vi Acknowledgements
its best but it is no replacement for face- to- face discussion. That was the way it
was and, in the end, even if by remote communications, we take joint responsibil-
ity for this final book.
Patrick Weller, Brisbane
Dennis C. Grube, Cambridge
R. A. W. Rhodes, Southampton
February 2021
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Contents
List of Figures and Tables ix
List of Abbreviations xi
1. Understanding Cabinet Government 1
I. NATIONAL TRADITIONS, MYTHS,
AND PRACTICES
2. The United Kingdom: Traditions and Practices 33
3. Australia: Traditions and Practices 46
4. The Netherlands: Traditions and Practices 56
5. Denmark: Traditions and Practices 67
6. Switzerland: Traditions and Practices 80
II. DILEMMAS OF CABINET GOVERNMENT
7. The Process Dilemma: Predictability vs. Political Imperatives? 97
8. The Policy Dilemma: Puzzling vs. Political Risk 126
9. The Political Dilemma: Self- Interest vs. Cohesion 149
10. The Leadership Dilemma: Command vs. Persuasion 167
11. The Accountability Dilemma: Maintaining
Support vs. Making Unpopular Decisions 197
12. Conclusion: Cabinet Government’s Open Secrets: Flexibility
and Resilience 220
References 241
Name Index 255
Subject Index 258
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