Rethinking Governance: The Centrality of the State in Modern Society

by Stephen Bell

Several problems plague contemporary thinking about governance. From the multiple definitions that are often vague and confusing, to the assumption that governance strategies, networks and markets represent attempts by weakening states to maintain control. Rethinking Governance questions this view and seeks to clarify how we understand governance. Arguing that it is best understood as 'the strategies used by governments to help govern', the authors counter the view that governments have been decentred. They show that far from receding, states are in fact enhancing their capacity to govern by developing closer ties with non-government sectors. Identifying five 'modes' of government (governance through hierarchy, persuasion, markets and contracts, community engagement, and network associations), Stephen Bell and Andrew Hindmoor use practical examples to explore the strengths and limitations of each. In so doing, they demonstrate how modern states are using a mixture of governance modes to address specific policy problems. This book demonstrates why the argument that states are being 'hollowed out' is overblown.

254 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 12, 2010

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

Stephen Bell lives and writes in Egremont, Cumbria.

While juffling a busy schedule of two jobs and father to one sone, he's found time to contribute his poetry and stories to Reverence of Fune and Till Death Do We Part, as well as co-authoring the poetry novel Snips in Time.