List of Contributors.- List of Tables.- List of Figures.- Introducing the Core Executive; R.A.W. Rhodes.- PART 1: SURVEYING THE FIELD.- From Prime Ministerial Power to Core Executive; R.A.W. Rhodes Central Government Departments and the Policy Process; M. Smith, D. Marsh & D. Richards.- PART 2: INTERPRETING HISTORY.- Relations Between Prime Minister and Cabinet: From Wilson to Thatcher; S. James.- The Downfall of Margaret Thatcher; G.W. Jones.- Interpreting the Fall of Margaret Thatcher: Power-dependence and the Core Executive; M.J. Smith.- The Cabinet Office and Co-ordination of 1979-87; A. Seldon.- The Ethos of the Cabinet Office: A Comment on the Testimony of Officials; M. Lee.- Ministerial Responsibility and the Theory of the British State; A. Beattie.- PART 3: EMPIRICAL STUDIES.- Reinterpreting the Westland Affair: Theories of the State and Core Executive Decision Making; P. Dunleavy.- Core Executive Decision Making on High Technology Issues: The Case of the Alvey Report; L. Keliher.- Joining the ERM: Analysing a Core Executive Policy Disaster; H. Thompson.- Leaders, Politics and Institutional Change: The Decline of Prime Ministerial Accountability to the House of Commons, 1868-1990; P. Dunleavy & G.W. Jones with J. Burnham, R. Elgie & P. Fysh.- Estimating the Distribution of Influence in Cabinet Committees under Major; P. Dunleavy.- Guide to Further Reading; R.A.W. Rhodes.- References Author.- Index.- Subject Index.
