ABSTRACT
The terms ‘transformation’ and ‘governance’ are increasingly used in the academic literature, but often in a confused way. This chapter attempts to define both terms. It argues that there are three kinds of transformation: pseudo-change; Incremental Evolutionary Transformation (IET); and Revolutionary Transformation (RT). IET is the most common form. It applies this model of change to three paradigm shifts in developed countries since 1945: the welfare state; the neoliberal state; and the communitarian social state (sometimes called the Third Way). It argues that each of these paradigms involves a particular mode of governance: statist, pluralist and network, respectively. It examines both the causes and consequences of these transformations for politics and policy.
