ABSTRACT
This chapter represents the last thematic analysis of the cases. It differs slightly from the earlier themes in that it explores connections between governmental policy-making at a central, ‘core’ level and implementation activity at a local level, the ‘locale’. It examines how policy decisions formed centrally are enacted locally, and describes the interplay between the implementation processes at work locally in the cases, and decisions taken at central level that were not necessarily directly related to the focal policy implementation on the ground. The chapter sets out to defi ne ‘core’ and ‘locale’, and embeds these defi nitions within the context of studies dealing with public policy implementation and complex adaptive system (CAS). It then looks at the tension between core and locale within the case studies and then turns to an analysis of how these concepts interact with CAS model features. The chapter concludes with an exploration of implications of the CAS analysis for policy makers and public managers.
