ABSTRACT

In facing the question ‘who runs the universities’, the authors have carried out over a period of years an extensive programme of interviews, both formal and informal, as well as a detailed study of documents. Their findings are written up in the language of politics – in terms of power, authority, influence, regulation and decision making. The result is thus of value both to those with a practical interest in universities and to those with a more theoretical interest in politics or organisational behaviour.