ABSTRACT
The objective in this chapter is to consider the position of the MoD within what Heclo and Wildavsky, in their classic study of The Private Government of Public Money, called the ‘Whitehall village’. This focus leads to a consideration of the MoD’s interaction with the Foreign & Commonwealth Office and with the now-defunct Department for International Development. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the ‘Comprehensive Approach’ as an attempt to overcome the chronic and profoundly damaging problem of departmentalism which stems from the fragmented nature of British departmental government; a quest which has not been particularly successful.
