ABSTRACT
Regardless of the particular model, what are the principal issues that successful government and administration need to comprehend and address? Basic concerns are: strategy, power, aims and scope of public policy, changing institutions and constitutions, personal conduct of leaders and followers, people’s participation and understanding, governing diverse communities. Assuming we want better government, then there’s a need for institutional and constitutional change, and too often such change works out badly. Before calling for institutional change, then, we need to outline the strategy: what public good is change in aid of? But we also need to accept path dependence: that change begins from within the constraints and habits of existing institutions. When change is imminent, then, we need to bring as many people as possible along with us and to develop a clear rationale. This chapter will take us through some of those basic concerns, on the understanding that there’s no clockwork model of institutional change.
