Mark Sandford
Biographic Data
| ID | 4384337 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Mark Sandford |
| GIVEN NAMES | Mark |
| FAMILY NAME | Sandford |
| SIGNATURE | SANDFORD M |
| AFFILIATIONS | House of Commons Library, London, UK |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-2987-4356 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 25 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 169 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 25 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2002 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 7 |
If Fiscal Devolution is the Answer for English Local Government, What is the Question
Many commentators critiquing the British state cite fiscal devolution to English local authorities as a desirable reform. This article argues that fiscal devolution will be of questionable benefit unless it is well designed and located in a narrative of the purpose of local government. Fiscal devolution does not guarantee more money, better accountability, improved decision making or increased growth for local authorities. These are excessive cla…
How democratically elected mayors can achieve mission-oriented policies in turbulent times
The aim of this article is to explore how democratically elected mayors can achieve mission-oriented policies in turbulent times. Drawing on 132 interviews with decision makers in England, this article uses the case of healthy urban development to explore the role of elected mayors in mission delivery. Findings show that mayors can be figureheads for a place, work directly towards national missions, implement cross-cutting programmes, convene par…
Muscular Unionism
This article argues that shifts in the UK’s territorial management practice in the late 2010s and early 2020s, described by various terms, including ‘muscular unionism’, may be more rhetorical and ideational than substantive. The practices associated with these terms are recognisably part of the ‘British political tradition’, and the changes of the early 2020s can be viewed as reasserting traditional governance practices rather than introducing n…
The challenges of mainstreaming local government
Developing “ place leadership ” when hierarchical accountability is omnipresent
Purpose The relationship between central and sub-national (local) government is contentious around distribution of power and control. There is a specific concern when a (local) place has power devolved, but centralised hierarchical accountability pervades. Design/methodology/approach This paper addresses that concern by considering recent innovative developments around place-based accountability arrangements in England, through analysis of offici…
Grasping the nettle
In England, the traditional method of central government redistribution and equalization between locations has been replaced with a greater emphasis on self-sufficiency and entrepreneurism. English local government now faces existential funding questions – a situation that is repeated around the world as the public sector manages the fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic. Financialization has figured large in the study of entrepreneurial behaviour. …
Conceptualising ‘generative power’
Literature on sub-national governance and leadership has frequently suggested that elected leaders can use influence and facilitation skills alongside coercive power, legal responsibilities and resources to achieve policy outcomes. This article investigates the degree to which influence, networking and leadership – or ‘generative power’ – can themselves extend a sub-national body’s ‘capacity to govern’. It uses empirical data from the activities …
Taking Back Control’, the UK’s Constitutional Narrative and Schrodinger’s Devolution
The UK’s decision to leave the European Union in 2016 threatens to open up a range of territorial management issues that have long remained unexplored. Since 1999, the UK’s devolution settlements have allowed divergent constitutional narratives to develop and to co-exist. This ‘constructive ambiguity’ has led UK territorial governance to take the form of ‘Schrodinger’s devolution’, where Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have and have not expe…
Giving power away? The ‘de- words’ and the downward transfer of power in mid-2010s England
Attempts to measure decentralization globally have frequently consisted of either quantitative measurement of ‘regional authority’ or a more qualitative characterization of decentralization. The most frequent descriptions of the latter have come via the terms ‘deconcentration’, ‘delegation’ and ‘devolution’. These terms have been used in divergent ways by scholars but three broad approaches to decentralization processes can be synthesized from th…
How language works in politics
England plus? Territory, identity and fiscal devolution in the UK
Policy-making ‘front’ and ‘back’ stage
The aim of this article is to examine the complex interrelationship between ‘front’ and ‘back’ stage policy-making. ‘Front stage’ describes the activities of visible and accountable office holders in elected bodies, constrained by established bureaucratic rules. ‘Back stage’ describes the world of unseen decision-making where public officials are less constrained by formal rules and public scrutiny. Drawing on a recent case study of English devol…
Territory, power and statecraft
In recent decades, the devolution of power to subnational regional authorities has formed a key element of what has been termed the ‘unravelling’ or ‘unbundling’ of the state in many parts of the world. Even in the United Kingdom, with its distinctive global reputation as a power-hoarding majoritarian democracy, the devolution of powers to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland since 1998 can be located within this broader devolutionary dynamic. In…
Citizen participation and changing governance
The current process of devolving powers within England constitutes a significant change of governance arrangements. This process of devolution has been widely criticised for including insufficient consultation. This paper assesses whether that criticism is fair. Modifying Archon Fung’s framework for the analysis of public participation mechanisms, we begin by considering whether the depth of public engagement has been limited. Then, by comparing …
Signing up to devolution
Initial analyses of the ‘devolution deals’ that form the cornerstone of current efforts to devolve power within England assess the policy against conventional governance criteria: accountability, transparency, and the quality of governance systems. In fact, English devolution policy has little connection with territorial governance. Instead, it closely resembles a contractual process, with central government determining the terms on which it will…
Public services and local government
Recent attention to local government finance in England has focused on the substantial cuts in grant funding during the 2010–15 Parliament. However, the newly introduced Business Rates Retention Scheme, which links the distribution of central funding to business rate revenue raised in each local area, constitutes a historically significant disjuncture in the funding of English local authorities. Since the nineteenth century, with the exception of…
English Question or Union Question? Neither has Easy Answers
While devolution has provided a stronger political voice for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland since the late 1990s, it is only in the past few years that English public opinion appears to have become exercised by the lack of similar arrangements for England. The renewed debates over the character of the Union after the Scottish independence referendum reveal a desire for ‘fair treatment’ of England within a Union conceived as a partnership of…
English regionalism through the looking glass
The Government's now-defunct plans for elected regional assemblies in England were principally economic and administrative in focus, and therefore paid little attention to perceptions of regional culture or identity and therefore to questions over regional boundaries. A comparison of two regions of England-Cornwall and the North-East-indicates that regional identity played some role in each. In Cornwall, which is not a standard region, regional c…
Civic engagement in the english regions
The civic engagement agenda in the English regions is one of a number of notable features of the uncertain steps towards English regionalism. It primarily takes place through Regional Chambers/Assemblies, which are evolving increasingly sophisticated quasi-democratic representative methods to select individuals to represent sectors of civil society. These members are now regarded as equals in the regional policy-making process. The manner in whic…
The GLA and Whitehall
The structure and strategy of the GLA (Greater London Authority) to date are a novel, if partial, solution to the classic problems of Whitehall–local government relations. The GLA is unlike classic English local government in the range of resources it deploys – substantial authority and political profile but little by way of organisation. The history of GLA–Whitehall relations show the importance of this profile. The personalism and ad hoc nature…
The Constitution
The constitution received official recognition in 2003 with the creation of the Department of Constitutional Affairs, but the year was spent mopping up unfinished business from the reform programme started in 1997. This article covers developments in freedom of information, the regulation of the civil service, House of Lords reform, devolution in Scotland and Wales, preparations for devolution to the English regions, and electoral systems and fix…
Elected Mayors I
Local authority elected mayors were introduced as something of a panacea for local government in 2000. In reality, choices made by local authorities, and the interest of their electorates in the referendums and elections, has revealed relatively little shift in underlying political attitudes. Turnout remained at or around the local government norm. The authorities considering the reform were overwhelmingly urban. Analysis of election results show…
What Place for England in an Asymmetrically Devolved UK
The effect of the government's 'devolution settlement' on the position of England within the UK shows no signs, as yet, of departing from the tradition of British incrementalism. Despite significant changes still underway, attitudes and identity have yet to show decisive changes. The paper analyses the plausibility of an English Parliament and of elected regional assemblies in England, noting that administrative regionalism is progressing effecti…
Achieving Elected Regional Assemblies in England
Why are Second Chambers so Difficult to Reform
The experiences of second chambers in Canada, Australia, Italy and Ireland suggest that second chamber reform faces a number of inherent problems. It must frequently negotiate exacting procedures for constitutional change, may be caught up in wider constitutional issues and often comes a long way down the list of a government's priorities: an ineffective second chamber, or one with low public legitimacy, can be of value to the government. In the …
Territory, power and statecraft
In recent decades, the devolution of power to subnational regional authorities has formed a key element of what has been termed the ‘unravelling’ or ‘unbundling’ of the state in many parts of the world. Even in the United Kingdom, with its distinctive global reputation as a power-hoarding majoritarian democracy, the devolution of powers to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland since 1998 can be located within this broader devolutionary dynamic. In…
Signing up to devolution
Initial analyses of the ‘devolution deals’ that form the cornerstone of current efforts to devolve power within England assess the policy against conventional governance criteria: accountability, transparency, and the quality of governance systems. In fact, English devolution policy has little connection with territorial governance. Instead, it closely resembles a contractual process, with central government determining the terms on which it will…
Citizen participation and changing governance
The current process of devolving powers within England constitutes a significant change of governance arrangements. This process of devolution has been widely criticised for including insufficient consultation. This paper assesses whether that criticism is fair. Modifying Archon Fung’s framework for the analysis of public participation mechanisms, we begin by considering whether the depth of public engagement has been limited. Then, by comparing …
Policy-making ‘front’ and ‘back’ stage
The aim of this article is to examine the complex interrelationship between ‘front’ and ‘back’ stage policy-making. ‘Front stage’ describes the activities of visible and accountable office holders in elected bodies, constrained by established bureaucratic rules. ‘Back stage’ describes the world of unseen decision-making where public officials are less constrained by formal rules and public scrutiny. Drawing on a recent case study of English devol…
Taking Back Control’, the UK’s Constitutional Narrative and Schrodinger’s Devolution
The UK’s decision to leave the European Union in 2016 threatens to open up a range of territorial management issues that have long remained unexplored. Since 1999, the UK’s devolution settlements have allowed divergent constitutional narratives to develop and to co-exist. This ‘constructive ambiguity’ has led UK territorial governance to take the form of ‘Schrodinger’s devolution’, where Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have and have not expe…
Public services and local government
Recent attention to local government finance in England has focused on the substantial cuts in grant funding during the 2010–15 Parliament. However, the newly introduced Business Rates Retention Scheme, which links the distribution of central funding to business rate revenue raised in each local area, constitutes a historically significant disjuncture in the funding of English local authorities. Since the nineteenth century, with the exception of…
Why are Second Chambers so Difficult to Reform
The experiences of second chambers in Canada, Australia, Italy and Ireland suggest that second chamber reform faces a number of inherent problems. It must frequently negotiate exacting procedures for constitutional change, may be caught up in wider constitutional issues and often comes a long way down the list of a government's priorities: an ineffective second chamber, or one with low public legitimacy, can be of value to the government. In the …
Elected Mayors I
Local authority elected mayors were introduced as something of a panacea for local government in 2000. In reality, choices made by local authorities, and the interest of their electorates in the referendums and elections, has revealed relatively little shift in underlying political attitudes. Turnout remained at or around the local government norm. The authorities considering the reform were overwhelmingly urban. Analysis of election results show…
What Place for England in an Asymmetrically Devolved UK
The effect of the government's 'devolution settlement' on the position of England within the UK shows no signs, as yet, of departing from the tradition of British incrementalism. Despite significant changes still underway, attitudes and identity have yet to show decisive changes. The paper analyses the plausibility of an English Parliament and of elected regional assemblies in England, noting that administrative regionalism is progressing effecti…
Muscular Unionism
This article argues that shifts in the UK’s territorial management practice in the late 2010s and early 2020s, described by various terms, including ‘muscular unionism’, may be more rhetorical and ideational than substantive. The practices associated with these terms are recognisably part of the ‘British political tradition’, and the changes of the early 2020s can be viewed as reasserting traditional governance practices rather than introducing n…
Grasping the nettle
In England, the traditional method of central government redistribution and equalization between locations has been replaced with a greater emphasis on self-sufficiency and entrepreneurism. English local government now faces existential funding questions – a situation that is repeated around the world as the public sector manages the fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic. Financialization has figured large in the study of entrepreneurial behaviour. …
English regionalism through the looking glass
The Government's now-defunct plans for elected regional assemblies in England were principally economic and administrative in focus, and therefore paid little attention to perceptions of regional culture or identity and therefore to questions over regional boundaries. A comparison of two regions of England-Cornwall and the North-East-indicates that regional identity played some role in each. In Cornwall, which is not a standard region, regional c…
The GLA and Whitehall
The structure and strategy of the GLA (Greater London Authority) to date are a novel, if partial, solution to the classic problems of Whitehall–local government relations. The GLA is unlike classic English local government in the range of resources it deploys – substantial authority and political profile but little by way of organisation. The history of GLA–Whitehall relations show the importance of this profile. The personalism and ad hoc nature…
Giving power away? The ‘de- words’ and the downward transfer of power in mid-2010s England
Attempts to measure decentralization globally have frequently consisted of either quantitative measurement of ‘regional authority’ or a more qualitative characterization of decentralization. The most frequent descriptions of the latter have come via the terms ‘deconcentration’, ‘delegation’ and ‘devolution’. These terms have been used in divergent ways by scholars but three broad approaches to decentralization processes can be synthesized from th…
How democratically elected mayors can achieve mission-oriented policies in turbulent times
The aim of this article is to explore how democratically elected mayors can achieve mission-oriented policies in turbulent times. Drawing on 132 interviews with decision makers in England, this article uses the case of healthy urban development to explore the role of elected mayors in mission delivery. Findings show that mayors can be figureheads for a place, work directly towards national missions, implement cross-cutting programmes, convene par…
Conceptualising ‘generative power’
Literature on sub-national governance and leadership has frequently suggested that elected leaders can use influence and facilitation skills alongside coercive power, legal responsibilities and resources to achieve policy outcomes. This article investigates the degree to which influence, networking and leadership – or ‘generative power’ – can themselves extend a sub-national body’s ‘capacity to govern’. It uses empirical data from the activities …
England plus? Territory, identity and fiscal devolution in the UK
Civic engagement in the english regions
The civic engagement agenda in the English regions is one of a number of notable features of the uncertain steps towards English regionalism. It primarily takes place through Regional Chambers/Assemblies, which are evolving increasingly sophisticated quasi-democratic representative methods to select individuals to represent sectors of civil society. These members are now regarded as equals in the regional policy-making process. The manner in whic…
What Place for England in an Asymmetrically Devolved UK
The effect of the government's 'devolution settlement' on the position of England within the UK shows no signs, as yet, of departing from the tradition of British incrementalism. Despite significant changes still underway, attitudes and identity have yet to show decisive changes. The paper analyses the plausibility of an English Parliament and of elected regional assemblies in England, noting that administrative regionalism is progressing effecti…
Achieving Elected Regional Assemblies in England
Why are Second Chambers so Difficult to Reform
The experiences of second chambers in Canada, Australia, Italy and Ireland suggest that second chamber reform faces a number of inherent problems. It must frequently negotiate exacting procedures for constitutional change, may be caught up in wider constitutional issues and often comes a long way down the list of a government's priorities: an ineffective second chamber, or one with low public legitimacy, can be of value to the government. In the …
The Constitution
The constitution received official recognition in 2003 with the creation of the Department of Constitutional Affairs, but the year was spent mopping up unfinished business from the reform programme started in 1997. This article covers developments in freedom of information, the regulation of the civil service, House of Lords reform, devolution in Scotland and Wales, preparations for devolution to the English regions, and electoral systems and fix…
Elected Mayors I
Local authority elected mayors were introduced as something of a panacea for local government in 2000. In reality, choices made by local authorities, and the interest of their electorates in the referendums and elections, has revealed relatively little shift in underlying political attitudes. Turnout remained at or around the local government norm. The authorities considering the reform were overwhelmingly urban. Analysis of election results show…
English regionalism through the looking glass
The Government's now-defunct plans for elected regional assemblies in England were principally economic and administrative in focus, and therefore paid little attention to perceptions of regional culture or identity and therefore to questions over regional boundaries. A comparison of two regions of England-Cornwall and the North-East-indicates that regional identity played some role in each. In Cornwall, which is not a standard region, regional c…
Civic engagement in the english regions
The civic engagement agenda in the English regions is one of a number of notable features of the uncertain steps towards English regionalism. It primarily takes place through Regional Chambers/Assemblies, which are evolving increasingly sophisticated quasi-democratic representative methods to select individuals to represent sectors of civil society. These members are now regarded as equals in the regional policy-making process. The manner in whic…
The GLA and Whitehall
The structure and strategy of the GLA (Greater London Authority) to date are a novel, if partial, solution to the classic problems of Whitehall–local government relations. The GLA is unlike classic English local government in the range of resources it deploys – substantial authority and political profile but little by way of organisation. The history of GLA–Whitehall relations show the importance of this profile. The personalism and ad hoc nature…
English Question or Union Question? Neither has Easy Answers
While devolution has provided a stronger political voice for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland since the late 1990s, it is only in the past few years that English public opinion appears to have become exercised by the lack of similar arrangements for England. The renewed debates over the character of the Union after the Scottish independence referendum reveal a desire for ‘fair treatment’ of England within a Union conceived as a partnership of…
Signing up to devolution
Initial analyses of the ‘devolution deals’ that form the cornerstone of current efforts to devolve power within England assess the policy against conventional governance criteria: accountability, transparency, and the quality of governance systems. In fact, English devolution policy has little connection with territorial governance. Instead, it closely resembles a contractual process, with central government determining the terms on which it will…
Public services and local government
Recent attention to local government finance in England has focused on the substantial cuts in grant funding during the 2010–15 Parliament. However, the newly introduced Business Rates Retention Scheme, which links the distribution of central funding to business rate revenue raised in each local area, constitutes a historically significant disjuncture in the funding of English local authorities. Since the nineteenth century, with the exception of…
Policy-making ‘front’ and ‘back’ stage
The aim of this article is to examine the complex interrelationship between ‘front’ and ‘back’ stage policy-making. ‘Front stage’ describes the activities of visible and accountable office holders in elected bodies, constrained by established bureaucratic rules. ‘Back stage’ describes the world of unseen decision-making where public officials are less constrained by formal rules and public scrutiny. Drawing on a recent case study of English devol…
Territory, power and statecraft
In recent decades, the devolution of power to subnational regional authorities has formed a key element of what has been termed the ‘unravelling’ or ‘unbundling’ of the state in many parts of the world. Even in the United Kingdom, with its distinctive global reputation as a power-hoarding majoritarian democracy, the devolution of powers to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland since 1998 can be located within this broader devolutionary dynamic. In…
Citizen participation and changing governance
The current process of devolving powers within England constitutes a significant change of governance arrangements. This process of devolution has been widely criticised for including insufficient consultation. This paper assesses whether that criticism is fair. Modifying Archon Fung’s framework for the analysis of public participation mechanisms, we begin by considering whether the depth of public engagement has been limited. Then, by comparing …
England plus? Territory, identity and fiscal devolution in the UK
Giving power away? The ‘de- words’ and the downward transfer of power in mid-2010s England
Attempts to measure decentralization globally have frequently consisted of either quantitative measurement of ‘regional authority’ or a more qualitative characterization of decentralization. The most frequent descriptions of the latter have come via the terms ‘deconcentration’, ‘delegation’ and ‘devolution’. These terms have been used in divergent ways by scholars but three broad approaches to decentralization processes can be synthesized from th…
How language works in politics
Conceptualising ‘generative power’
Literature on sub-national governance and leadership has frequently suggested that elected leaders can use influence and facilitation skills alongside coercive power, legal responsibilities and resources to achieve policy outcomes. This article investigates the degree to which influence, networking and leadership – or ‘generative power’ – can themselves extend a sub-national body’s ‘capacity to govern’. It uses empirical data from the activities …
Taking Back Control’, the UK’s Constitutional Narrative and Schrodinger’s Devolution
The UK’s decision to leave the European Union in 2016 threatens to open up a range of territorial management issues that have long remained unexplored. Since 1999, the UK’s devolution settlements have allowed divergent constitutional narratives to develop and to co-exist. This ‘constructive ambiguity’ has led UK territorial governance to take the form of ‘Schrodinger’s devolution’, where Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have and have not expe…
Grasping the nettle
In England, the traditional method of central government redistribution and equalization between locations has been replaced with a greater emphasis on self-sufficiency and entrepreneurism. English local government now faces existential funding questions – a situation that is repeated around the world as the public sector manages the fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic. Financialization has figured large in the study of entrepreneurial behaviour. …
Developing “ place leadership ” when hierarchical accountability is omnipresent
Purpose The relationship between central and sub-national (local) government is contentious around distribution of power and control. There is a specific concern when a (local) place has power devolved, but centralised hierarchical accountability pervades. Design/methodology/approach This paper addresses that concern by considering recent innovative developments around place-based accountability arrangements in England, through analysis of offici…
Muscular Unionism
This article argues that shifts in the UK’s territorial management practice in the late 2010s and early 2020s, described by various terms, including ‘muscular unionism’, may be more rhetorical and ideational than substantive. The practices associated with these terms are recognisably part of the ‘British political tradition’, and the changes of the early 2020s can be viewed as reasserting traditional governance practices rather than introducing n…
The challenges of mainstreaming local government
How democratically elected mayors can achieve mission-oriented policies in turbulent times
The aim of this article is to explore how democratically elected mayors can achieve mission-oriented policies in turbulent times. Drawing on 132 interviews with decision makers in England, this article uses the case of healthy urban development to explore the role of elected mayors in mission delivery. Findings show that mayors can be figureheads for a place, work directly towards national missions, implement cross-cutting programmes, convene par…
If Fiscal Devolution is the Answer for English Local Government, What is the Question
Many commentators critiquing the British state cite fiscal devolution to English local authorities as a desirable reform. This article argues that fiscal devolution will be of questionable benefit unless it is well designed and located in a narrative of the purpose of local government. Fiscal devolution does not guarantee more money, better accountability, improved decision making or increased growth for local authorities. These are excessive cla…
Political science (24 works) · Public Administration (22 works) · Law (21 works) · Public Administration (21 works) · Law (20 works) · Political Systems and Governance (18 works) · Sociology (18 works) · Politics (16 works) · Economics (13 works) · Government (linguistics (12 works)