Andrews, Leighton  ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9166-0116 and Collins, Matthew ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7458-3593
2026.
Beyond the Westminster Model: a myth that needs constant refreshing?
Public Money & Management
10.1080/09540962.2026.2715125
|
Preview |
PDF
- Published Version
Available under License Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives. Download (290kB) | Preview |
Abstract
The Westminster model of government rests upon a structural asymmetry: a permanent, professional bureaucracy serving a political class that rotates by design. It is a model that has been widely exported with many variations; Australia and Canada layer the model onto federal structures and written constitutions it was not designed to accommodate (Rhodes et al., Citation2009), while India layers it onto a written constitution and a constitutionally protected civil service that has not, in practice, prevented politicization (Saxena, Citation2023). The Westminster model is being undermined by an increasingly ‘corrosive’ tension in the relationship between ministers and civil servants and we are editing a Public Money & Management (PMM) theme to address this problem and seek ways forward: see https://think.taylorandfrancis.com/special_issues/beyond-the-westminster-model/. The Westminster model rests on a mythology of a mutually dependent relationship which requires constant refreshing. Is this relationship no longer being refreshed but quietly failing? Or is the current decline simply the model's familiar trick—regenerating into something merely resembling what preceded it? This article takes up the question that our call for papers posed more diplomatically: Is what we are observing today strain, rupture, or evolution behaving precisely as it always has?
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Date Type: | Published Online |
| Status: | In Press |
| Schools: | Schools > Global Humanities Schools > Social Sciences (Includes Criminology and Education) Schools > Business (Including Economics) |
| Subjects: | H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General) J Political Science > JA Political science (General) J Political Science > JN Political institutions (Europe) > JN101 Great Britain |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | Westminster model Civil Service Ministers Constitutional conventions Public trust |
| Additional Information: | Cardiff OA Reference: 2026-OA-0700 |
| Publisher: | Taylor and Francis Group |
| ISSN: | 1467-9302 |
| Date of First Compliant Deposit: | 12 August 2026 |
| Date of Acceptance: | 31 July 2026 |
| Last Modified: | 25 Aug 2026 22:02 |
| URI: | https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/188951 |
Actions (repository staff only)
 |
Edit Item |
Dimensions
Dimensions