Introduction: the centrality of decentralisation Theories and concepts Introduction Organising concepts Theories: an overview Theories of collective action/rational choice The new institutionalist perspective Rhetorical analysis Concluding remarks Reform doctrines Introduction The management doctrines of the conservative government: main themes The national health service Local authority services: schools and socially rented housing The broad perspective: management as the key Roads to freedom? Emergence of the idea of opting out Development of the policy Characteristics of the developed agencies Implementation of the policy Impact of the policy Rationality, resources and strategies Decentralised management of NHS trusts Introduction Reasons for opting out(or not) The perceived benefits of trust status The drawbacks of trust status Concepts of performance Performance in practice External factors Fragmentation, system coherence and equity Accountability The self-governing hospital: concetps The self-governing hospital: theories dEcentralised management of secondary schools Introduction The schools in our study Reasons and benefits The drawbacks of opting out Concepts of performance Performance in practice: the use of performance -realted information by schools Fragmentation, system coherence and equity Accountability Explaining school governance: concepts Explaining school governance: theories Decentralised management of socially rented housing Introduction The housing agencies in our study Reasons for opting out Benefits of opting out Concepts of performance Performance in practice Fragmentation, system coherence and equity Accountability Tranfer to LSVT associations: concepts Transfer to LSVT associations: theories Freedom, performance and accountability Introduction Has decentralisation really taken place? What has been decentralised? What seems to have been the effect of decentralisation on the performance of the organisations concerned What lessons can be learned from looking at different approaches to decentralisation in different settings and sectors? What messages does the experience of the reforms of the decade from 1987 hold for the organisation of representative democarcy? How well do our chosen perspectives measure up to the task of explaining and interpreting the events of the period? Modelling implementation habitats: some building blocks