As environmental concerns press upon public policy so state agencies tend to enter into governmental 'partnerships' with environmental groups. On the one hand, these 'partnerships' allow the state to call upon forms of expertise held by the groups and to gain broad legitimacy for state policies....

The 2001 foot and mouth disease (FMD) epidemic cost over £8 billion and wreaked havoc upon the British countryside. The paper examines the institutional response to the crisis and the subsequent inquiries. Drawing on the 'garbage-can model' of organisational choice and ideas of 'policy...