ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at the way democratic leaders in recent decades took up the challenge of achieving a balance of authority and control, which was perceived as having gotten seriously out of kilter; in particular, by trying to explain some of the unintended consequences of the managerialist reforms. It concludes by explaining why the tension between bureaucratic and democratic authority must be perennially managed but can never be definitively resolved. Democratic leaders are never without resources for asserting themselves against the bureaucrats, for they possess the authority to reorder radically the shape of bureaucracy and to alter the rules and conditions within which it operates. Democratic leaders make policy decisions ostensibly for the public good, but must rely on a competent public service to ensure that policies are properly implemented.
