British business and the Euro. ACES Cases No. 2008.2

During the Maastricht Treaty negotiations, the United Kingdom obtained an opt-out option on Economic and Monetary Union (EMU). When Tony Blair came to power, he promised there would be a referendum on the euro if the government decided it was in the national interest to join. Many believed Tony Blair intended to call and try to win a referendum on the euro. Therefore, in the late 1990s, the debate over the euro raged in Britain, filling the pages of the tabloids and the minds of many Britons. In this paper based on empirical research conducted in London in 2005-06, I investigate whether the business sector had a clear preference on the issue of British membership in the EMU and tried to influence the government‟s decision. I use Jeffry Frieden's model of interest group preferences regarding exchange-rate policies to develop hypotheses regarding the position of the business sector on the euro. Research findings reveal that the business sector was divided on the issue of euro membership exactly as Frieden's model predicts. However, the intensity of business preferences decreased overtime. By the end of Tony Blair's second term, the business sector had become neutral on the issue of the euro

Public management research: Towards relevance

Are public management researchers sufficiently addressing the contemporary challenges and changes in the real world of public management, including the challenges identified by public management practitioners themselves? If research is to be relevant for senior public managers, it should engage with these contemporary trends and challenges. The article thus raises some normative as well as analytical aspects of research. Research effort should place considerable weight on understanding and responding to the challenges articulated by public management practitioners. This will enable researchers and practitioners to navigate better the ‘swamp’ of complex and wicked problems, rather than be content with theory-building on the ‘high ground’. © 2010 Taylor & Francis

A

models of collaboration for delivering government services

Authority and Leadership Patterns in Public Sector Knowledge Networks

hosted a

New Models of Collaboration: GIS Coordination in New York State Ophelia Eglene Sharon S. Dawes

this document provided this cover page is included. 2 This document is available on the CTG Web site as a downloadable document. It is located at http://www.ctg.albany.edu/resources/pdfrpwp/gis006.pdf Center for Technology in Government University at Albany, SUNY 1535 Western Avenue Albany, NY 12203 Phone: (518) 442-3892 Fax: (518) 442-3886 E-mail: [email protected] http://www.ctg.albany.edu