While considerable divergencies existed among Western European countries in the broadcasting field until recently, all of them instituted a state monopoly. This traditional European pattern has recently been questioned with the emergence of the new phenomenon of 'deregulation'. This thesis looks at the main facets of W.European deregulation giving particular emphasis to the Greek case. It does not attempt to create a homogeneous notional structure covering all Western Europe, but to examine and uncover the antecedents behind broadcasting deregulation, which is taking place all over Western Europe, acknowledging the diverse paths through which this new phenomenon has taken place. The recent deregulatory evolutions, however, prove that most countries are now subject to the same international developments in technology, economics and politics. Broadcasting deregulation in Western Europe is closely wedded with the neo-liberal creed that appeared with new technological developments such as the 'new media' of cable and satellite and the investment opportunities they brought. Particular attention is paid to the principal connotations that technology had on Western European broadcasting and to the neo-liberal policy-making, concerning reduction in the level of regulation and introduction of deregulatory policies, based on arguments for business efficiency. effectiveness and enrichment of consumer's choice. These arguments are compounded by the growing internationalisation and interdependence of investment and broadcasting. Additionally, the Commission of the European Communities, particularly with its Directive 'Television Without Frontiers', seeks to establish a common market for broadcasting across the frontiers of the EC member states. In short, the main argument of this thesis is connected with the determining factors behind broadcasting deregulation particularly focusing on the Greek case. The thesis first gives a theoretical franîework for broadcasting policies and trends and then investigates the Western European broadcasting scene, taking an integral approach and making the connections, in order to focus on the Greek case, as Greece is part of this process. The second part of the thesis investigates and clarifies how broadcasting regulation has been abandoned in Greece in response to the influence of external and internal factors and tendencies.

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In most of the world’s states, bureaucrats are managed based on patronage: political discretion determines recruitment and careers. Corruption, poverty and lower growth often result. Unsurprisingly, patronage reform has taken centre stage in foreign aid. Yet, reforms overwhelmingly fail. Bad government is often good politics. When does good government become good politics in patronage states? To address this conundrum, this dissertation develops and tests a theory of reform of patronage states. The theory builds on a simple insight. Not all patronage states are the same: bad government takes different forms in different countries. Patronage states differ in particular in the institutional locus of control over patronage. Variably, sway over patronage benefits is allocated to the executive, other government branches or public servants. These institutional differences shape the electoral usefulness of patronage states to incumbent Presidents and Prime Ministers. Where institutions deprive incumbents and their allies of patronage control, incumbents face greater incentives to draw on their legal powers to professionalize. The theory is empirically validated through a comparison of reforms in Paraguay and the Dominican Republic, which draws on 130 high-level interviews. Evidence from patronage reforms in the U.S. and U.K., and from cross-country expert survey data on government structures underscores the theory’s external validity. The theory’s implication is clear: the origins of professional bureaucracies may lie in the institutional design of patronage states. This finding challenges scholarly convictions about the ephemeral nature of institutions in patronage states: strong formal institutions may exist in weak institutional contexts. Moreover, formal institutions may be causes – rather than only consequences – of the demise of patronage, clientelism and bad government. As a corollary, this dissertation adds a fresh argument to the age-old debate about the merits of power centralization and fragmentation: good government may arise from fragmented control over bad government.

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While central government has always used legislative means to bring about change in local authorities, the scope and scale of this imperative has changed significantly in the recent past. Thus, rather than just setting the framework within which local authorities operate, legislation has become increasingly prescriptive. Examples of the most recent legislation introduced include: The Local Government Acts, 1988, 1992, 1999, 2000, The Local Government (contracts) Act 1997, The National Health Services and Community Care Act 1990, The Local Government and Housing Act 1989, The Education Reform Act 1988, The Local Government Finance Act 1988, The Rates Act 1984, The Housing Act 1980 and The Local Government Planning and Land Act 1980. There is a widespread assumption in local authorities that in order to meet the growing demands of legislative changes, they have to become ever more strategic. The shift to strategy formulation as opposed to monolithic planning has been problematic because the reality of implementation is often underestimated. Strategy is a direction or a pattern of decisions, which aims for a fit between the organisation's internal capabilities and its external environment. The concept draws a line between formulation and action. The problem with this approach is that it fails to link implementation simultaneously into the process of formulation. This means that the key consideration of discursive practices is largely ignored. This research has examined and developed a historical analysis of change in local government with particular emphasis on government legislation and has examined how local authorities have responded to legislative-driven change through strategy formulation and implementation. The primary data for this has been based on in-depth interviews and a large sample survey of local authorities in England. For this purpose, five local authorities have been studied in order to identify the extent to which they have been able to implement existing and emerging legislation by relating key processes adopted in their strategy formulation and implementation to their achievements. The in-depth case studies have been followed by a detailed quantitative study encompassing data collected from 265 respondents from local authorities in England together with existing and emerging government statistics. This research has culminated in a connecting model, which shows the interrelationship that exists between legislative environmental change, strategy formulation and implementation and discursive practices. This connecting model provides a framework that help explain not only the process of change at the strategic level, but also how legislation will be interpreted, implemented and the degree to which it is likely to succeed or fail.

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This thesis attempts to describe the meanings, chart the development and evaluate the cogency of 'Caesarism', with particular reference to that concept's place and significance in the thought of Max Weber. It begins (Chapter 2) by investigating the genesis and historical trajectory of the term, concentrating on French and German usage between the period 1850-1880. My concern here is to determine the social causes of the word's emergence, the social problems and issues that it articulated and the reasons that account for its decline as a vernacular expression among the educated political public. With the term's original intellectual milieu established the next task is to proceed (Chapters 3 and 4) to the centrepiece of this study, an exposition and critique of Caesarism as both word and concept in Weber's political and sociological writings. Four primary contexts in which Weber employed 'Caesarism' are discussed: Bismarck's governance; 'plebiscitary leadership' in modern liberal-democratic states; the military 'dictatorships' of the likes of Cromwell and Napoleon; and the constitutional position of the Weimar Reich President. In the process of the discussion, 'Caesarism’ ‘s relationship to the more famous 'charisma' is explored. Following on from this I assess the view of the 'irrational masses' that underlies Weber's theory of leadership, and seek to demonstrate that view's empirical implausibility and logical incoherence while, at the same time, defending Weber from the charge of 'irrationalism' and defending also the value of the notion of 'irrationality' itself. Finally (Chapter 5) surveys a selection of recent attempts to apply the concept of 'Caesarism' to specific institutions, epochs and types of leadership. Though locating problems with these attempts, my suggestion is that 'Caesarism' can indeed do some sociological work for us, provided that our ambitions for the concept are modest and our approach historically informed.

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