Colin Knox's study of devolution and governance is in part a history of governance, in part an account of the devolved institutions of governance and in part a number of case studies of policy-making. The book represents an addition to post-devolution literature on Northern Ireland and to the limited material scrutinising governance and policy-making, and also provides a more general assessment of political developments and outcomes since 2007. The two approaches used in the book may distract somewhat from a more systematic and comprehensive analysis of devolved governance. The first approach is an emphasis on the institutions of governance, i.e. interpreted as the civil service, public bodies and local government. This provides some imbalance in examining the workings of devolution, as the architecture and operation of the executive and assembly are described only briefly. A second approach adopted includes the insertion of a number of case studies of varying length and depth. The topics covered include: integrated education, shared accommodation, campaigns to save some quangos, a community planning pilot study, central−local relations and several voluntary sector projects. The insertion of such case studies caused some imbalance and fragmentation in the layout of the book. Thus the case studies related to local government are not included in the chapter entitled local government. This rather loose organisation is also demonstrated when matters on the Barnett formula and finance is placed in the chapter entitled the civil service, whereas modernising the civil service is included in a separate chapter entirely from that of the civil service. The use of case studies may also in places present an obstacle to a view of the totally of governance, as the choice of case studies does not always reflect major issues of governance and policy. On the other hand, the use of case studies does serve the valuable function of illustrating the political and sectarian complexions of almost all policy decisions and issues of governance in Northern Ireland.

The book provides under each theme a fairly descriptive account of the history and workings of the institutions of governance, which is useful for those unfamiliar with the distribution of the institutions of governance and their relationship to the new political arrangements. A number of assessments are made of the outcomes of devolved governance, but these include only a brief reference to social policy outcomes. Such innovations as winter fuel payments and free prescriptions are analysed only in terms of ‘populist’ public policies rather than on the basis of any principles of social policy. There is a more major analysis of community relations, shared social housing, integrated education and the role of the third sector. Most of the data used by Colin Knox to assess policy outputs and performance are based on the Northern Ireland Audit Office, the Public Accounts Committee and official performance indicators, along with some data from social attitudes surveys. This itself reflects lack of a research base in Northern Ireland.

The book provides a stronger and incisive evaluation of the decision-making processes which have had an impact on social policy. The traditions pre-devolution are described by Knox as domination by civil service fiefdoms, handing of power to quango boards with ministerial endorsement and an emasculated system of local government. The lack of policy-making capacity, the lack of joined-up executive decision-making and policy impasse are well described. It is debatable whether the use of a framework drawn from Weiss is especially illuminating with respect to Northern Ireland. The roles played by political advisors, and commissioned policy-related reports from management consultants, are also discussed.

The book provides insights into the workings of devolved institutions but largely deals with the institutions on a sectoral basis, setting up ICT (information and communication technology) based reforms in the civil service and the defects in the reform of local government. The nature of policy impasse is explained with a particular detailed focus on policies to tackle sectarianism and promote reconciliation. There is considerable emphasis on how power relationships and party political difficulties have affected policy outcomes. Some of the comments and criticisms could be usefully further developed into a more joined-up analysis, which would help answer the question of why modernisation of the public sector lags behind Britain, why top−down approaches are preferred to bottom−up and why civil making capacity into the public sector is limited. The role of the civil service and public bodies as barriers to public sector and social policy modernisation could be explained further.

Some comparative material is included in the book, especially on central−local government relations in Wales, as a case study, but other useful perspectives can be gained from thinking in Wales and Scotland on what governance structures are most compatible with devolution, in terms of a system of government departments or quangos.