From Marketisation To Diplomacy: It's the Mix that Matters

In marked contrast to conventional Westminster models, this article proposes that a more useful explanatory framework is provided by the concept ‘the differentiated polity’. This new perspective not only focusses on fragmentation, networks, hollowing‐out and governance as alternative explanatory variables, but proposes that markedly different policy skills are required to manage ‘differentiated polities’. These skills include: coping with complexity; negotiating interdependence; game‐playing; reestablishing trust relations; and using diplomatic techniques of patience, perseverence and persuasion.