The policy and politics of Best Value: currents, crosscurrents and undercurrents in the new regime

This article offers an analysis of the policy and politics of Best Value. We first examine some of the inherent tensions which exist within the New Labour regime for local public services, the reasons for these and the ways in which they reflect paradoxes within the wider 'modernisation agenda' being pursued by New Labour. We then analyse approaches to implementing the Best Value framework at local level, highlighting four key emphases that we believe reflect quite different interpretations of the role of local government and are clearly underpinned by competing sets of values and notions of who should determine what constitutes value. We suggest that the emergent diversity of approaches to service design and delivery can be understood in the context of a transition from 'modernism' towards more 'postmodern' approaches and organisational forms. This in turn suggests the need for frameworks of analysis that are able to accommodate, legitimise and reflect a more differentiated pattern of local governance.