Governance versus government: drug consumption rooms in Australia and the UK

Abstract

Aim: To evaluate, through a case study, the extent to which elements of governance and elements of government are influential in determining the implementation or non-implementation of a drugs intervention.

Methods: Comparative analysis of the case of a drug consumption room in the UK (England) and Australia (New South Wales), including 16 semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders and analysis of relevant documents according to characteristic features of governance and government (power decentralisation, power centralisation, independent self-organising policy networks, use of evidence, top-down steering/directing, legislation).

Results: Characteristic features of both governance and government are found in the data. Elements of governance are more prominent in New South Wales, Australia than in England, UK, where government prevails. Government is seen as the most important actor at play in the making, or absence, of drug consumption rooms.

Conclusions: Both governance and government are useful frameworks in conceptualising the policy process. The governance narrative risks overlooking the importance of traditional government structures. In the case of drug consumption rooms in the UK and Australia, a focus on government is shown to have been crucial in determining whether the intervention was implemented.

Keywords: Asymmetry; Drug consumption rooms; Governance; Government; Pluralism.