KEITH DOWDING is Professor of Political Science at the London School of Economics. His books include Rational Choice and Political Power, The Civil Service, Power, and co-edited Preferences, Institutions and Rational Choice. He is co-editor of the Journal of Theoretical Politics. JAMES HUGHES is Senior Lecturer in Comparative Politics, Department of Government, London School of Economics. His most recent publication is Stalinism in a Russian Province (1996). HELEN MARGETTS is Reader in Political Science at the School of Public Policy, University College London. She is author of Information Technology in Government: Britain and America.