Part I: Setting the scene 1. In the beginning: The story of a concept (Kristoffer Kolltveit and Richard Shaw) 2. Core executive studies in the wild (Richard Shaw and Kristoffer Kolltveit) 3. Court politics: From metaphor to theory (R.A.W. Rhodes) Part II: Core executives in Westminster contexts 4. Court politics in an age of austerity: David Cameron's court, 2010-2016 (R.A.W. Rhodes) 5. Ireland's core executive at one hundred years of self-government: Navigating coalition, crisis and complexity(Bernadette Connaughton) 6. New Zealand: The core within the core (Richard Shaw and Rose Cole) Part III: Core executives in Continental countries 7. On a wildgoose chase? The (core) executive in Germany (Anna Hundehege and Thurid Hustedt) 8. The Netherlands: How weak prime ministers gain influence (Erik-Jan van Dorp and R.A.W. Rhodes) Part IV: Core executives in Scandinavia 9. The Swedish executive: Centralising from afar (Erik Brinde, Thurid Hustedt and Heidi HoulbergSalomonsen) 10. The Danish core executive: From 'duopoly' to 'monopoly'? (Heidi Houlberg Salomonsen and Amalie Trangbæk) 11. The Norwegian core executive: Baronial courts and inner circles? (Kristoffer Kolltveit and Jostein Askim) Part V: Conclusion 12. Continuity and change: Explaining developments and looking to the future (Kristoffer Kolltveit and Richard Shaw)