Public administration

The Local Government Act 2000 has transformed the way in which local politics operates. Local councillors have had to adjust to the introduction of elected mayors, cabinet government and scrutiny committees, and cope with a range of new initiatives. This book is a unique attempt to provide a coherent analysis of the impact of these changes.

Changing Scotland uses longitudinal data from the British Household Panel Survey to improve our knowledge and understanding of the impact of devolution on the lives of people in Scotland. It is the first time that BHPS data has been used in this way.

Can and should asset-based policies become a new pillar of the welfare state? Can they form the basis for a more egalitarian form of market economy? The citizen's stake throws open the debate by bringing together the ideas of leading thinkers in academia and policy to explore the future scope of asset-based policies in Britain.

Involving citizens in policy decision-making has been a central goal of the Labour government since it came to power. But what happens when the public are drawn into debate with unfamiliar others in the unknown world of policy making at national level? This book sets out to understand the contribution that citizens can realistically make.

This volume analyses the impact of globalization on civil service systems across the Middle East and North Africa. It presents an analytical model to assess how globalization influences civil servants and traces the shifting patterns of power and accountability between civil servants, politicians and other actors.

Available Open Access digitally under CC-BY licence.. Informed by practical action, lived experience and international research, this book shines new light on the theory and reality of co-creation, highlighting the possibilities and potential in a range of contexts through practical service dilemmas and lived experience.

A wide-range of experts respond to the political and social policy changes made under the UK coalition government (2010-15) and provide a critical assessment of how their policies affected the British welfare state.

This book re-assesses the benefits and failures of competition, how public and private prisons compare, the impact of competition on the public sector’s performance, and how well Government has managed this ‘quasi-market’.

This book examines the policy approaches of Conservative governments since 2015 in key social policy areas including education, health, housing, employment, children and young people and more.

"The consumer in public services" critiques established assumptions surrounding citizenship and consumption. Drawing on empirical research, it challenges existing stereotypes about the 'consumer as chooser' and shows how we must develop a more sophisticated understanding of consumers, examining their place and role as users of public services.

This report is the first evaluation of the structural means by which the meaning of partnership is being operationalised at local level, through the development of local compacts. Using detailed case studies of the development of compacts, the report highlights some of the major barriers to, and key lessons for, effective partnership working

A uniquely hybrid approach to welfare state policy, ecological sustainability and social transformation, this book explores transformative models of welfare change. Using Ireland as a case study, it addresses the institutional adaptations needed to move towards a sustainable welfare state.