Politics and Public Policy

This valuable book provides a comprehensive introduction to politics in social work, unifying the themes of political ideology and social construction across several areas of social work practice, including emerging areas of practice.

Drawing on contemporary research and debates from different Nordic countries, this book examines how social work and child welfare politics are produced and challenged as both global and local ideas and practices.

This topical book considers the economic, political and social consequences of the economic crisis, the nature of social protection and the dynamics of the current crisis of regulation. It is unique in documenting how economic and social welfare are inconsistent with corporate freedom.

Bringing together the voices of leading experts in the field, this edition offers an up-to-date and diverse review of the best in social policy scholarship over the past year.

The 2008 global economic crisis has led to a new age of austerity, based more on politics than economics, which threatens to undermine the very foundations of the welfare state. However, as resistance to the logic of austerity grows, this important book argues that there is still room for optimism.

Bringing together a range of expert contributions, this book is the first to address the relationship between the economic crisis and social policy within an international context. The key lesson to emerge is that 'the crisis' is better understood as a variety of crises, each mediated by national context.

Providing a new cross-national and international narrative on how global competition has reshaped welfare states this book captures the complexity of social policy reform process that have taken place over the past 25 years.

This book presents the first collection of Robert Pinker’s influential essays in one edited volume, discussing the key concepts underpinning the study of social policy and the ways in which welfare theories and ideologies together with public expectations have shaped the political processes of policy making.

An innovative account of social control and behaviourism within welfare systems and social policies, and the implications for disadvantaged groups.

Social movements formed in response to austerity measures have played an increasingly important role in referendums. The book uses unique case studies to illustrate the ways the social movements have affected the referendums’ dynamic and results. It also addresses the way in which participation from below has had a transformative impact.

The second edition of this popular book uses in-depth theoretical study and international case studies to explore new developments in social entrepreneurship, such as the rise of the social investment market and the increasing importance of social impact measurement.

Realism and constructivism are often viewed as competing paradigms for understanding International Relations, but this innovative and cutting-edge volume provides an exposition of the realist constructivist approach and uses a series of international case studies to show what realist constructivist research can look like in practice.