Politics

Presenting unique and critical reflections on international policy and practice, this book addresses the global dominance of neoliberalism. It examines the extent to which community development practitioners, activists and programmes can challenge, critique, engage with or resist its influence.

Drawing on empirical data from the field of education governance, the book traces how scales are crafted and mobilised in policymaking practices, demonstrating that ‘scalecraft’ is key to understanding the production of hegemony.

This book critically examines the key issues facing the public with implications for education policy makers, professionals and researchers, confronting current issues about social justice and segregation. She uses Arendtian ideas to help the reader to ‘think politically’ about education and how public services education can be reimagined.

The politics of parental leave policies addresses how and why, and by whom, particular policies are created and subsequently developed in particular countries. It examines the factors that bring about variations in leave policy, covering fifteen countries in Europe and beyond.

The widespread popularity of evaluation is based on the need to provide evidence of the effectiveness of policies and programmes. This book sees evaluation as an inherently political activity, and using a wide range of examples it relates practical issues in evaluation design to their political contexts.

This book examines existing cycling structures and the current policies and practices used to promote cycling. Its interdisciplinary analysis considers the cultural politics of infrastructural provision and connects this to questions of sustainability, citizenship and justice in cities.

In the second, revised edition of this indispensable book, the author looks behind 'the mirror of power' to discover the reality of civil society - or 'Big Society', as it has become known.

A fascinating interpretation of the evolution of social policy in modern Ireland, as the product of a triangulated relationship between church, state and capital.

Academics from a range of disciplines join with political activists to explore the meaning of politics and citizenship in contemporary society and the current forms of political (dis)engagement, providing a timely interdisciplinary dialogue and interrogation of contemporary political practices.

This book identifies key topics in the policy arena, subjecting them to sustained theoretical and practical appraisal. It shows the advantage of applying a cross-disciplinary lens to the study of 'policy', presenting critical and reflective engagements with theory and practice at all levels of political organisation within a range of contexts.

Policy analysis in Canada brings together original contributions from many of the field’s leading scholars. Contributors chronicle the evolution of policy analysis in Canada over the past 50 years and reflect on its application in both governmental and non-governmental settings.