POLITICAL SCIENCE / Public Policy / General

This report addresses the critical issues of implementation of the long-term public service agenda. The authors draw upon a unique range of research, practice and theory from the fields of community development, regeneration projects, public and private sector management and organisation development, as well as public and social policy.

This book will improve understanding of how voluntary organisations are structured and evolve, and how they respond to opportunities and constraints. Drawing on case studies with eight UK organisations, it addresses the key dilemmas of voluntary action and explores how these are experienced and managed within particular organisations.

This book offers a vivid and persuasive critical examination of New Labour's programme for the modernisation of local government, providing a balanced view of the democracy and participation debate. It draws on a wide range of new survey data to relate the crisis of local politics and governance to wider changes in the political culture.

This book draws together a collection of lively and authoritative essays on the future of public policy by distinguished academics in the field. Compiled in memory of Henry Neuburger, a leading economic analyst and adviser, the essays together form an excellent introduction to key issues in contemporary policy making.

This book analyses experiences of partnerships in different policy fields, identifying theoretical and practical impediments to making partnership work and evaluating the implications for those involved. It also addresses other key forms of collaboration between voluntary, private and statutory sectors, service users and community groups.

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

Current policy encourages 'partnerships' between statutory organisations and professionals; public and private sectors; with voluntary organisations and local communities. But is this collaborative discourse as distinctive as the government claims? These claims are critically examined, using evidence from a wide range of welfare partnerships.

Policy makers have become reliant on mechanistic top-down audit and inspection regimes as the means of implementing public service reforms. This book sets out to redress the balance. It outlines the theory behind whole systems development and gives good practice guidance on how to effectively develop 'systems' to improve joined-up working.

Combining a detailed case study of the city of Bristol with wide-ranging information and analysis from other sources, this report addresses key challenges facing policy makers, practitioners and academics in their efforts to understand and impact on the changing nature of urban environments today.

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.

We are all 'glass consumers'. Organisations know so much about us, they can almost see through us. This book takes the debate beyond privacy issues, arguing that we are living in a world in which - more than ever before - our personal information defines our opportunities in life.

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.