Politics

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.

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.

There has been an explosion of new forms of governance as societies adapt to economic, social and political change. This book highlights the dynamics of the social, cultural and institutional practices involved in 'remaking' governance. It is structured around three key themes: the remaking of peoples, publics and politics.

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.

New Labour have set themselves up to specifically address women's issues and attract women voters, but how successful have they been? This book offers an analysis of New Labour's politics and policies from a gendered perspective.

Women's increased role in the labour market has combined with concerns about the damaging effects of long working hours to push time-related issues up the policy agenda in many Western nations. This wide-ranging and accessible book assesses policy alternatives in the light of feminist theory and factual evidence.

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.

This book examines the meanings of gender that underpin policies in the Scandinavian welfare states, historically and today, and raises the question whether the hallmark of the Scandinavian welfare model is a special combination of gender equality and gender differentiation.

This original and stimulating book examines contemporary issues in social work, particularly exploring the politicisation of the profession from the 1970s onwards.

"Children, politics and communication" questions many of the conventional ways in which children are perceived. It is about how they communicate and engage, how they organise themselves and their lives, and how they deal with conflict in their relationships and the world around them.

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.