Rethinking policy and politics : reflections on contemporary debates in policy studies / [electronic resource]
Ayres, Sarah,editor.
The book offers critical reflections on the recent history and future direction of policy studies, advancing the debate by rethinking the ways in which scholars and students of policy studies can (re)engage with pertinent issues. First published as a special issue of Policy & Politics.
RETHINKING POLICY AND POLITICS; Contents; Notes on contributors; Acknowledgements; Introduction: Rethinking policy and politics ; 1. Forty years of public management reform in UK central government: promises, promises ...; UK central government: a world leader in public management reform, 1970-2011; Methods; The core reform documents: promises, promises... ; Why so little hard evidence? First reason: difficulties of designing and implementing monitoring and evaluation; Why so little hard evidence? Second reason: lack of sustained interest in specific reforms; Why so much reform? UK exceptionalism
ReflectionsConclusions; 2. Political anthropology and civil service reform: prospects and limits; Introduction ; The reforms; Lessons; Prospects ; Limits; Conclusions; 3. Just do it differently? Everyday making, Marxism and the struggle against neoliberalism; Introduction; Everyday making and the political economy of 'doing'; Marxism, totality and universalism; Marxism, everyday life and system transformation; Conclusion; 4. Performing new worlds? Policy, politics and creative labour in hard times; Introduction; Reframing the policy process; Performing new worlds?
Divest: the politics of 'diversity'Design: the politics of expertise; Decentralise: the politics of locality; Connect: the politics of public-making; Creative labour: the politics of border work; Political appropriations, political possibilities; Conclusion; 5. Weathering the perfect storm? Austerity and institutional resilience in local government; Introduction; The extent of the cuts; Researching the cuts ; Responses to the cuts ; So what's going on?; Conclusion; 6. Complex causality in improving underperforming schools: a complex adaptive systems approach; Introduction
Unintended and unanticipated consequencesCausality in complex adaptive systems; Explaining dissimilar results of policy for 'very weak schools'; Conclusion and implications; 7. Toward policy coordination: alternatives to hierarchy; Introduction; Collective action and coordination; Options beyond hierarchy; Collaboration and cooperation; Conclusion: explaining coordination choices; 8. Governing local partnerships: does external steering help local agencies address wicked problems?; Introduction ; Local public service partnerships; Local service boards; Methods ; Findings; Discussion
9. All tools are informational now: how information and persuasion define the tools of governmentIntroduction; Information as a tool of government; Smart information provision: nudges; The impact of the behavioural sciences on government; Example 1: taxation; Example 2: regulation and restorative justice; Conclusion; 10. The politics of engaged scholarship: impact, relevance and imagination; The tragedy of political science; Public sociology ; The political imagination; 11. Reflections on contemporary debates in policy studies; Introduction; Key themes in policy studies
Advancing the debates
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 04 Mar 2022).
The book offers critical reflections on the recent history and future direction of policy studies, advancing the debate by rethinking the ways in which scholars and students of policy studies can (re)engage with pertinent issues. First published as a special issue of Policy & Politics.
Policy sciences.