bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
How micro-enterprise performs
Authors: Needham Catherine , Allen Kerry , Hall Kelly
Published: September 2017

This chapter considers a range of explanations as to why micro-enterprises perform well on aspects of all of the four measures that were used (valued, cost-effective, personalised and innovative). It focuses on the organisational structure of micro-enterprises, suggesting that their size allows these organisations to foster staff autonomy and high levels of adaptability to what is wanted by the people they support. It also examines issues of organisational ethos and identity, suggesting that many of these organisations set themselves up explicitly to distinguish themselves from large providers, and that this is the driver for much of the personalised support and innovative practice that we saw. However there are also vulnerabilities here for these organisations which can lack financial security, raising question marks about their long-term sustainability.
Sustainability: are micro-enterprises built to last?
Authors: Needham Catherine , Allen Kerry , Hall Kelly
Published: September 2017

Chapter ten considers these issues, exploring micro-enterprise funding models, which rely heavily on individualised purchasing by people rather than local government contracts. This chapter focuses on four interlinked aspects of micro-enterprises which shape their effectiveness and their likely contribution to future care services. These are: visibility; financial viability; relationship with the local authority; and quality and regulation. These are a combination of factors which are internal and external to the micro-enterprises. They encompass some attributes or structures that the organisations have the power to change and others that lie outside of their control. The chapter concludes that micro-enterprises retain a reliance on formal institutions within the care system – local authorities, the Care Quality Commission – which can limit their scope to ‘break the mould’ when it comes to care and support.
Where academia and policy meet: an introduction
Authors: Gal John , Weiss-Gal Idit
Published: September 2017

This chapter explores the academia-society nexus and, in particular, the theoretical and conceptual justifications for social work academics’ engagement in the policy process. It then presents the methodology of the cross-national study of social work academics’ policy involvement, with special attention to the tools employed in the survey, and the research questions that are dealt with in the country chapters and the concluding synthesis chapter.
Social work academics and policy in Israel1
Authors: Weiss-Gal Idit , Gal John
Published: September 2017

This chapter examines the engagement of social work academics in the policy process in Israel. It begins by presenting an overview of social policy and the welfare state in Israel and by discussing the emergence of the social work profession and the place of policy engagement in social work in that country. The development of social work education in Israel and its contemporary features are then depicted. Following these, the methodology and the findings of a study of the policy engagement of Israeli social work academics are presented. The findings relate to the levels of engagement in policy and the forms that this takes. The study also offers insights into various factors that are associated with these, such as perceptions, capabilities, institutional support and the accessibility of the policy process. The chapter concludes with an analysis of the findings and their implications.
Labour Exploitation and Work-Based Harm
Authors: Scott Sam
Published: September 2017

This is a book about labour exploitation. Labour exploitation tends to emerge when workers are subject to excessive and oppressive forms of control; controls that are rooted within workplaces and beyond. A central argument of the book is that it is time to study control and exploitation from a social harm perspective. This perspective is novel in the way that it questions a crime-orientated approach to issues and problems at work. Specifically, labour exploitation may exist without evidence of a crime being committed, and, only the most extreme cases of labour exploitation are ever effectively criminalised. Correspondingly, solutions to labour exploitation are needed that acknowledge the limitations of legal baselines. These involve a re-assessment of the contemporary structures within which work and workers are produced and reproduced. The book draws heavily on evidence from workers in the food supply chain, mainly of migrant origin, to reveal the face of labour control, exploitation and harm in contemporary contexts. In addition, policies shaping work/workers are profiled from across the world, some that facilitate harm and others that prevent it. The book concludes that it is time to contemplate the plight of the world’s workers as human beings, rather than to simply engage in research aimed at maximising the efficiency and productivity of labour. To this end, the dilemma is not about how to produce good and better workers, but how to produce good and better work.
Indirect workplace controls
Authors: Scott Sam
Published: September 2017

Employers may use various mechanisms to produce and reproduce what they recognise as ‘good’ and ‘better’ workers, but within these mechanisms there may be elements of obfuscation with respect to both the visibility and origins of control. The chapter recognises this point by turning attention to indirect controls within the workplace. From arm’s-length employment occurring through labour market intermediaries, to the debt-based systems driving people to work, through to the moulding of staff via workplace culture, the disciplining of workers by proxy (fear), and management by bureaucracy, there are now myriad ways in which behaviour at work is shaped indirectly and without capital ‘getting its hand dirty’.
The black eye
Authors: Scott Sam
Published: September 2017

She was the strongest of women; mother of two, waitress,

won everyone’s respect with her skills with the drunks in the bar.

She filled in the extra hours when others left the apron on the counter and asked the manager to go to hell. Was there when people were hospitalized, attended funerals, fled the authorities....
Exogenous controls
Authors: Scott Sam
Published: September 2017

When considering the link between work and social harm it would be naïve to restrict analysis to the workplace and to the direct and indirect controls within it. ‘Good’ and ‘better’ workers are clearly produced and reproduced beyond the workplace and it is to exogenous controls that this chapter looks. Issues of insecurity, inequality, variable citizenship, social steering and human enhancement are all visited in order to demonstrate how people, outside of the workplace, may be conditioned to perform appropriately when at work. A social harm perspective would argue that these exogenous controls are often problematic and that we should be aiming for greater ontological security, greater equality, the equalisation of citizenship rights, reduced work-related social steering, and an ethical stance towards human enhancement that respect diversity and dignity.
‘Sitting down, you can do on your own time’
Authors: Scott Sam
Published: September 2017

When the queue thins out and

you in the murmur of the restaurant

can distinguish voices,

the display stand is polished,

tables wiped

everything ready for the next rush

when the dulled sound of unslept hours and

the weight of tired muscles press behind the eyes...
Preventing exploitation and harm
Authors: Scott Sam
Published: September 2017

This chapter focuses on preventing exploitation and harm. The most prominent solution concerns the establishment of legal baselines through national and international conventions, codes and laws. In many countries, these are then used as the basis for labour inspection and enforcement regimes. Although a central component in the fight against exploitation and harm, this ‘baseline’ approach only goes so far. Most obviously, it is clear that there is a ‘justice gap’ between de jure protection and the levels of exploitation and harm actually experienced by workers. To address this, the chapter argues that we must look at alternative solutions. It is clear, for instance, that the form of capitalism in operation can dramatically shape workers’ experiences. Other than looking at capitalism, one can also look to the power (im)balance between labour and capital as a cause of, and solution to, exploitation and harm. The role of trade unions, the level of income inequality between workers, and the ability of workers to peacefully protest, are all important markers in this respect.
Conclusions
Authors: Scott Sam
Published: September 2017

This chapter draws together the main conclusions from the preceding eight chapters of the book. In the process, it identifies four issues with the dominant legal perspective around problems at/with work. First, even when legal baselines exist to purportedly protect workers from exploitation and harm they are rarely invoked and are ill-equipped to enable victims to take on (often powerful) state and corporate interests. Second, legal frameworks, especially those based on criminal law, tend to direct attention towards extreme labour market abuse. The problem of work-based exploitation and harm is, therefore, defined in a narrow way. Third, the legal system is predisposed towards the identification of individual criminal actors and is unsuited to the apportioning of blame at an institutional or structural level. Finally, legal frameworks imply that the solution to exploitation and harm lies within a law enforcement approach that first discourages and then criminalises abusive employment relationships. A social harm perspective is liberating in this respect because, while acknowledging the value of criminalising malpractice, solutions beyond criminology are seen as equally, and often more, important.
Biology and the drive for human improvement
Authors: Wastell David , White Sue
Published: September 2017

This chapter reviews the historical origins of the project of human improvement, from the Enlightenment onward, coming to the fore especially during the Victorian era. It traces the ascendancy of developmental psychology and ‘infant determinism’ which has always been a key part of the project of human improvement. Attachment theory has played an important part in this this; we draw attention to the contradictions and inconsistencies in this influential body of thought.
Blaming the brain
Authors: Wastell David , White Sue
Published: September 2017

This chapter examines how biology has been brought to bear in understanding forms of behaviour variously known as madness, mental illness or developmental disorder, culminating in the current preoccupations with finding the genetic markers and neurological traces for a variety of manifestations of the human condition. Two developmental disorders are highlighted: autism and ADHD. In both cases the quest for biomarkers has been unavailing, but this seems only to have inspired greater exertion, showing the potency of the neuromolecular thought-style and the bias to seek confirmatory evidence for its truth. What the science actually shows is uncertainty and a pattern of inconsistent and unreliable findings.
The precarious infant brain
Authors: Wastell David , White Sue
Published: September 2017

This chapter examines how biological thinking is merging with the project of human improvement. It reviews social policies, tracing the ways in which neuroscience has been invoked to relocate a moral project within a scientific rationality. We deconstruct one such report in particular, the Allen report, which has been influential in the UK. The Chapter explores the emergence of a preventive mind-set in social policy which promotes intervention early in infancy to address inter-generational social disadvantage. The idea that the brain is critically susceptible to early experience, predetermining the rest of the life-trajectory, has led to the “the myth of the first three years”. We systematically debunk this myth: what the science actually shows is plasticity and resilience.
Perfecting people: the inexorable rise of prevention science
Authors: Wastell David , White Sue
Published: September 2017

This chapter reviews the rise of prevention science in the late twentieth and early twenty first centuries. Located within the developmental origins of health and disease paradigm, prevention science promotes intervention to stop damage and ensure optimal human flourishing. Prevention science combines infant determinism, economic modeling and versions of evidence-based practice, with consequences for concepts of normality. Although persuasive, we illustrate the fundamental limitations and flaws of the macro-economical approach, with reference to the influential work of James Heckman. The use of biomarkers to enable more effective targeting of policy interventions is highlighted, although we note that the benefits of such approaches are marginal.
Epigenetics: rat mum to my Mum?
Authors: Wastell David , White Sue
Published: September 2017

This chapter explores the epigenetic thought-style in depth, by analysing some of the seminal work on animals. We highlight in particular the work of Michael Meaney and colleagues which has been particularly persuasive in the domain of welfare policy and practice. This work appears to show that rodent mothers who nurture intensively (copious “licking and grooming”) beget more resilient offspring, and that these effects of parenting are mediated by epigenetic mechanisms. Although the meme is potent, we draw attention to some of the flaws in the primary research, and more generally question the degree to which laboratory studies on animals can (ever) be generalized to human parenting. The idea that epigenetic mechanisms transmit permanent changes is inherently contradictory.
The local governance of prostitution: regulatory drift and implementation capture
Authors: Wagenaar Hendrik , Amesberger Helga , Altink Sietske
Published: September 2017

In this chapter we discuss the implementation of prostitution policy in Austria and the Netherlands. It introduces three key analytic concepts: policy implementation, policy design and policy instruments. Both Austria and the Netherlands initially had pragmatic, and in the case of the latter, progressive, national laws. Through analysis of the design and instruments by which these laws were put into effect at the local level, we observed a gradual change towards a more punitive, regressive approach. In the Netherlands this occurred through a process of regulatory drift, a gradual change in the focus and goals of a policy as the result of a succession of small decisions at the implementation level, without any formal decision at higher levels of political authority. In Vienna the mechanism was agency capture, the appropriation of the implementation process by one agency, the police, that imposes its own goals and operating procedures on the policy process. In both cases, the implementation process was driven by a logic of combatting trafficking that led to ever more intrusive measures to incapacitate and control an opponent that was perceived as powerful and devious.
The national governance of prostitution: political rationality and the politics of discourse
Authors: Wagenaar Hendrik , Amesberger Helga , Altink Sietske
Published: September 2017

This chapter depicts policy formulation as an ‘organised anarchy’ of agenda setting and political decision-making that expresses itself in an ongoing tension between institutionalised political rationality and public discourse. The emergence of policy agendas and the introduction of legislation are associated less with a particular identifiable phase of the policy process than with the contingent interactions of policy networks and institutions. This unruly process is strongly influenced by discourse, in both countries the worldwide neo-abolitionist discourse. In the Netherlands national policy swung from the halting legislative decision to decriminalize brothels, back to a national policy of control and containment. Austria’s policy was traditionally aimed at the control of a stigmatised activity, through measures such as compulsory STD checks, unfavorable fiscal measures, and immigration laws that prevent sex workers to have full access to the labour market. In both countries we observed that at the national level the sex trade is shaped as much, or perhaps even more, by laws that are tangential to prostitution (immigration, tax, social security and labour law) as by laws that are specifically directed at it.
Understanding the policy field: migration, prostitution, trafficking and exploitation
Authors: Wagenaar Hendrik , Amesberger Helga , Altink Sietske
Published: September 2017

Chapter Five proceeds from to the transnational character of prostitution and situates it in an analysis of labour migration and labour exploitation. Instead of projecting on the migrant sex worker the collective images that are driven by radical feminist and anti-immigrant ideology, we argue that is it more effective to take seriously what the sex workers told us over and over again: that the migrant sex worker’s self-understanding of prostitution is work, a discerning occupational choice in a situation in which thousands of female migrants find themselves worldwide. This reframing of prostitution as a legitimate occupation draws attention to the continuity of the situation of sex workers with that of other migrant groups, to the exploitative labour arrangements these new migrants encounter in the arrival country, to the third parties they mobilise to find housing and a work place and navigate immigration law, and to the negative effects – usually a breach of the human rights of (migrant) sex workers-of the very laws and regulations that are intended to support them. The authors explore six positive effects on prostitution policy by adopting a labour exploitation framework.
Prostitution policy beyond trafficking: collaborative governance in prostitution
Authors: Wagenaar Hendrik , Amesberger Helga , Altink Sietske
Published: September 2017

Chapter Six argues for collaborative governance as an effective response to the domain-specific challenges of prostitution policy, as well as to the inadequacy of the traditional policy responses of adversarial interest group policy and managerialist policy implementation. Collaborative governance is a mode of governance in which public agencies engage with various stakeholders to jointly deliberate about public problems in a carefully designed arrangement. This, however, requires the presence of sex worker advocacy organizations to establish a productive working relationship with government partners. The chapter explores the literature on sex worker organisations and concludes that their preferred organizational form of independent collectivism does not need to be an obstacle to long-term working relationships with others. The chapter then discusses several successful cases in Vancouver, The Netherlands and New Zealand in which sex worker organizations established long-term relationships of trust with government partners, successfully managed complex contracts, and exerted moral leadership in the domain of prostitution. In all these instances, prostitution policy was more effective and humane.
Introduction: Infrastructure in African development
Authors: Ncube Mthuli , Lufumpa Charles Leyeka , Kararach George
Published: September 2017

Infrastructure not only enhances socio-economic growth, but it is also an important drive of sustainable development. Infrastructure will remain a key ingredient for achieving all of Africa’s post-MDGs development agenda. For example, safe and accessible water supplies save time and prevent the spread of a range of serious diseases—including diarrhoea and cholera, leading causes of infant mortality and malnutrition. Reliable energy powers health and education services and boosts the productivity of small businesses. Good road networks provide links to global and local markets as well as enhancing access to producer and consumer services. ICTs democratize access to information thus strengthening governance and inclusion as well as reducing transport costs by allowing people to conduct transactions remotely. The Introductory Chapter summarizes the main arguments in the volume including highlighting issues of methods and any omissions.
Infrastructure and rural productivity in Africa
Authors: Mubila Maurice , Yepes Tito
Published: September 2017

A wide range of economic activities take place in rural Africa and despite their important, little is yet known about their productivity. Both farm and non-farm enterprises provide a variety of products and services to the rural population. For example, the relative contribution of the non-farm economy to household income is significant and known to have increased over time. They are also expected to contribute to structural transformation, although the non-farm sector largely consists of small, informal household businesses. Rural infrastructure—notably feeder roads and transmission lines that connect rural communities to national grids—enable individuals, households, communities, and small businesses to embark on income generating activities thanks to improved access to electricity and links to markets. The use of renewable energy or environmentally friendly sources of energy, including solar, wind, geothermal, and hydropower—all of which Africa has in abundance—would contribute to making growth sustainable.
Africa’s prospects for infrastructure development and regional integration: transport sector
Authors: Chaponda Taz , Lishman Duncan
Published: September 2017

Transport infrastructure across all four sub-sectors – road, rail, ports, and airports – is critical for facilitating development in Africa as it provides an essential platform for accelerated economic growth. Transport services sustain economic activity and enable socioeconomic progress. If necessary infrastructure is not timely constructed, then Africa’s growth prospects will be hampered. Attention needs to be drawn to five broad policy reform themes common to the transport sub-sectors covered: enhancing the role of transport corridors and regional investment, adopting an integrated approach to transport standards and policies, developing financing strategies to leverage private sector participation, promoting regulatory and institutional reforms; and building institutional capacity to execute reforms. These proposed reforms are an intrinsically connected package. For them to be successful in improving infrastructure development outcomes, it is important that policy actions are coordinated. However, in certain reform areas, ‘quick wins’ should be prioritized, building confidence for tackling further, more challenging reforms.
Africa’s prospects for infrastructure development and regional integration: information and communications technology sector
Authors: Adam Lishan , Mubila Maurice
Published: September 2017

A modern economy requires significant investment in knowledge generation and transmission though efficient information and communication systems. Information and communication technologies (ICTs) have been a remarkable success in Africa. Sector reform, particularly in the mobile segment of the market, has transformed the availability, quality, and cost of connectivity across the continent. Mobile networks cover over 91 percent of the urban population, and coverage in rural areas is growing. However, these high overall levels of coverage hide significant variation between countries, and particularly in the proportion of their populations that have access to services. Although large parts of the ICT sector have been transformed, much remains to be done. Policy makers need to take steps to address the specific challenges facing the ICT sector in Africa by enhancing competition together with practical regulatory framework. Like other infrastructures, a regional approach to ICT investments would reap greater benefits and speed up access.
The state of infrastructure in East Africa
Authors: Yepes Tito , Lufumpa Charles Leyeka
Published: September 2017

There are huge variations in the levels of infrastructure development in African countries and the five regions of Central, Southern, West, North and East. Chapter Nine outlines some of the principal ongoing infrastructure challenges from a regional perspective by focusing on the East African sub-region. Particular focus is put on water, sanitation, energy, surface transport and ICT. The progress made to date is evaluated in the light of recent studies and new data. It notes that in recent years, improvements have been made in the access to improved water and sanitation, internet density and road corridors. There are important growth opportunities in productivity-related infrastructure areas – namely, energy production, logistics and ICT.
Comparative analysis of costs of some selected infrastructure components across Africa
Authors: Chinganya Oliver , Adam Abdoulaye , Kouakou Marc
Published: September 2017

The economic growth and development of a country depend on a solid infrastructure and the robustness of systems that have been put in place. Together, these constitute a nation’s “engine of growth” and include housing, water, electricity, transportation, communication, and construction. It is postulated that the cost of doing business in Africa is much higher than in other regions, largely because of the poor quality of its infrastructure and to accessibility constraints. The distribution of price levels of these economic drivers, which contribute to the cost of doing business in Africa. Price level indices (PLIs) have been calculated to provide a comparison of the cost of selected infrastructure components across African countries. The data were collected from the 2005 round of the International Comparison Program (ICP) in Africa, covering 48 out of a total of 52 countries and 22 major aggregates of the national accounts.
Infrastructure, political economy and Africa’s transformational agenda
Authors: Ncube Mthuli , Lufumpa Charles Leyeka , Kararach George
Published: September 2017

Africa's efforts to achieve sustainable development have been hindered by factors such as skills development and enhancing market access in support of sustainable transformation and infrastructure that promote sustainable development and connectivity in Africa. Continental connectivity and logistical problems are the result of peculiar socio-economic conditions in the region such as geology, poor economic governance and conflict. These issues have direct implications for the implementation of infrastructure projects and the type of public policies needed to foster strategic connectivity. Moreover, the major constraints on infrastructure are not technical but managerial, political, ‘cultural’ and due to a lack of specialised resources. Africa needs to find its own solutions to local capacity and development problems with greater involvement of local private sector partners wherever feasible. A political economy perspective is critical to understand the dynamics around infrastructure deficits as well as associated investments and development.
Axis of advantage: elites in higher education
Authors: Fitzgerald Tanya
Published: September 2017

The intention in this chapter is to offer a critical commentary on ways in which the educational marketplace works to the advantage of elite universities. It is these institutions that use their histories and traditions, image and reputation, to further preserve and reproduce their privilege, position and power. This is labelled as the axis of advantage. Elite institutions are well recognised and accrue esteem based on those who work or have worked there, those who study there or who have studied there, and by the philanthropic bequests received. This chapter argues that this roll call of individuals, alumni, benefactors and networks linked further disconnects elite institutions with the ordinary and the everyday.
Becoming a ‘better’ elite: the proliferation and discourses of educational travel programmes for elite youth
Authors: Sinclair Kristin , Swalwell Katy
Published: September 2017

This chapter shares findings from a study exploring the recent proliferation of supplemental and substitutional educational travel programs for elite high school students. What types of programs exist? What discourses circulate through these programs’ promotional websites? What types of elite identities do these discourses reflect and construct? This chapter argues that these programs function in part as a modern form of class work that reflects elite schools’ and families’ shifting strategies to ensure a mark of distinction for their children. These programs reflect attempts to help students become morally “better” people by emphasizing profound personal transformation and critiquing conventional elite schooling—all while reassuring families that participating in these programs will not harm their children’s elite status as “better” than others in a social hierarchy.
Fast-track leadership development programmes: the new micro-philanthropy of future elites
Authors: Duggan James R.
Published: September 2017

The chapter contributes to discussions on public sector fast-track leadership schemes as an elite re-professionalising project that occurs within and across different domains of the public sector. An aim of Teach First is to create a ‘movement of leaders’ to end educational inequality through societal change. The chapter explores the path of one Teach First ambassador as he developed an equivalent fast-track scheme in social work called Frontline. Drawing on Carol Bacchi’s What’s the problem represented to be approach, the chapter explores how entry routes into the teaching profession are being transformed into processes for encouraging the emergence of individuals who are able to successfully develop initiatives that mobilise representations of complex social problems in line with elite and neoliberalising social imaginaries. In particular the discourses and practices of transformational leadership, entrepreneurship and innovation functioned to individualise and individuate explanations, representations and responses to complex social problems.
The business of governorship: corporate elitism in public education
Authors: Wilkins Andrew
Published: September 2017

This chapter draws on primary data that details how school governors in England are being trained and responsibilised in new ways to enhance the integrity of market-based developments in public education. I consider the extent to which corporate strategies are evident in the kinds of everyday work engaged with and produced by agents of school governance, namely school governors. Moreover, I explore whether ‘corporate elitism’ – the capacity and willingness of school governing bodies to reconstitute themselves in the image of corporate boards – is implicit to decisions concerning who and why certain people get to enter governance roles, and consider the implications of these reforms for any robust, democratic system of school governance.
Mayoral governance in Bristol: has it made a difference?
Authors: Sweeting David , Hambleton Robin
Published: September 2017

This chapter considers whether the introduction of a directly elected mayor form of political leadership can make a difference to the governance of a city. To do so we present research results from a study of governance reform in Bristol, UK, which introduced a directly elected mayor in 2012. The views of Bristol citizens and civic leaders are analysed using an evaluation framework encompassing different aspects of urban political leadership. The new model of governance has led to: a startling increase in the visibility of city leadership, the development of a clear vision for the future of the city, and a boost to Bristol’s reputation as an inventive city. However, data shows public perceptions of trust in and timeliness of decision-making have not improved. Also, for some the mayoral model concentrates too much power in the hands of one individual, and impairs the quality of representative democracy because it weakens the vital role of councillors in the governance of the city. Conclusions are drawn highlighting themes emerging from the Bristol experience that could be of interest to wider debates about how to improve the quality and effectiveness of urban governance.
Directly elected mayors: necessary but not sufficient to transform places? The case of Liverpool
Authors: Headlam Nicola , Hepburn Paul
Published: September 2017

This chapter explores the introduction of a directly elected mayor in Liverpool. We draw on empirical data, including diary analysis and extensive elite interviewing, to explore the changes that mayoral leadership has brought about both in terms of the governing style of the leader, and in the context of the broader governance structures of the surrounding city region. We note that there does appear to be a change towards a more outward facing form of leadership introduced. However, we argue that such are the broader limits available to local actors in the Liverpool City Region, the impact of mayoral governance is limited. In short, we argue that, drawing on the case of Liverpool, mayors are necessary, but not in themselves sufficient to have a transformative impact on places.
Breeding grounds for local independents, bonus for incumbents: directly elected mayors in Poland
Authors: Gendźwiłł Adam , Swianiewicz Paweł
Published: September 2017

Directly elected mayors were introduced in Poland in 2002 in all local governments at the municipal level. This chapter discusses the rationale behind the reform, the arguments of the proponents of the change, the politics of implementing the reform, as well as actual outcomes. It argues that – opposite to some expectations – the reform has not resulted in increasing citizen interest in local elections. But it has strengthened the position of the mayors in municipal relations, brining Poland very close to the classic strong mayor model, stabilized position of mayors, and stopped the process of the conquest of local governments by national political parties. The increasing frequency of multi-term, long lasting mayors leads to discussion of possible further reforms, reducing the advantage of incumbents. But the system of direct election itself seems to be a very stable element of the local government architecture in Poland – it is not questioned by the current debates by any of important political parties or even by the councillors, whose role was reduced by the 2002 reform.
Debating directly elected mayors in the Czech Republic: political games and missing expertise?1
Authors: Jüptner Petr
Published: September 2017

This chapter discusses and analyses the proposals for the introduction of directly elected mayors in the Czech Republic. Particular attention is paid to the proposed models of direct election and their potential impacts on the functioning of the municipal executive, and on the relationship between the mayor and other institutions of local government. It draws on research conducted by the author, in addition to government reports, legislative materials, and material from political parties and the media. It is argued that the reform process involves a debate that resembles a political game, which is connected to the experience of Austrian and Slovak mayors. Distinct periods can be identified within this debate.
New and established mayoralties: lessons for local governance in constructing new political institutions – the English and Polish cases
Authors: Copus Colin , Blair Alasdair , Szmigiel-Rawska Katarzyna , Dadd Michael
Published: September 2017

Reforming local government is a policy tool of central government when faced with local, national and international pressures for change and this is no more so than in times of political, social and economic crisis. The re-design of the institutional architecture of local political decision-making is therefore driven as much by the needs of the centre as by the needs of the localities, with a series of arguments for change propagated by the centre that reflects a set of central policy preferences. Once the shape, size, decision-making process, functions, purpose and tasks of local government are re-designed at the macro level, local political actors are the faced with opportunities for micro-level re-engineering of the systems bequeathed by the centre. The chapter employs the findings of separate research conducted among political leaders in England and Poland to explore how institutional design by central government, aimed at solving one set of policy problems, can energise further local re-design of local political institutions. Central government re-design of local politics can create a pattern of unfinished business which leads to further central interference in the architecture of local politics.
Professional supervision and professional autonomy
Authors: Karvinen-Niinikoski Synnöve , Beddoe Liz , Ruch Gillian , Tsui Ming-sum
Published: September 2017

This chapter examines the rapidly growing phenomenon of professional supervision, which has become a central element of several modern professions. The expansion of supervision goes hand in hand with professionalization processes, but also with the emergence of new managerial regimes like New Public Management. Supervision can therefore be seen as both an instrument of protecting professional autonomy and an instrument of implying politically and economically conditioned forms of governance or a governmental mentality. But the authors see a potential for “critically reflective supervision” that can help to recognise and manage the fine balance between the supportive and surveillance or managerial organisational dimensions. A conclusion is that supervision can both contribute to the development of professionals themselves and their field of work.
Reconfiguring professional autonomy? The case of social work in the UK
Authors: Chandler John , Berg Elisabeth , Ellison Marion , Barry Jim
Published: September 2017

This chapter discusses the contemporary position of social work in the United Kingdom, and in particular the challenges to what is seen as a managerial-technicist version of social work. The chapter begins with focus on the situation from the 1990s to the present day in which this version of social work takes root and flourishes. The discussion then concentrates on three different routes away from a managerial-technicist social work: the first, reconfiguring professional practice in the direction of evaluation in practice, the second ‘reclaiming social work’ on the Hackney relationship-based model and the third ‘reclaiming social work’ in a more radical, highly politicised way. Special attention is devoted to a discussion about how much autonomy the social workers have in different models, but also what kind of autonomy and for what purpose.
State regulation of the social work profession: an example from Poland
Authors: Wódz Kazimiera , Faliszek Krystyna
Published: September 2017

This chapter examines how regulation from the state can shape conditions and practices for welfare professions. New members of the European Union, such as Poland, often lack a tradition of social work as an integral part of the welfare state. Challenges for these countries are both to educate social workers and to create legislative solutions stipulating the responsibilities and professional jurisdiction of the social work profession. In the chapter, it is argued that strong regulation and control from the Polish government has resulted in the standardisation of social work. This has curtailed professional autonomy in a manner that is unfavourable to social workers as well as to clients.
The formation of a profession: the case of physiotherapy in Norway
Authors: Thornquist Eline , Kalman Hildur
Published: September 2017

The chapter claims that a profession progresses through interaction and conflict with adjacent professions. Using the professional development of physiotherapy in Norway as an example, the chapter illustrates how inter-professional disputes are central to the ways division of labour and responsibility are shaped. The chapter shows how the physiotherapists’ struggle to gain public authorisation, and to become a part of the national health services, were entwined with the medical professions aspirations to control and subordinate other professions working within the field of health and medicine. The chapter shows how physiotherapists battled the medical profession by seeking active support from the state.
The professional development of social work in Poland after 1989
Authors: Pawlas-Czyz Sabina , Evertsson Lars , Perlinski Marek
Published: September 2017

The close connection to the welfare state has been favourable for the development of many welfare professions. But the state does not always act as an ally. It can push professions in a direction they do not want to go. This happened to the social work profession in Poland where the social work profession claimed jurisdiction for working with children and families with complex needs, but the state chose to give jurisdiction to a new profession – the family assistants. In this chapter, it is argued that this type of jurisdictional dispute should be framed within a political framework, analysing welfare policies as a structuring link between state and professional jurisdiction. The “fate” of the social work profession in Poland reflects a lack of bargaining capacity vis-à-vis the state to tie social policies concerning social work with children and families to their jurisdiction.
Activation work as professional practice: complexities and professional boundaries at the street level of employment policy implementation
Authors: Nothdurfter Urban , Olesen Søren Peter
Published: September 2017

In several European countries there is an increasing trend within social and labour market policy to implement employment-oriented policies. In some countries, this turn towards employment has opened up a new professional arena for social workers, so called employment-oriented social work. The chapter examines the challenges that this development has brought to the social work profession, especially in regard to how knowledge and decision-making is negotiated in relation to clients and other professions within the same policy arena. The chapter is based on Danish, Italian and Austrian data including register data, semi-structured interviews, observations and sound recordings.
Social and caring professions in European welfare states: trends and challenges
Authors: Perlinski Marek , Blom Björn , Evertsson Lars
Published: September 2017

This chapter concentrates on current tendencies, movements and challenges for social and caring welfare professions in Europe. It takes a ”bird’s-eye view” to spot a number of key issues and trends depicted in this book’s various contributions. The discussion focuses on the position that individual modern welfare states have in relation to social and caring professions, since this is one of the more significant tendencies appearing in the book. The chapter also discusses professionals’ identity, conflicts between professions and what role formal knowledge plays in social and caring welfare professionals’ direct practice.
The UK Gypsy, Traveller and Roma third sector: a Gypsy industry or route to empowerment?
Authors: Ryder Andrew
Published: September 2017

The chapter analyses the historical and contemporary condition of the Gypsy, Traveller and Roma (GTR) civil society movement, its strengths, achievements, threats and pitfalls and the motivation, dynamism and tensions within its varied manifestations. It explores the struggles against assimilatory and discriminatory policy, the interplay between community bonds and diverse aspects of identity and analyses the transformative potential of inclusive, grassroots and asset based community development, which draws upon the strengths of identity and culture but fuses these with perceptions and strategies which are emancipatory and inclusive.
Understanding grassroots arts groups and practices in communities
Authors: Ramsden Hilary , Milling Jane , Simpson Robin
Published: September 2017

This chapter builds on ideas and findings from research conducted to consider the distinctive elements of grassroots arts activities in communities. It highlights the current critical framing of grassroots arts activities and identifies the range of claims made around the impacts of informal arts participation, particularly concerning individual and social well-being, social cohesion and place-making. The authors suggest future directions for research in the field to develop a broader understanding of the experiences and practices of grassroots activities and their role in communities.
Detroit’s bankruptcy: treating the symptom, not the cause
Authors: Galster George
Published: September 2017

In 2013 Detroit became the largest municipality to declare bankruptcy. Unfortunately, bankruptcy does not treat the long-term cause of Detroit’s financial crisis: the ongoing fiscal death spiral triggered by loss of industrial, commercial and residential tax base starting in the 1950s. The first loss came from manufacturers who abandoned older factories in the city in favor of suburban locations. The second came from the federal government, whose guarantees for FHA-VA mortgages and subsidies for expressway construction spurred suburbanization of Detroit’s (overwhelmingly white) middle class. Detroit trimmed services and raised tax rates in response. But this made it an increasingly uncompetitive location, thereby further contracting its property and income tax bases, forcing still more cuts in services and increases in tax rates. What is required to break out of the fiscal death spiral in which Detroit finds itself is substantially more federal and state revenue sharing and regional growth management.
Between economic revival and social disruption: the redevelopment of Greater Downtown and the emergence of new socio-spatial inequalities
Authors: Kreichauf René
Published: September 2017

This chapter analyzes Detroit’s approaches to redeveloping its Downtown and Midtown and the consequences for the urban society. To do so, it briefly presents neo-Marxist perspectives on the study of the causes of, and policy reactions toward, urban decline. Applying this theoretical fundament, it unfolds the relations between economic revival and social disruption. Overall, it argues that Detroit’s regeneration is strongly growth-oriented, deeply one-sided and led by austerity urbanism and private interests. Detroit’s economic revival is only directed to specific areas and population groups of the city. It strategically excludes the city’s traditional and industrial workforce, its African-American majority population, and low-income households, and thus not only reinforces existing socio-spatial inequalities, but causes new ones between central areas and the urban peripheries. Cities such as Detroit exemplify the concentration and intensification of general trends in urban development as well as the development of new profit-making approaches in land consumption and the aggravation of socio-spatial disparities.
This is (not) Detroit: projecting the future of Germany’s Ruhr region
Authors: Sattler Julia
Published: September 2017

Using the example of Germany’s Ruhr region, this chapter discusses Detroit’s relevance outside of the United States. Like Detroit, the Ruhr has gone through a massive process of economic transformation and de-industrialization. While the role of the state in this process is significantly different in Germany when compared to the United States, the Ruhr’s decline in public discourse often gets connected and compared to Detroit, all the way to using ‘Detroit’ as a threatening example of what could potentially happen to the Ruhr. The chapter addresses the Ruhr’s history of urban and cultural transformation due to de-industrialization and analyzes in detail two projects that build on the idea of ‘Detroit’, helping to point out both, significant tensions in the population and the idea that the future for this region is not fixed as of yet.