This book reviews the state of knowledge on men and masculinities between ten European countries, emphasising both the differences and the similarities between them. The volume draws upon the outcomes of a recently-completed major research exercise undertaken by network funded by the European Commission-funded Research Network on Men in Europe. It contains contributions by some of Europe's leading scholars in the field. Special emphasis is placed on four key themes: home and work, social exclusion, violences, and health. There is also a particular focus on the fundamental changes taking place in Central and Eastern Europe in the post-socialist period; and to the questions of politics and ethnicity in contemporary Europe. Addressing politics, policy and analysis around men and masculinities in relation to these and other matters is an immensely urgent task not only for European and Trans-European political structures but also for European societies themselves. In the past, masculinity and men's powers and practices were taken for granted. Gender was largely seen as a matter of and for women. This is now changing in the face of rapid but contradictory social change. This book will be essential reading for anyone, whether academic, policymaker, or concerned citizen, who wishes to understand these social processes and their implications for the societies of Europe. Contents: Estonia Voldemar Kolga, Professor of Personality and Developmental Psychology, Head of the Women's Studies Centre, University of Tallinn Finland Jeff Hearn, Professor in the Swedish School of Economics, Helsinki; Emmi Lattu, Doctoral Student at the University of Tampere; Teemu Tallberg, Doctoral Student at the Swedish School of Economics, Helsinki; Hertta Niemi, Research Assistant and Doctoral Student at the Swedish School of Economics, Helsinki Germany Ursula Muller, Full Professor of Sociology and Director of the Interdisciplinary Women's Studies Centre, University of Bielefeld Ireland Harry Ferguson, Professor of Social Work, University of the West of England Latvia Irina Novikova, Director of the Centre for Gender Studies, University of Latvia Poland Elzbieta Oleksy, Full Professor of Humanities and Director of the Women's Studies Centre, University of Lodz and Joanna Rydzewska, Doctoral Candidate, Women's Studies Centre, University of Lodz United Kingdom Keith Pringle, Professor of Social Work, Aalborg University Bulgaria Dimitar Kambourov, Associate Professor in Literary Theory, Sofia University Czech Republic Iva Smidova, Doctoral Researcher, Sociology Department, Masaryk University Sweden Marie Nordberg, Doctoral Student in Ethnology, Goteborgs University. This second edition is part of the Critical Studies in Socio-Cultural Diversity series.

Learning from Science and Technology Policy Evaluation presents US and European experiences and insights on the evaluation of policies and programs to foster research, innovation, and technology (RIT). In recent years, policymakers have promoted RIT policies to accelerate scientific and technological development in emerging fields, encourage new patterns of research collaboration and commercialization, and enhance national and regional economic competitiveness. At the same time, budgetary pressures and new public management approaches have strengthened demands for RIT performance measurement and evaluation. The contributors - leading experts in science and technology policy and evaluation - analyze and contrast the need and demand for RIT performance measurement and evaluation within the US and European innovation and policy making systems. They assess current US and European RIT evaluation practices and methods in key areas, discuss applications of new evaluative approaches and consider strategies that could lead to improvements in RIT evaluation design and policies. This up-to-date volume examining current and leading-edge evaluation methodologies will make a valuable addition to the libraries of research and innovation policymakers and analysts, educators and students of science and technology policy.

Until now public-sector reform and evaluation have mostly been discussed as separate fields and by separate 'communities'. This book aims at closing the gap in the international debate and literature by exploring the connections, and the interdependence, which exist between public-sector reform and evaluation. This book aspires to bring the discussion to a new level.With an assembly of articles written by internationally renowned scholars and experts, Evaluation in Public-Sector Reform is unique in its broad geographical range. It explores countries such as Australia, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden and the USA, as well as categorically addressing countries which have so far remained conspicuously neglected in the international debate, including: the Netherlands, Germany and Italy as Continental European countries, and Japan and Latin America. This unusually broad focus brings to the fore the double function which evaluation has typically acquired in the context of public-sector reforms: its twofold mission is, on the one hand, to create transparency - promoting internal tools and procedures in public administration - and on the other, to produce external evaluative information, analyses and research on the processes and results of public-sector reforms. So, evaluation is experiencing a new ('third') wave, which is explicitly shown in this book. Academics, practitioners and students will be attracted to the book, first, for the broad regional scope of the overview presented on public-sector modernisation, and second, for exploring and highlighting evaluation in its 'Siamese-twin'-like connection with public-sector reform.

The editors and the contributors have produced what can only be described as the definitive guide to the growing field of critical policy studies. It is comprehensive and well written and will be welcomed by all students and practitioners of public policy and policy analysis. No personal or institutional library would be complete without it!' - Wayne Parsons, Cardiff University, UK 'This comprehensive Handbook, with contributions from leading figures in the field, is a valuable source of information on practical and theoretical aspects of critical policy studies, its argumentative and deliberative turn and its methods of analysis which is likely to stimulate further debate on the big issues in the study and analysis of policy.'BR>- Norman Fairclough, Lancaster University, UK 'The field of critical policy studies goes from strength to strength, and this Handbook provides a much-needed review that will be essential reading for scholars, students and practitioners. It is at the same time a critical introduction for those new to the field (including those coming from more conventional approaches to public policy), a comprehensive reference book for people in the field and a guide to emerging issues and challenges in the study of the communicative practice of public policy.' - John Dryzek, University of Canberra, Australia Critical policy studies, as this volume illustrates, challenges conventional approaches to public policy inquiry with its focus on discursive politics, policy argumentation and deliberation, and interpretive modes of analysis. Assembling the voices of established and emerging scholars, the Handbook of Critical Policy Studies fills a major gap in the policy literature. Moving beyond the false neutrality of empiricism and positivism, this Handbook highlights the responsibility of inquirers to take account of social and political context - including present conditions, past trends and prevailing power relationships - to advance inquiry that relies not only on experts but also on citizens in a manner supporting and encouraging democracy. Not only does this call for a reconsideration of the interplay of qualitative and quantitative methods but also for robust attention to the role of values. Accessible to scholars, practitioners and students alike, the book offers a compilation of new critical work that both assesses past developments and appraises emerging issues. Contributors: H. Am, M.R. Banjade, M. Barbehoen, K. Braun, V. Dubois, A. Durnova, L. Elgert, S.A. Ercan, S.S. Fainstein, F. Fischer, S. Griggs, D. Howarth, H. Ingram, B. Jessop, S. Jin Park, W. Lamping, R.P. Lejano, E. Loevbrand, T.W. Luke, R.F. Mendonca, S. Munch, H.R. Ojha, M. Orsini, S.J. Park, S. Paterson, D. Plehwe, T. Saretzki, F. Scala, V.A. Schmidt, A.L. Schneider, K.K. Shrestha, H. Strassheim, J. Stripple, N.-L. Sum, D. Torgerson, H. Wagenaar, D. Yanow

The economic operating system keeps crashing. It's time to upgrade to a new one. Five decades ago, The Limits to Growth shocked the world by showing that population and industrial growth were pushing humanity towards a cliff. Today the world recognizes that we are now at the cliff edge: Earth has crossed multiple planetary boundaries while widespread inequality is causing deep instabilities in societies. There seems to be no way out. Earth For All is both an antidote to despair and a road map to a better future. Using powerful state-of-the-art computer modeling to explore policies likely to deliver the most good for the majority of people, a leading group of scientists and economists from around the world present five extraordinary turnarounds to achieve prosperity for all within planetary limits in a single generation. Coverage includes: Results of new global modeling that indicates falling well-being and rising social tensions heighten risk of regional societal collapses Two alternative scenarios - Too-Little-Too-Late vs The Giant Leap - and what they mean for our collective future Five system-shifting steps that can upend poverty and inequality, lift up marginalized people, and transform our food and energy systems by 2050 A clear pathway to reboot our global economic system so it works for all people and the planet. Written in an open, accessible, and inspirational style using clear language and high impact visuals, Earth For All is a profound vision for uncertain times and a map to a better future. This survival guide for humanity is required reading for everyone concerned about living well on a fragile planet.

This book is an up-to-date analysis of the issues facing the future of the social work profession in the face of rising political authoritarianism, economic inequality and insecurity, class and racial conflicts, fiscal pressure and the COVID-19 pandemic. It provides an account of how these factors interact, and what their consequences are for policy and practice. Reflecting the author's experiences in Europe and Commonwealth countries, the book is international in its scope and analysis. It is suitable for professionals and students alike, and will also be relevant for social policy academics and researchers.

This book presents various multi-criteria analysis methods for sustainability-oriented analysis and decision-making for energy systems, under various different conditions and scenarios. It presents methodologies to answer the questions relating to which of the options are the most sustainable among the alternatives, and how multi-criteria decision analysis methods can be used to select the most sustainable energy systems. A systematic innovative methodological framework is presented, which enables the most appropriate energy system to be selected under different conditions including: Scientific decision support tools for sustainable energy system selection; Fuzzy, grey, and rough sets based multi-criteria decision analysis; Decision-making models under uncertainties; and The combination of life cycle thinking and multi-criteria decision analysis This book is of interest to researchers, engineers, decision makers, and postgraduate students within the field of energy systems, sustainability, and multi-criteria decision analysis.

This unique book demonstrates how instruments of economics can be usefully employed to analyse social policy. The merits and limits of social policy programmes are discussed as answers to problems of market societies. Taking this enlightened approach, the author addresses key issues such as access to health services, pension programmes, unemployment, poverty and family support. Microeconomic tools are used to evaluate the rationale behind these programmes, underpinning the theoretical propositions with strong empirical research. Unusually, economic values are shown to harmonise with, rather than condemn, ideas of social protection. Providing information about institutional structures of social policy programmes in many countries, this book will be a must for academics and students interested in social policy and the welfare state. Furthermore, those who want to follow the political and scientific discussion of social policy matters will find this book invaluable.

An engaging guide to the various ways in which war is now waged-and how to adapt to this new reality "This brisk everyman's guide-straight-talking and free of jargon-is a useful tasting menu to a fast moving, constantly evolving set of problems. . . . A lively reminder that war adapts to technology, that civilians are part of modern conflict whether they like it or not."-Roger Boyes, The Times "Galeotti's field guide is an admirably clear overview (in his words, 'quick and opinionated') of a form of conflict which is vague and hard to grasp. Variously described as hybrid, sub-threshold or grey-zone warfare, this is the no man's land between peaceful relations and formal combat."-Helen Warrell, Financial Times Hybrid War, Grey Zone Warfare, Unrestricted War: today, traditional conflict-fought with guns, bombs, and drones-has become too expensive to wage, too unpopular at home, and too difficult to manage. In an age when America threatens Europe with sanctions, and when China spends billions buying influence abroad, the world is heading for a new era of permanent low-level conflict, often unnoticed, undeclared, and unending. As conflict once again returns to Europe, transnational crime expert Mark Galeotti provides a comprehensive and ground-breaking survey of the new way of war. Ranging across the globe, Galeotti shows how today's conflicts are fought with everything from disinformation and espionage to crime and subversion, leading to instability within countries and a legitimacy crisis across the globe. But rather than suggest that we hope for a return to a bygone era of "stable" warfare, Galeotti details ways of surviving, adapting, and taking advantage of the opportunities presented by this new reality.

Canaries in the Data Mine offers an account of the lived experiences and cultural expectations of young people growing up in digital environments increasingly owned by others and designed for profit. At the book's core is a participatory research project that first interviewed New York City teens about their digital habits and then engaged a group of five young people in designing the prototypical platform of their time: a social network. In this engaging book, Gregory T. Donovan penetrates beyond the interface to consider the digital geography of contemporary youth, arguing that understanding what young people are grappling with portends what is, or will soon be, felt by society at large. Drawing from in-depth interviews and design workshops, he shows how informational capitalism is reproduced at an intimate scale as well as how involving young people in digital design can foster capacities for reworking and resisting the conditions of a rising rentier society.

This book argues that the relationship between cities and climate change is entering a new and more urgent phase. Thirteen contributions from a range of leading scholars explore the need to rethink and reorient urban life in response to climatic change. Split into four parts it begins by asking 'What is climate urbanism?' and exploring key features from different locations and epistemological traditions. The second section examines the transformative potential of climate urbanism to challenge social and environmental injustices within and between cities. In the third part authors interrogate current knowledge paradigms underpinning climate and urban science and how they shape contemporary urban trajectories. The final section focuses on the future, envisaging climate urbanism as a new communal project, and focuses on the role of citizens and non-state actors in driving transformative action. Consolidating debates on climate urbanism, the book highlights the opportunities and tensions of urban environmental policy, providing a framework for researchers and practitioners to respond to the urban challenges of a radically climate-changed world.

The main theme of this study is the political economy of policy reform in less developed countries and post-socialist countries. Given the complexity of economic development and transition, Joachim Ahrens views failures in policy reform, poor public sector management, rent-seeking, corruption, and over-centralization as systematic, though not exclusive, instances of institutional failure. This interdisciplinary study looks for ways of constructing effective market-enhancing governance structures that provide appropriate incentive systems to cope with such failures. No blueprint is offered, but the book provides a conceptual governance framework that can be applied in a comparative way to analyze economic, political, and social obstacles to policy and institutional reform. The concept is not only used to analyze the politico-institutional foundation of policy reform in East Asia and Eastern Europe, but it also allows to elaborate country specific strategies to craft institutional safeguards that help overcome impediments to development and transition. This innovative book, which overcomes the conventional perspective of a government-market dichotomy, will be of interest to researchers, students, policymakers and all those concerned with the impact of the dialectic interaction between political and economic forces on economic development.

This book critically explores past and present principles of central banking, and outlines a new framework for future stabilization policy. Through compact and concise chapters, it demonstrates why a constant long-term interest rate would be the most beneficial target for monetary policy to follow. A novel set of policy tools and institutional arrangements suitable to reliably meet this target are developed. It is argued that the proposed framework would be clearly superior to conventional policies in preventing financial market crises, maintaining high employment, and keeping the economy at or near potential. The merits and shortcomings of alternative theories such as Modern Monetary Theory are also discussed. This book will be relevant to researchers and policymakers as well as professional investors, analysts, and commentators of financial markets and the economy at large.

Major General Dennis Laich makes a compelling case that the all-volunteer force no longer works in a world defined by terrorism, high debts, and widening class differences. He sets up his argument by posing three fundamental questions: Is the all-volunteer force working? Will it work in the future? What if we had a war and no one showed up on our side? The answers to these questions become all too clear once you learn that less than one percent of US citizens have served in the military over the last twelve years-even though we've been fighting wars the entire time. What's more, most of that one percent comes from poor and middle-class families, which poses numerous questions about social justice. This one percent-the ones that survive-will bear the scars of their service for the rest of their lives, while the wealthy and well-connected sit at home. Fortunately, there are alternatives that could provide the manpower to support national security, close the civil-military gap, and save taxpayers billions of dollars per year. It's possible to fight for what's right while ensuring a bright future, Laich offers a wake-up call that a debt-burdened nation in a dangerous world cannot afford to ignore.

The book refutes the dominant understanding about caste panchayats as mere dispute resolution bodies that are vestiges of the past. In tracing the long career and evolution of intra-caste governance from 300 BC to the present, it challenges several orthodoxies in the caste scholarship. Most prominently, it questions the assumptions of modernization theory that became internalized in the very definition of caste-based political organisations as caste became a subject of study in politics in the 1960s and 70s. In doing this, the book reflects in some detail on the uncomfortable question of the persistence of caste-based conservatism despite the current dominance, so to say, of caste-based democratization in the Indian polity. It tries to make visible the limitations of 'caste politics from below', as it is being imagined today, making a plea for a radical re-imagination of caste as an identity that does not require a self-perpetuation of the primordial aspects of caste to purse the opportunities offered by modern democracy, but one that can facilitate the empowerment of caste through the pursuit of the ameliorations on offer as well as the annihilation of caste, as eventually mutual goals.