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

Environmental Policy in Europe focuses on the creation of environmental policy, how new legislation is formed and the influence brought to bear by industrial interest groups. By addressing the nature of this consultation process between interested parties and public authorities, the authors show why public policy in the European Union is so different in practice from the prescriptions of academic scholarship. European environmental legislation results from a process of consultation and negotiation which is extensively explored in this volume by a distinguished group of authors. Focusing on such issues as pesticide registration, combustion emissions, the European waste management industry, recycling regulations and eco-auditing, they offer unique insights into the development of public policy. While the analysis focuses on the actual behaviour of firms and public authorities, the authors also discuss the involvement of firms within the regulation devising process - to determine whether their behaviour distorts the public interest - and the strategic use by firms of the regulatory process by firms leading to restrictions of competition. Scholars, students and policymakers will welcome Environmental Policy in Europe for seeking to enlarge the traditional perspective of environmental economics on public policy while integrating the recent advances of both the economics of regulation and industrial economics.

Depicting a new stage of Salvadoran history that began in 1979, Mario Lungo Ucles offers an acute analysis of the transformation of El Salvador during the 1980's under the impact of revolution and counterinsurgency. This new and expanded English-language edition of his award-winning book traces the historical roots of the Salvadoran insurgency and demonstrates how the counterinsurgency efforts promoted by the United States failed to anticipate either the durability of the rebels or the rise of the Nationalist Republican Alliance as the country's first explicitly bourgeois political party.Lungo Ucles explains the reasons behind the remarkable outcome of the war in a negotiated settlement and why El Salvador's future requires a major reformulation of the politics and institutions of both the left and the right. This is a work of importance not just for the politics of El Salvador but for other Third World societies in the age of post-Cold War globalization. Mario Lungo Ucles is currently Professor at the Universidad Centroamericana in San Salvador, El Salvador. He is former editor of the journal "Estudios Sociales Centroamericanos" and the author of several books.

Just days after September 11, 2001, Kenneth Feinberg was appointed to administer the federal 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund, a unique, unprecedented fund established by Congress to compensate families who lost a loved one on 9/11 and survivors who were physically injured in the attacks. Those who participated in the Fund were required to waive their right to sue the airlines involved in the attacks, as well as other potentially responsible entities. When the program was launched, many families criticized it as a brazen, tight-fisted attempt to protect the airlines from lawsuits. The Fund was also attacked as attempting to put insulting dollar values on the lives of lost loved ones. The families were in pain. And they were angry. Over the course of the next three years, Feinberg spent almost all of his time meeting with the families, convincing them of the generosity and compassion of the program, and calculating appropriate awards for each and every claim. The Fund proved to be a dramatic success with over 97% of eligible families participating. It also provided important lessons for Feinberg, who became the filter, the arbitrator, and the target of family suffering. Feinberg learned about the enduring power of family grief, love, fear, faith, frustration, and courage. Most importantly, he learned that no check, no matter how large, could make the families and victims of 9/11 whole again.

This book examines the effectiveness of trade and non-trade policies to combat the menace of child labour. Although it has decreased on the global scale in recent years, child labour still remains high, particularly in the developing countries. Keeping in mind the estimated extent of child labour in different regions around the globe, the book offers a detailed critical review of both theoretical and empirical literature on the topic as well as the policies to reduce the incidence of child labour. It also develops a general equilibrium model to demonstrate the possible effects of growth-promoting, non-trade policies, as opposed to direct trade policies, on child labour employment mitigation. The book argues that of the non-trade policies, the introduction of compulsory education appears to be an effective instrument for curtailing the child labour problem when families receive targeted subsidies for sending their children to school. It also shows that appropriately designed and targeted education subsidies can reduce the incidence of child labour and that social protection measures, such as subsidies on school enrolment, also tend to have a positive impact. The book not only opens up research topics for academicians but is also a valuable resource for policy makers.

Since the landmark 1965 Supreme Court ruling "Griswold" v. "Connecticut" established a Constitutional right to privacy, the regulation of sexuality has become an extremely volatile area of American politics. From reproductive rights to sex education, pornography to gay marriage, the balance between community norms and individual autonomy has been fiercely contested. These and related subjects are often viewed in isolation, as though they were entirely separate issues. Yet as the documentary record makes clear, they are in fact closely interrelated, and their impact is cumulative. By addressing a broad array of topics at the intersection of sexuality and politics, this volume highlights the connections and makes an important contribution to a debate that touches every American.

Taking as a starting point the 1965 "Griswold" decision--sometimes said to have launched the sexual revolution--the approximately 100 primary source documents assembled here either mark watersheds in themselves or are representative of a broad range of political developments. The documents are drawn from all quarters of U.S. political life. They include legislative texts; proposed laws and constitutional amendments; state and federal court rulings; political party platforms; and interest-group position statements.

Agent Orange, the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund, the Virginia Tech massacre, the 2008 financial crisis, and the Deep Horizon gulf oil spill: each was a disaster in its own right. What they had in common was their aftermath- each required compensation for lives lost, bodies maimed, livelihoods wrecked, economies and ecosystems upended. In each instance, an objective third party had to step up and dole out allocated funds: in each instance, Presidents, Attorneys General, and other public officials have asked Kenneth R. Feinberg to get the job done. In Who Gets What? , Feinberg reveals the deep thought that must go into each decision, not to mention the most important question that arises after a tragedy: why compensate at all? The result is a remarkably accessible discussion of the practical and philosophical problems of using money as a way to address wrongs and reflect individual worth.

Public administration is under increasing pressure to become more efficient, better geared to the demands and opinions of citizens, more open to contacts with transnational bureaucracies, and more responsive to the ideas of elected policymakers. Bureaucracy in the Modern State offers a comparative analysis of how these challenges affect public administration in France, the United States, Germany, Japan, Britain, Sweden and the developing countries of the Third World. Specialist chapters written by acknowledged experts on the public policy of each country are brought together in a comparative framework in order to assess the impact of recent changes on the relationship between policy makers and the civil service, and the organizational challenges presented by the introduction of market-based ideology. Assessing public administration from a state-society perspective, the authors focus on four basic factors which they believe determine the role of the bureaucracy in modern societies: the configuration of the state, the relationship between policymakers and the bureaucracy, the internal organizational dynamics of the bureaucracy, and the relationship between the public bureaucracy and civil society. A special analysis of the relationship between domestic and transnational bureaucracies is also included, with particular reference made to the European Union. Addressing one of the key public policy issues of our time, this book will be widely used by teachers, students and researchers who will welcome the combination of in-depth studies of selected countries, from capitalist democracies to developing countries, with an authoritative comparative analysis held together by a distinct theoretical framework.

This book examines the reintroduction and recovery of the wolf in the Northern Rocky Mountains. The wolf was driven to brink of extinction through conscious government policy. The Endangered Species Act of 1973 provided the means for wolf's return, which began in the Carter administration and continues in the Obama administration. The battle over the wolf is part of a larger struggle over the management of public lands, generating public law litigation. Interest groups brought suit in federal courts, challenging the Department of Interior's implementation of policy. The federal courts were required to interpret the statutory mandates and review Interior's decisions to insure statutory compliance. The analysis of this public law litigation demonstrates that the federal courts correctly interpreted the statutory mandates and properly supported and checked Interior's decisions. This book focuses on the controversial role of the courts in the resolution of public policy conflicts. Judicial skeptics argue that the courts should not get involved in complex public policy disputes as Judges lack the expertise and information to make informed decisions. Judicial proponents, by contrast, argue that judicial involvement is necessary so Federal courts can oversee federal agencies, which are under conflicting pressure from interest groups, the President, Congress, and their own internal dynamics. This book supports the conclusions of judicial proponents and points out that the federal courts have been instrumental in the return and recovery of the wolf to the Northern Rocky Mountains.

Indonesia is the world's largest archipelagic state, with more than 18,000 islands and over 7.9 million square kilometres of sea. The marine frontier presents the nation with both economic opportunities and political and strategic challenges. Indonesia has been affected more than most countries in the world by a slow revolution in the management of its waters. Whereas Indonesia's seas were once conceived administratively as little more than the empty space between islands, successive governments have become aware that this view is outmoded. The effective transfer to the seas of regulatory regimes that took shape on land, such as territoriality, has been an enduring challenge to Indonesian governments. This book addresses issues related to maritime boundaries and security, marine safety, inter-island shipping, the development of the archipelagic concept in international law, marine conservation, illegal fishing, and the place of the sea in national and regional identity.

A MacArthur Award-winning scholar explores the explosive intersection of farming, immigration, and big business At the outset of World War II, California agriculture seemed to be on the cusp of change. Many Californians, reacting to the ravages of the Great Depression, called for a radical reorientation of the highly exploitative labour relations that had allowed the state to become such a productive farming frontier. But with the importation of the first braceros-""guest workers"" from Mexico hired on an ""emergency"" basis after the United States entered the war-an even more intense struggle ensued over how agriculture would be conducted in the state. Esteemed geographer Don Mitchell argues that by delineating the need for cheap, flexible farm labour as a problem and solving it via the importation of relatively disempowered migrant workers, an alliance of growers and government actors committed the United States to an agricultural system that is, in important respects, still with us. They Saved the Crops is a theoretically rich and stylistically innovative account of grower rapaciousness, worker militancy, rampant corruption, and bureaucratic bias. Mitchell shows that growers, workers, and officials confronted a series of problems that shaped-and were shaped by-the landscape itself. For growers, the problem was finding the right kind of labour at the right price at the right time. Workers struggled for survival and attempted to win power in the face of economic exploitation and unremitting violence. Bureaucrats tried to harness political power to meet the demands of, as one put it, ""the people whom we serve."" Drawing on a deep well of empirical materials from archives up and down the state, Mitchell's account promises to be the definitive book about California agriculture in the turbulent decades of the mid-twentieth century.

Parliaments in the Modern World presents the case that these legislative bodies - long characterized as institutionalized and therefore static - are in fact changing at a surprising rate. Whether the changes are subtle (as in the United Kingdom) or responding to fundamental constitutional rearrangements (as in Italy and Germany), even the casual observer no longer views parliaments as regular or predictable. Focusing on the parliaments of Great Britain, Germany, Italy, Scandinavia, Turkey, and Central and Eastern Europe, contributors to this volume try to understand how, when, and why parliaments modify themselves. The editors frame the book in the theoretical questions of how institutionalized bodies accomplish change. They explain the nature of the institutionalizing process and show that as the ability for an organization to fulfill its mission changes (or as the mission itself changes), corresponding adaptation becomes necessary if the institution is to remain viable. The individual case studies amply illustrate how modifications in the governing ideology, the party, the electoral systems, or the character of membership have precipitated change at various times and in various parliaments. Parliaments in the Modern World ultimately demonstrates that it is precisely this ability to change that has kept these organizations vital, responsive, and long-lived.

This book provides a comprehensive overview of drug policy in the United States from the early 1900s through the present day, providing historical and social context through the telling of the colorful and often tragic stories of the events and individuals throughout this period. Substance Abuse in America: A Documentary and Reference Guide examines the history of U.S. drug policy chronologically, from the early 1900s through the current day, covering topics such as patent medicines, Prohibition, Reefer Madness, the psychedelic '60s, Nixon's War on Drugs, and the powerful warring Mexican drug cartels that currently threaten political instability in that country. This book provides a comprehensive overview of U.S. drug policy that will fascinate general readers and benefit those in the field of substance abuse treatment or policy. Each chapter includes an analysis of a primary source document that serves to illuminate drug policy in America at a particular point in time as well as the reasons for the waxing and waning popularity of various drugs. The author provides accurate historical context that explains perceptions about substance abuse in American history, and draws compelling parallels across different time periods to show that much of what may seem new and unique for the present generation actually has a historical precedent. Suggestions for further readering are provided with each chapter, including books and book chapters, articles in the popular press, government documents, and links to Internet resources

The Welfare State in Britain presents a history of British social policy from the election of Clement Attlee to the fall of Margaret Thatcher.Michael Hill focuses upon the political processes which influenced the key reforms of the late 1940s, and the ways in which those reforms have subsequently been consolidated and undermined. He critically examines some of the theories drawn from political science which have been used to explain the growth of the welfare state in Britain. The so called 'crisis of the welfare state' that has dominated recent rhetoric is shown to have its origins in the very period when the welfare state was believed to have been created. Despite its importance for electoral politics, social policy is shown to have often been subordinate to economic and foreign policy. The book will be essential reading for all students of social welfare and social policy as well as the political history of Britain since 1945.