This Reader presents a selection of articles from Economic Development Quarterly, the premier journal for practitioners and academics of local economic development. The pieces chosen cover both the breadth and the cutting edge of real world economic development practices.

New approaches are needed to monitor and evaluate health and social development. Existing strategies tend to require expensive, time-consuming analytical procedures. The growing emphasis on results-based programming has resulted in evaluation being conducted in order to demonstrate accountability and success, rather than how change takes place, what works and why. The tendency to monitor and evaluate using log frames and their variants closes policy makers' and practitioners' eyes to the sometimes unanticipated means by which change takes place. Two recent developments hold the potential to transcend these difficulties and to lead to important changes in the way in which the effects of health and social development programming are understood. First, there is growing interest in ways of monitoring programmes and assessing impact that are more grounded in the realities of practice than many of the 'results-based' methods currently utilised. Second, there are calls for the greater use of interpretive and ethnographic methods in programme design, monitoring and evaluation. Responding to these concerns, this book illustrates the potential of interpretative methods to aid understanding and make a difference in real people's lives. Through a focus on individual and community perspectives, and locally-grounded explanations, the methods explored in this book offer a potentially richer way of assessing the relationships between intent, action and change in health and social development in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas.

The topics covered in this book are directly related to much of the misunderstanding of what sociology is about. It is usual nowadays to label as sociological any discussion concerned, however loosely, with 'Society'. But a careful reading of Mr Timms' treatment of the problem areas he has chosen should make clear the difference between this use of the adjective in everyday speech, and its more vigorous technical use. In dealing with his subject Mr Timms makes use of the concepts of sociology such as 'role', 'norms', 'social control', 'class', and 'family'.

The welfare state faces various challenges in Scandinavia and many European countries today, including a poor work environment in the public sector, a growing democracy deficit, and demographic obstacles. In this new book, Victor A. Pestoff argues that the state cannot resolve these challenges alone or together with the market, rather it requires the active participation of citizens and the third sector in order to overcome them and become more sustainable and flexible in the future. This book addresses the need for a more democratic architecture for the European welfare state, opening new perspectives for developing alternative channels for direct citizen participation at the sub-municipal level of governance. Pestoff finds that neither democratic theory nor welfare state theory devotes adequate attention to the contemporary role of the third sector as a service provider or to greater direct citizen participation in the provision of welfare services. He shifts the focus of analysis from the input to the output side of the political system and explores new ways to promote a greater role for the third sector and more citizen participation in the provision of universal, tax financed welfare services. Part 1 discusses social economy actors in Sweden and Scandinavia, both from a historical and future perspective. Part 2 explores major issues for the third sector and welfare state, including the allocation of an organization's surplus or profit, work environment and service quality in public services and the third sector, consumer perspectives on the social economy, democratizing medical and health care in Japan, and co-production of childcare services in eight European countries. Part 3 revisits the third sector and state in democratic theory and welfare theory, as well as recognizing major hurdles to the third sector and democratization of the welfare state. Part 4 concludes by summarizing the politics of participation in the welfare state.

This work analyses in a historical and comparative perspective the relationship between the family and the welfare state in two Mediterranean countries: Italy and Spain. Two aims form the focus of the book. Firstly, to open the black box of the family in welfare state analysis, introducing a focus on inter-generational and kin relations. Secondly, to explain why the southern welfare states have offered very low support to families with children by taking into account several factors: the legacy of fascism, the role of the Church, and the specific role played by leftist parties in defining family policy as labour policy.

Social Policy: Theory and practice is a fully revised, updated and extended edition of a bestselling social policy textbook, extensively reworked and adapted to meet the needs of its international readership. The book lays out the architecture of social policy as a field of study, binding the discussion of theory to the understanding of social policy in practice. It aims to provide students and practitioners with a sense of the scope, range and purpose of the subject while developing critical awareness of problems, issues and common fallacies. Written in an accessible and engaging style, it explains what social policy is and why it matters; looks at social policy in its social context; considers policy, the role of the state and the social services; explores issues in social administration and service delivery; and focuses on the methods and approaches of the subject. For practitioners, there are discussions of the techniques and approaches used to apply social policy in practice. For students, there are boxes raising issues and reviewing case studies, questions for discussion and a detailed glossary. The book's distinctive, path-breaking approach makes it invaluable for students studying social policy at a range levels, professionals and practitioners in the field of social policy.

There is an increasing emphasis on activation and participation in European social welfare policy. This book challenges the underlying presupposition that regular employment is the royal road to inclusion. Drawing on original empirical research, it investigates the inclusionary and exclusionary potentials of different types of work, including activation programs. Active Social Policies in the EU makes an important contribution to the debates in this area by: reporting on original international comparative research; reflecting on and critically assessing current activating policies; evaluating the consequences of these policies, as well as challenging the premises they are based on; including the perspectives of service users in its analyses; and offering recommendations for the future design of activating policies. The book will be invaluable for students, lecturers and researchers of social and labor market policies and policy makers. It is essential reading for those interested in is

"Partnership Working in Health and Social Care" adopts a thematic approach to health and social care partnerships. With chapters by leading international commentators, the book covers key topics in partnership with a dual focus on both policy and practice.

Popular calls to transform our current welfare system and supplant it with effective and inexpensive faith-based providers are gaining political support and engendering heated debate about the separation of church and state. Yet we lack concrete information from which to anticipate how such initiatives might actually work if adopted.

Despite the assumption that congregations can help many needy people in our society, it remains to be seen how extensive they wish their involvement to be, or if they have the necessary tools to become significant providers in the social service arena. Moreover, how will such practices, which will move faith-based organizations towards professionalization, ultimately affect the spirit of volunteerism now prevalent in America's religious institutions?

We lack sufficient knowledge about congregational life and its ability to play a key role in social service provision. The Invisible Caring Hand attempts to fill that void. Based on in-depth interviews with clergy and lay leaders in 251 congregations nationwide, it reveals the many ways in which congregations are already working, beneath the radar, to care for people in need. This ground-breaking volume will provide much-sought empirical data to social scientists, religious studies scholars, and those involved in the debates over the role of faith-based organizations in faith-based services, as well as to clergy and congregation members themselves.

This book examines the political, economic and social issues that are at the heart of the debate on the future of the European Union. Various experts address the questions of the role of the European Parliament and democratic control; the reform of the public sector; citizenship; crime and criminal justice; common foreign and security policy; East West trade; the communications revolution; regional inequalities; unemployment; demographic change and health policy. Recommendations are made for the consideration of the current IGC.

Women, Violence and Social Change demonstrates how refuges and shelters stand as the core of the battered women's movement, providing a basis for pragmatic support, political action and radical renewal. From this base movements in Britain and the United States have challenged the police, courts and social services to provide greater assistance to women. The book provides important evidence on the way social movements can successfully challenge institutions of the State as well as salutatory lessons on the nature of diverted and thwarted struggle. Throughout the book the Dobashes' years of researching violence against women is illustrated in the depth of their analysis. They maintain the tradition established in their first book, Violence Against Wives, which was widely accalimed.

Current policy encourages 'partnerships' - between statutory organisations and professionals; public and private sectors; with voluntary organisations and local communities. But is this collaborative discourse really as distinctive as the Labour Government claims? How far do contemporary partnerships exemplify an approach to governing which is based on networks (as distinct from hierarchies and markets)? Partnerships, New Labour and the governance of welfare: provides an up-to-date critical analysis of partnerships; addresses the highly topical theme of 'partnerships' as the means of achieving joined-up government; presents empirical evidence from a wide range of welfare partnerships; examines the relationships between local welfare partnerships and the management of those partnerships by central government; reveals the imbalance of power which characterises many contemporary partnerships. * It is essential reading for academics and students of contemporary social and public policy and for those with an interest in networks and other theories of welfare governance.

The 1996 Community Care (Direct Payments) Act came into force in 1 April 1997, empowering social services departments to make cash payments to some service users in lieu of direct service provision. Social work and direct payments guides readers through the issues at stake in this fundamental area of practice. The book summarises and builds on current knowledge and research about direct payments in the UK and considers developments in other European countries. It identifies good practice in the area and explores the implications of direct payments, both for service users and for social work staff.

'Empowerment' is a term in widespread use today and one that is often considered to be a self-evident good. Here, McLaughlin explores its emergence in the 1960s through to its rise in the 1990s and ubiquity in present day discourse and interrogates its social status, paying particular attention to social policy, social work and health and social care discourse. He argues that a focus on empowerment has superseded the notion of political subjects exercising power autonomously. This innovative volume: - Discusses the relationship between concepts of empowerment and power, as they have been understood historically. - Analyses changes in the conception and meaning of empowerment in relation to the shifting social and political landscape. - Acknowledges the positive impact empowerment strategies have had on those who have campaigned to be empowered and also on those who have saw their role as being to help empower others. - Highlights ways in which talk about empowerment can actually work in such a way as to further disempower those already marginalised. Critically examining how 'empowerment' has become embedded in contemporary social and political life, this work offers a discussion of the term's multiple meanings, what it actually entails, and how it constructs and positions those being empowered and those empowering.

Without access to a public social welfare system in parts of China, some families face invidious decisions about the lives of their children with disabilities. In other places, children with disabilities can now expect to participate in their families and communities with the same aspirations as other children. Understanding how Chinese policy has changed in the places that have addressed these stark situations is vital for the rights of the children and their families who still struggle to find the support they need. This book examines family experiences of child disability policy in China, and is the first to compile research on this area. It applies a child disability rights framework in four domains - care and protection, economic security, development and participation - to investigate families' experiences of the effectiveness of support to fulfil their children's rights. Questioning how families experience the interrelationships between these rights, it also considers what the further implications of the policy are. It includes vivid case studies of families' experiences, and combines these with national data to draw out the likely future policy directions to which the Chinese government has said it is committed. Bringing together a wealth of statistical and qualitative data on children with disabilities, this book will be of great interest to students and scholars of Chinese social welfare, social policy, society and children's studies, as well as policy-makers and NGOs alike.

Living at the intersection of multiple identities in the United States can be dangerous. This is especially true for Native women who live on the more than 56 million acres that comprise America's Indian Country - the legal term for American Indian reservations and other land held in trust for Native people. Today, due to a complicated system of criminal jurisdiction, non-Native Americans can commit crimes against American Indians in much of Indian Country with virtual impunity. This has created what some call a modern day "hunting ground" in which Native women are specifically targeted by non-Native men for sexual violence. In this urgent and timely book, author Amy L. Casselman exposes the shameful truth of how the American government has systematically divested Native nations of the basic right to protect the people in their own communities. A problem over 200 years in the making, Casselman highlights race and gender in federal law to challenge the argument that violence against Native women in Indian country is simply collateral damage from a complex but necessary legal structure. Instead, she demonstrates that what's happening in Indian country is part of a violent colonial legacy - one that has always relied on legal and sexual violence to disempower Native communities as a whole.

Discussion questions developed by the authors can be found here. In the face of globalization's massive social and economic transformations and the resulting persistent inequality, activists, labor organizers, and advocacy NGOs are seeking and creating change beyond the confines of formal state politics and across national borders. Given the breadth of local issues activists face, the ways they define the problem and seek redress vary widely. This book provides a unique perspective on these efforts, gathering into one volume concrete examples of the implementation of different strategies for social change that highlight the challenges involved. This provides useful lessons for those involved in social change, as well as for those studying it. Contributors to the volume are scholars and practitioners around the world, and they draw on strong connections with people working in the field to improve working conditions and environmental standards of global production systems. This allows readers to develop a more comprehensive and grounded understanding of strategies for social change. This book maintains a strong balance between breadth and specificity. It provides an overview of the themes of social change, which contextualizes and draws common threads from the chapters grounded in specific geographic locations and political spaces of change. The chapters analyze environmental and social problems and the varying degrees of success activists have had in regulating industries, containing environmental hazards, and/or harnessing aspects of an industry for positive social and economic change. Contributors draw upon different ways of creating change, which include corporate social responsibility schemes, fair trade regimes, and community radio. By providing insight into the potential and limitations of actions taken at different levels, the book encourages a critical perspective on efforts for social change, grounded in an understanding of how conditions around the world can affect these activities.

Drawing on current research, the expertise of health professionals in 50 countries, and emerging trends in both public and clinical health, this graduate-level textbook delivers an evidence-based examination of global health challenges in population health and wellbeing. It emphasizes innovative and transformative approaches to public health practice, curricula, and leadership and is framed by the "fifth wave" of public health, a biopsychosocial model of health and social care. The text builds on the findings of the seminal Lancet commission report, "Health professions for a new century: transforming education to strengthen health systems in an interdependent world," and is grounded in the recognition of the complex interdependence of natural, socio-economic, and political systems at local, national, regional, and global levels.

Civil society activism around issues of global justice has proliferated in Europe during the past two decades. Has such contestation and advocacy made a difference? This book examines whether and how the organizations, networks and campaigns involved have attained their policy objectives in the areas of debt relief, international trade, international taxation and corporate accountability. The analysis also considers the relationship between national and transnational activism. By comparing variations in the "activism-policy nexus" in France, Italy and the United Kingdom, it seeks to understand how such interaction and policy outcomes vary in different institutional and political contexts.

Can the criminal justice system achieve justice based on its ability to determine the truth? Drawing on a variety of disciplinary and interdisciplinary perspectives, this book investigates the concept of truth - its complexities and nuances - and scrutinizes how well the criminal justice process facilitates truth-finding. From allegation to sentencing, the chapters take the reader on a journey through the criminal justice system, exposing the marginalization of truth-finding in favour of other jurisprudential or systemic values, such as expediency, procedural fairness and the presumption of innocence. This important work bridges the gap between what people expect from the criminal justice system and what it can legitimately deliver.

This book critically and comprehensively examines China's welfare development amidst its rapid economic growth and increasing social tensions. It covers the main policy areas from China's inception of the open door policy in 1978 to the new administration of Jinping Xi and Keqiang Li, including social security, health, education, housing, employment, rural areas, migrant workers, children and young people, disabled people, old age pensions and non-governmental organisations. In particular, it critically analyses the impact of policy changes on the well-being of Chinese people

Physical abuse and neglect are the most common forms of child maltreatment, and professionals who work with children have a duty to possess a thorough understanding of them in order to identify and intervene in abusive situations. This curriculum teaches participants eight lessons on the socioeconomic and familial factors that place children at risk, the signs indicative of abuse and neglect, and methods for medically evaluating and treating physically abused or neglected children. Among the issues discussed in detail are types of radiological studies and their uses, types of common fractures and how they are produced, the ways to differentiate between abusive and accidental head injury, and the distinction between intentional and unintentional neglect. The CD-ROM contains 208 clinical photographs illustrative of common injuries, diagnostic imaging methods, and forms of neglect. The training curriculum contains activities, test questions, photographic references, and a PowerPoint teaching presentation and is accredited through Saint Louis University's School of Medicine and School of Nursing to provide CME/CNE credit(s).

In China, social development has fallen far behind economic development. This book looks at why this is the case, and poses the question of whether the conditions, structures and institutions that have locked China into unbalanced development are changing to pave the way for the next stage of development. Based on an empirical examination of ideological, structural and institutional transformations that have shaped China's development experiences, the book analyses China's reform and development in the social domain, including pension, healthcare, public housing, ethnic policy, and public expenditure on social programs. The book moves beyond descriptive analyses to understand the role of broader changes in shaping and redefining the pattern of development in China.

What is true advocacy? How can advocacy be evaluated? Should there be practice standards in advocacy? As advocacy moves into the mainstream of health and social care provision, and the prospect of a legal right to advocacy inches closer, so the need to scrutinise key values and practices in advocacy becomes urgent. Although advocacy is widely acclaimed as a 'good thing', there is little agreement as to how it should be implemented, funded or evaluated. A right result?: reviews the range of third party advocacy provision and practice in the UK; addresses key issues facing the contemporary advocacy movement, such as the need for independence, developing quality standards and security of funding; suggests viable ways forward; moves beyond the partisan tendency to champion one kind of advocacy to offer an inclusive account of different styles. Through this inclusive approach, the book offers the first comprehensive analysis of the benefits of advocacy. A right result? is required reading for anyone with an interest in advocacy and the rights of disempowered people, particularly individuals and agencies with a stake in the promotion and development of advocacy services and schemes in the UK.

Human service professionals deal with a wide range of problems, from child abuse, parenting issues, and elderly care, to addictions, mental illness, sexual assault, unemployment, and criminality. These must be constructed as problems for professionals to appropriately respond to them. Human service provision starts from there. But in the everyday experience of service providers and users alike, there is a parallel world of ordinary troubles that remains professionally undefined but real, even when troubles are turned into problems. This book brings into view the relationship between these worlds as it bears on the process of clientization-the transformation of people and troubles into clients and problems. Rather than taking the process for granted as many critics do, the book examines the instability of the process on several fronts and highlights its surprising local complexity. Foregrounding everyday life, the leading idea is that the transformation of troubles into problems is not straightforward and that problems are continually subject to alternative understandings. This poses new what, how, and where questions. What are ordinary troubles and how do they relate to the construction, maintenance, or undoing of serviceable problems? Where is social policy and how does that figure in the front-line work of service provision? The questions point to the challenges of clientization at the discretionary border of troubles and problems in everyday service relationships. With chapters written by an international group of human service researchers, this book is an important contribution to the literature dealing with the construction of personal problems and will be useful to students and academics in sociology, human services, social work and policy, criminal justice, and health care.