As a result of the impact of neo-liberal economics and the financial crisis on policy development and implementation, economic and social divides are widening and deepening globally. As the causes and consequences of austerity continue to emerge across Europe and internationally, so the key policy impact messages must continue to be told. Under the themes of Justice, Participation and Social Exclusion, contributors to this volume draw on recent examples to explore and discuss the impact of those targeted or excluded by public and social policies in European countries, developed, implemented and evaluated at a time of austerity. Contexts, consequences and controversies current in the global North are uncovered highlighting the ethical implications for policy research and the role of the academic.
To bear witness and tell the 'truth' is a standpoint usually associated with religious philosophies. In these turbulent years in Western democracies perhaps one critical role for the academic, recast for post-modern times, is to bear witness to the lives of the powerless and tell their 'truths'. Citizen involvement in policy development can be potent and not merely tokenistic if knowledge becomes a means by which policies can be challenged by those subject to them.

Under which conditions do companies engage in the provision of collective goods and services if the state lacks the capacity to do so? To what extent do multinational firms engage in a 'race to the top' fostering rather than undermining regulation? The empirical analyses in the individual chapters look at business responses to some of South Africa's most pertinent governance challenges, HIV/AIDS and environmental pollution. The contributors look at firms in four industry sectors: the automotive industry, the mining industry, the food and beverage industry and the textile industry. These four sectors comprise a significant number of foreign as well as local companies, with or without brand name, which cater to different market segments within South Africa, differ in size and are exposed to varying pressure from NGOs and foreign competitors.

Public broadcasting has changed dramatically since its founding in 1967. The growing equation of marketplace efficiency with the public interest has, in Tom McCourt's analysis, undermined the value of public goods and services. In addition, political and cultural discourse is increasingly beset by fragmentation. Public radio provides an exemplary site to examine the prospects and problems of contemporary public life.

Beginning with a description of the events that led to the creation of National Public Radio, McCourt discusses the relationship between NPR and its affiliate stations and the ways in which struggles over funding and programming have affected public radio's agenda. He also examines how public radio incorporates the roles of public representatives into its operations and how its methods to determine the needs and interests of the public have changed across the systeM's history. The social, political, and economic pressures that have impacted the mission and practices of National Public Radio, McCourt asserts, are manifest in all areas of American life. Through extensive historical research, he examines whether American public broadcasters, as represented by NPR, have succeeded or failed to engender an enlightened, participatory democracy.

African Americans have suffered intensely at the hands of America's dominant group, but the roles played by urban planning, land use policy, and the free market are not well known. Presenting a new conceptual approach, this book considers their "locking effect" on African Americans, showing, for instance, that one-acre zoning and similar policies in upscale neighborhoods lock African Americans out while market mechanisms in decaying neighborhoods lock them in. Arguing that the locking effect leads to the disenfranchisement of African Americans, Bobo shows how wealth is channeled to the dominant group and African Americans' life choices are denuded, creating a volatile situation.

Although classical economic theory holds that a free market allocates scarce resources in the best interest of society, in reality market mechanisms do not work to the advantage of African Americans. Nor does public regulation of land use operate in their interest, although public policy is presumed to produce equitable and favorable outcomes for all members of society. This book explores how a combination of government regulation of land use and free market forces have created the locking effect, which has cultivated and sustained a process of disenfranchisement of African Americans.

This book examines comparatively the US and the UK governments' management of Y2K and considers the extent to which such management can be understood as responses to market pressures, public opinion and organized interests. It concludes by providing valuable lessons to those concerned about managing risk and critical infrastructure today.

Collaboration between governments, business, the voluntary and community sectors is now central to the way public policy is made, managed, and delivered. This book provides the first comprehensive and authoritative account of the theory, policy, and practice of collaboration. Written by two leading authorities in the field, the book explores the experience of collaboration in regeneration, health, and other policy sectors, and assesses the consequences of the emergence of public-private partnerships contrasting the UK experience to that elsewhere in the world.

"Gender, Equality and Difference During and After State Socialism" examines gender as a socially and culturally constructed phenomenon which is influential in and influenced by state-led policies and structures, as well as social practices and relations and which shapes the experiences and lives of women and men. The volume explores the pivotal nature of the demise of the communist regimes, in relation both to experiences of gender and to their study in former state socialist societies. Each chapter is based on new and original research by the authors.

Education reformers and policymakers argue that improved students' learning requires stronger academic standards, stiffer state tests, and accountability for students' scores. Yet these efforts seem not to be succeeding in many states. The authors of this important book argue that effective state reform depends on conditions which most reforms ignore: coherence in practice as well as policy and opportunities for professional learning. The book draws on a decade's detailed study of California's ambitious and controversial program to improve mathematics teaching and learning. Researchers David Cohen and Heather Hill report that state policy influenced teaching and learning when there was consistency among the tests and other policy instruments; when there was consistency among the curricula and other instruments of classroom practice; and when teachers had substantial opportunities to learn the practices proposed by the policy. These conditions were met for a minority of elementary school teachers in California. When the conditions were met for teachers, students had higher scores on state math tests. The book also shows that, for most teachers, the reform ended with consistency in state policy. They did not have access to consistent instruments of classroom practice, nor did they have opportunities to learn the new practices which state policymakers proposed. In these cases, neither teachers nor their students benefited from the state reform. This book offers insights into the ways policy and practice can be linked in successful educational reform and shows why such linkage has been difficult to achieve. It offers useful advice for practitioners and policymakers seeking to improve education, and to analysts seeking to understand it.

Using the cases of Northern Cyprus and Transdniestria, the author examines state-building as practiced by informal states. Exploring symbolic and economic dimensions of state-building projects and using insights from political sociology, she investigates how they function under circumstances of non-recognition.

This study applies policy network theory to major technological, economic, environmental and social trends to generate propositions about the future of public policy. Among the findings are that we should expect more business-friendly policies, more intrusive law enforcement, more women-friendly policies, and stronger climate policies.

In times of dramatic social, economic and political change, governments around the world are questioning their roles and responsibilities in the public sector. The trend is away from a traditional public-sector market model, but there does not yet exist a universally accepted alternative. The essays offer a comparative analysis of public administration in several OECD countries, including the UK, US, Australia, and Scandinavia, and explores possible future directions.

The impact of political lobbyists remains highly controversial. No-one has explored when they matter. This book tells readers when lobbyists count and analyzes the relationship between lobbying, policy outcomes and the impact of external factors to reveal the professional lobbyist's limited effect on policy. On most policy issues lobbyists simply do not matter. But, on rare occasions lobbyists can make a difference and this book explains when they matter and why.

As 300 million Americans squeeze into our country, and as single-person households outnumber parents with children, it's time to rethink our land use laws that favor the single-family house. This provocative book visits sites of recent controversies--from an immigration dispute in a Virginia suburb, to eminent domain in New York City, to illegal apartments in the backyards of California. Boudreaux explores how we could scrap the old housing bias in favor of affluent homeowners, and in its place harness the free market to provide for a greater variety of residences--apartments, townhouses, and mobile homes - for the twenty-first century.

A critical yet constructive description of the rich analytical techniques and substantive applications that typify how statistical thinking has been applied at the RAND Corporation over the past two decades. Case studies of public policy problems are useful for teaching because they are familiar: almost everyone knows something abut health insurance, global warming, and capital punishment, to name but a few of the applications covered in this casebook. Each case study has a common format that describes the policy questions, the statistical questions, and the successful and the unsuccessful analytic strategies. Readers should be familiar with basic statistical concepts including sampling and regression. While designed for statistics courses in areas ranging from economics to health policy to the law at both the advanced undergraduate and graduate levels, empirical researchers and policy-makers will also find this casebook informative.

Divisions in the EU are considered, as well as the conflicts that have arisen from enlargement and foreign policy concerns. Leading specialists on European politics and society reflect on the nature of consensus and competition between elites, and whether the EU may be able to provide a sense of common identity and purpose for its citizens.

This book considers the extent to which, and in what circumstances, political parties affect public policy. It explores the regional level in Germany; using case studies in the areas of education, childcare and family, and labour market policy. In particular, the author explores whether party politicians make a difference to policies.

Regionalisation has become a central issue in national and international debates since the end of the Cold War. Yet, when local contributions to regionalism are considered, these are generally related to areas related to philosophy, identity and literature, rather than political economy. Addressing this vacuum, the authors of this volume argue that autochthonous ideas matter. Covering macro regional and sub-regional outlooks, as well as presenting particular national perspectives concerning regionalist thinking, the contributors consider issues of regionalism where economics, political science and international relations come together.

Civil rights rhetoric has been central to the debate over U.S. immigration policy since at least the 1960s. A coalition of interest groups, including churches, ethnic organizations, civil rights groups, and employer associations has played a fundamental role in advancing civil rights norms in the immigration arena. The growing importance of civil rights rhetoric in the debate over U.S. immigration policy, DeLaet asserts, helps to explain the liberalization of U.S. immigration policy in spite of growing evidence that the public opposition to immigration has grown during the same period. In turn, the liberalization of U.S. immigration policy has contributed to rising numbers of both legal and illegal immigrants. Thus, high levels of immigration reflect the basic provisions of current U.S. immigration policy, rather than a loss of governmental control. Many analysts have suggested that the immigration policy reforms passed by Congress in 1996 marked the beginning of a new era of restrictionism. However, as DeLaet illustrates, the new restrictions adopted in 1996 contain many of the same loopholes as previous legislation, indicating the coalition of interest groups supporting immigration still pose a significant obstacle to efforts to restrict immigration.

Lance D. Fusarelli examines the relationship between the charter school and voucher issues: To what degree does political support for charter schools--from a coalition of teacher associations, school board groups, superintendents, and voucher advocates--slow or even stop the forces for vouchers? Or, do these coalitions, which successfully pushed charter school legislation through the legislature, actually fuel the fires of privatization? Charter schools legislation has enjoyed bipartisan support precisely because the threat of vouchers is so great. And, contrary to the strategy of voucher opponents, the spread of charter school increases, rather than alleviates, the push for vouchers.

Local government can be defined as a public entity acting as the sub-unit of a state or of a region, charged with the task of enforcing public policies. There have been many reforms of local government in recent years from the grassroots-led movement that took root in the 90's to the overarching effects of globalization and decentralization. Local governments must adapt their practices in order to most effectively provide for their constituents. Theoretical Foundations and Discussions on the Reformation Process in Local Government addresses the effects of recent reforms in the political-administrative system of local governments and politics as well as future outlooks. It reviews the challenges, innovations, and lessons from local governments while providing theoretical perspectives on methods for positive reform. This book is a critical reference source for policy makers, government organizations, professionals, and actors in both local and international politics.

This book provides the first full account of America's relations with the Islamic Republic of Iran from Jimmy Carter's presidency to Barack Obama's. It discusses all major facets of Iranian policy of interest to the United States: nuclear proliferation, revolutionary export and support for international terrorism, efforts to undermine the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, and violations of human rights. It compares developments in Iran to their perception in Washington, providing the clearest picture available yet of the discrepancies between the complex and elusive Iranian reality and its understanding in the United States.

Off-street parking requirements are devastating American cities. So says the author in this no-holds-barred treatise on the way parking should be. Free parking, the author argues, has contributed to auto dependence, rapid urban sprawl, extravagant energy use, and a host of other problems. Planners mandate free parking to alleviate congestion, but end up distorting transportation choices, debasing urban design, damaging the economy, and degrading the environment. Ubiquitous free parking helps explain why our cities sprawl on a scale fit more for cars than for people, and why American motor vehicles now consume one-eighth of the world's total oil production. But it doesn't have to be this way. The author proposes new ways for cities to regulate parking, namely, charge fair market prices for curb parking, use the resulting revenue to pay for services in the neighborhoods that generate it, and remove zoning requirements for off-street parking.

This text analyses how the current generation of young adults enters the labour market and tries to create their own autonomous household, with or without children, exploring questions such as what does it mean to be a young adult in Europe today and what social policies help them to combine work and family life?