This new edition of an acclaimed undergraduate text offers both a critical commentary on the core areas of social policy in Britain - particularly as they have developed under the auspices of the New Labour government - and an appraisal of the key ideas currently informing British welfare policy. It thus combines discussion of staple topics with original arguments about the new shape of social policy at the start of the twenty-first century.

Politics at the Edge was the theme of the 1999 PSA Annual Conference. This volume brings together nearly twenty of the liveliest, most thoughtful and original papers from some two hundred presented at the conference. The major traditional strengths of British political science are well represented - with papers on parties, political theory and the history of political thought - but so too are less familiar areas such as the politics of Latin America and the politics of poststructuralism. Distinguished contributors include Agnes Heller, David Held, Mahdi Elmandjra, Andrew Dobson, Andrew Vincent and Richard Sakwa.

Social Democracy is on the back-foot, and increasingly centre-left political parties are struggling to win office. Bringing together a range of leading academics and experts on social democratic politics and policy, Why the left loses offers an international, comparative view of the changing political landscape, examining the degree to which the centre-left project is exhausted and is able to renew its message in a neo-liberal age. Using case studies from the UK, Germany, Spain, France, Australia and New Zealand contributors argue that despite different local and specific contexts, the mainstream centre-left is beset by a range of common challenges. Analysis focuses on institutional and structural factors, the role of key individuals, especially party leaders, and the atrophy of progressive ideas in explaining why the centre-left is currently in retreat. Why the Left Loses is aimed at stimulating wider debate about the fortunes of the centre-left.

Politics at the Edge was the theme of the 1999 PSA Annual Conference. This volume brings together nearly twenty of the liveliest, most thoughtful and original papers from some two hundred presented at the conference. The major traditional strengths of British political science are well represented - with papers on parties, political theory and the history of political thought - but so too are less familiar areas such as the politics of Latin America and the politics of poststructuralism. Distinguished contributors include Agnes Heller, David Held, Mahdi Elmandjra, Andrew Dobson, Andrew Vincent and Richard Sakwa.

Social Democracy is on the back-foot, and increasingly centre-left political parties are struggling to win office. Bringing together a range of leading academics and experts on social democratic politics and policy, Why the left loses offers an international, comparative view of the changing political landscape, examining the degree to which the centre-left project is exhausted and is able to renew its message in a neo-liberal age. Using case studies from the UK, Germany, Spain, France, Australia and New Zealand contributors argue that despite different local and specific contexts, the mainstream centre-left is beset by a range of common challenges. Analysis focuses on institutional and structural factors, the role of key individuals, especially party leaders, and the atrophy of progressive ideas in explaining why the centre-left is currently in retreat. Why the Left Loses is aimed at stimulating wider debate about the fortunes of the centre-left.

This new edition of an acclaimed undergraduate text offers both a critical commentary on the core areas of social policy in Britain - particularly as they have developed under the auspices of the New Labour government - and an appraisal of the key ideas currently informing British welfare policy. It thus combines discussion of staple topics with original arguments about the new shape of social policy at the start of the twenty-first century.