Greater Manchester and Liverpool were among the first areas of England to undergo urban devolution. Under the leadership of metro-mayors Andy Burnham and Steve Rotheram, they were in the forefront of attempts to 'level up' the north and to address the problem of regional inequalities. This book looks at how the metro-mayors evolved their office, examining the fields of economic development, transport, skills, health, housing and spatial reform and the environment. In the case of Greater Manchester, it also explores health and the reform of public services. Addressing the crucial issues of power, resources, partnerships, central-local relations and local democracy, the book concludes with an assessment of the future prospects for a deeper and more fundamental change in the character of the English state. -- .

Karl Marx's classic definitions of class and society under capitalism are still widely used today. Ideas such as class, revolution, production and oppression are employed across a broad range of academic subjects, reaching beyond politics, economics and sociology. Yet these concepts, within a specifically Marxist framework, are not always easy to understand. This book is an ideal student introduction that explains, in clear and concise chapters, the precise meaning and implications of each of Marx's key concepts. Furthermore, the contributors show how these ideas continue to be relevant, and how they relate to modern society. The contributors include leading academics in the field of politicial science. Outlining clearly what each concept means, they move on to situate it within cutting-edge contemporary political theory. Concepts include historical materialism, capitalism, class, the state, imperialism, the division of labour, oppression, production and reproduction, revolution, working class internationalism, equality and democracy.

Many feminists have engaged with the man-made concepts and approaches of traditional political analysis to produce an increasingly sophisticated and wide-ranging body of thought. The starting point of this book is the belief that such work is not simply 'something for the girls'; rather, it has profound and complex implications without which our understanding of political processes and ideas would be impoverished. This book provides an accessible overview and assessment of the impact of recent feminism by bringing together leading feminist and pro-feminist political theorists and analysts, to focus on key concepts, such as rationality, citizenship, democracy and democratisation, development and empowerment. Each chapter takes a 'malestream' concept and examines both the critical debates around it and feminist reactions/critiques. It then analyses the significance and implications of feminism for the concept, considers whether it can simply be extended to include women, or whether it should be radically transformed or even abandoned, and assesses whether feminist input has become part of the mainstream debate or remains marginalised. -- .