University of Chicago Press: New Titles in Political Science: Public Policy

Environmental Law and Policy in Wales

Patrick Bishop; Mark Stallworthy — Wed, 15 May 2013 05:00:00 GMT

Environmental Law and Policy in Wales addresses key law and policy issues that have arisen over the last several years in Wales in response to the changing climate. Editors Patrick Bishop and Mark Stallworthy bring together leading members of the Welsh environmental law academy to deliberate on the development of environmental protection legislation in Wales and its effect on sustainability in the near future and beyond.

Politics of Civil Society

Fred Powell — Wed, 15 May 2013 05:00:00 GMT

In this fully revised edition of his groundbreaking book, Fred Powell looks behind “the mirror of power” to discover the real civil society—or Big Society—that lies beneath it. Articulating three forms of civil society—radical, liberal, and conservative—he examines a complex interplay between state and community, arguing that citizens contend for power via civil society. This is both a historic pursuit dating to antiquity and a contemporary democratic struggle between competing visions of modernity, the stakes of which are no less than “real” politics themselves as experienced by everyday citizens. The second edition includes a new concluding chapter on practical and policy implications.

How Europe Shapes British Public Policy

Janice Morphet — Wed, 15 May 2013 05:00:00 GMT

How Europe Shapes British Public Policy examines how the European Union became a sectarian issue for citizens of the UK. It analyzes the effects of EU membership in the shaping of key areas, including trade and privatization, the single market, the environment, and the development and implementation of a devolved and decentralized governance. Discussing the ways UK citizens have grown politically disengaged as a result of EU political practices and policy making, it goes on to examine the implications this has had for the depoliticization of government and civil services.

Reclaiming Individualism

Paul Spicker — Wed, 15 May 2013 05:00:00 GMT

Reclaiming Individualism reviews the scope of individualist approaches to public policy, considering how they shape contemporary policy practices. It argues for a concept of individualism based on rights, human dignity, shared interests, and social protection, providing a thorough analysis and classification of individualism as applied to social and public policy. An important resource for those working or studying in these fields, it is a powerful restatement of some of the key values that led to the establishment of individualism as such a strong social force.

United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child in Wales

Jane Williams — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 05:00:00 GMT

This book explains the background and effects of the law adopted by the National Assembly of Wales as a result of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. It presents studies on several key policy areas where issues of children’s human rights are prominent, including child poverty, special educational needs and health provision, treatment of asylum seekers, and traveler communities. It also examines the key issues of accountability and civic participation, including the questions of involvement of children and young people.

Gender, Generations and the Family in International Migration

Albert Kraler; Eleonore Kofman; Martin Kohli; Camille Schmoll — Fri, 15 Mar 2013 05:00:00 GMT

Family-related migration is moving to the center of political debates on migration, integration, and multiculturalism in Europe. Still, strands of academic research on family migrations and migrant families remain separate from—and sometimes ignorant of—each other. This volume seeks to bridge the disciplinary divide. Collectively, the authors address the need to better understand the diversity of family-related migration and its resulting family forms and practices, to question simplistic assumptions about migrant families in public discourse, to study family migration from a mix of disciplinary perspectives, and to acknowledge the state’s role in shaping family-related migration, practices, and lives.

Trade-Offs

Harold Winter — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 06:00:00 GMT

When economists wrestle with issues such as unemployment, inflation, or budget deficits, they do so by incorporating an impersonal, detached mode of reasoning. But economists also analyze issues that, to others, typically do not fall within the realm of economic reasoning, such as organ transplants, cigarette addiction, overeating, and product safety. Trade-Offs is an introduction to the economic approach to analyzing these controversial public policy issues.

Harold Winter provides readers with the analytical tools needed to identify and understand the trade-offs associated with these topics. By considering both the costs and benefits of potential policy solutions, Winter stresses that real-world decision making is best served by an explicit recognition of as many trade-offs as possible. This new edition incorporates recent developments in policy debates, including the rise of “new paternalism,” or policies designed to protect people from themselves; alternative ways to increase the supply of organs available for transplant; and economic approaches to controlling infectious disease.

Intellectually stimulating yet accessible and entertaining, Trade-Offs will be appreciated by students of economics, public policy, health administration, political science, and law, as well as by anyone who follows current social policy debates.

Better Health in Harder Times

Jan Walmsley; Celia Davies; Mike Hales; Ray Flux — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 06:00:00 GMT

In the wake of current public services turmoil, this book reexamines the collective compact that created the UK’s public health services in the 1940s. Drawing on testimony from service users and service providers, the contributors explore topics such as new ways of living and working with long-term health conditions, meaningful and effective approaches to service redesign, use of information technology, leadership, coproduction, and quality of service. Better Health in Harder Times is a book composed of short, accessible contributions that will be of interest to a wide range of social-policy readers.

Mixed Communities

Gary Bridge; Tim Butler; Loretta Lees — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 06:00:00 GMT

Encouraging social and class diversity in neighborhoods has been a major goal of urban policy and planning in a number of different countries. Mixed Communities draws together case studies by a range of international experts to assess the impacts of social mix policies and the degree to which they might represent stealth gentrification, as well as their relationship to wider social, economic, and urban change. From the perspectives of researchers, policy makers and planners, and the residents of the communities themselves, this volume draws on lessons from international comparisons.

People-Centred Public Health

Jane South; Judy White; Mark Gamsu — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 06:00:00 GMT

People-Centred Public Health examines how members of the public can be involved in delivering health improvement through volunteering. Drawing on a study of lay engagement in public health and using case studies and real-life examples, this timely book provides a comprehensive and accessible overview of policy, practice, and research in this area. In an economic and political climate where there is renewed interest in the role of the citizen, the authors challenge old orthodoxies in public health and build a coherent argument for radical change in the way public agencies support lay action.