Rethinking Policy and Politics: Reflections on Contemporary Debates in Policy Studies (New Perspectives in Policy and Politics)

In recent years the nature of policy and politics has witnessed significant transformations. These have challenged perceptions about the ways in which policy is studied, designed, delivered and appraised. This book –the first in the New Perspectives in Policy and Politics series - brings together world-leading scholars to reflect on the implications of some of these developments for the field of policy studies and the world of practice. First published as a special issue of Policy & Politics, the book offers critical reflections on the recent history and future direction of policy studies. It advances the debate by rethinking the ways in which scholars and students of policy studies can (re)engage with pertinent issues in pursuit of both scholarly excellence and practical solutions to global policy problems. RETHINKING POLICY AND POLITICS Contents Notes on contributors Acknowledgements Introduction: Rethinking policy and politics 1. Forty years of public management reform in UK central government: promises, promises ... UK central government: a world leader in public management reform, 1970–2011 Methods The core reform documents: promises, promises... Why so little hard evidence? First reason: difficulties of designing and implementing monitoring and evaluation Why so little hard evidence? Second reason: lack of sustained interest in specific reforms Why so much reform? UK exceptionalism Reflections Conclusions 2. Political anthropology and civil service reform: prospects and limits Introduction The reforms Lessons Prospects Limits Conclusions 3. Just do it differently? Everyday making, Marxism and the struggle against neoliberalism Introduction Everyday making and the political economy of ‘doing’ Marxism, totality and universalism Marxism, everyday life and system transformation Conclusion 4. Performing new worlds? Policy, politics and creative labour in hard times Introduction Reframing the policy process Performing new worlds? Divest: the politics of ‘diversity’ Design: the politics of expertise Decentralise: the politics of locality Connect: the politics of public-making Creative labour: the politics of border work Political appropriations, political possibilities Conclusion 5. Weathering the perfect storm? Austerity and institutional resilience in local government Introduction The extent of the cuts Researching the cuts Responses to the cuts So what’s going on? Conclusion 6. Complex causality in improving underperforming schools: a complex adaptive systems approach Introduction Unintended and unanticipated consequences Causality in complex adaptive systems Explaining dissimilar results of policy for ‘very weak schools’ Conclusion and implications 7. Toward policy coordination: alternatives to hierarchy Introduction Collective action and coordination Options beyond hierarchy Collaboration and cooperation Conclusion: explaining coordination choices 8. Governing local partnerships: does external steering help local agencies address wicked problems? Introduction Local public service partnerships Local service boards Methods Findings Discussion 9. All tools are informational now: how information and persuasion define the tools of government Introduction Information as a tool of government Smart information provision: nudges The impact of the behavioural sciences on government Example 1: taxation Example 2: regulation and restorative justice Conclusion 10. The politics of engaged scholarship: impact, relevance and imagination The tragedy of political science Public sociology The political imagination 11. Reflections on contemporary debates in policy studies Introduction Key themes in policy studies Advancing the debates Conclusion Index In recent years the nature of policy and politics has witnessed significant transformations. These have challenged perceptions about the ways in which policy is studied, designed, delivered and appraised. This book  �the first in the New Perspectives in Policy and Politics series - brings together world-leading scholars to reflect on the implications of some of these developments for the field of policy studies and the world of practice. First published as a special issue of Policy & Politics, the book offers critical reflections on the recent history and future direction of policy studies. It advances the debate by rethinking the ways in which scholars and students of policy studies can (re)engage with pertinent issues in pursuit of both scholarly excellence and practical solutions to global policy problems.-- Provided by publisher The book offers critical reflections on the recent history and future direction of policy studies, advancing the debate by rethinking the ways in which scholars and students of policy studies can (re)engage with pertinent issues. First published as a special issue of Policy & Politics. First published as a Special Issue of Policy & Politics, the book offers critical reflections on the recent history and future direction of policy studies, advancing the debate by rethinking the ways in which scholars and students of policy studies can (re)engage with pertinent issues