Author: policypressblog

Why do some public agencies attract more media attention than others?

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Boon et alJan Boon, Heidi Houlberg Salamonsen and Koen Verhoest

The role of the media in relation to public agencies has only recently become the focus of scholarly attention within public management and administration. Many would agree that, at least in Western democracies, we live in what is referred to as “mediatised societies”. These are generally understood to be societies in which the media somehow penetrate and affect the way central institutions of our societies function (including the public agencies responsible for service delivery, regulation, etc). However, we have just begun to investigate the degree to which such media attention affects public agencies, how they are organized, and held accountable.   Continue reading →

Summer Highlights Collection from Policy & Politics

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BROWN_SarahSarah Brown,
Journal Manager of Policy & Politics

Policy & Politics Summer Highlights collection free to access from 1 May 2019 – 31 July 2019.

This quarter’s highlights collection from Policy & Politics showcases the best of the journal’s most topical research, retaining our hallmark focus on combining robust science coupled with a real-world relevance that resonates across our diverse readership.

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Annual Policy & Politics prizewinners announced!

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winners

Competition winners pictured: Madeleine Pill, Valeria Guarneros-Meza, Christopher M. Weible & Paul Cairney 

Written by Sarah Ayres, Steve Martin and Felicity Matthews, Co-Editors of Policy & Politics

The Bleddyn Davies Best Early Career prize has been awarded to: Madeleine Pill and Valeria Guarneros-Meza for their article on Local governance under austerity: hybrid organisations and hybrid officers  

In this excellent paper, Madeleine Pill & Valeria Guarneros-Meza explore what austerity means for participation in city governance.   Continue reading →

Policy & Politics at the Political Studies Association conference 2019

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FelicityProfileFelicity Matthews, Co-Editor of Policy & Politics

Policy & Politics will be at the 2019 PSA Conference!

Do your plans for the Easter vacations include a trip to Nottingham for the 2019 Annual International Conference of the Political Studies Association?  And are you interested in meeting the editorial team of Policy & Politics to discuss your work?  If so, read on as this blog post is for you! Continue reading →

Does privatisation reduce public deficits?

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Beatriz and NoemiBeatriz Cuadrado-Ballesteros and Noemí Peña-Miguel

Privatisation may be defined as the sale of shares of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) to private investors, resulting in the transference of the property and the decision-making capability from the public to the private sector. Privatisations have always been controversial reforms, from the first ones developed by the Thatcher government in 1979, until now, when the Troika has pushed through privatisation programmes in EU member states that suffered financial problems during the last crisis.   Continue reading →

2019 P&P Annual Lecture with Baroness Sayeeda Warsi on Muslim Britain

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OscarOscar Berglund
Digital Associate Editor for Policy & Politics

Policy & Politics was delighted to welcome the Rt Honourable Baroness Sayeeda Warsi to speak to audiences in Bristol last night on her topic of being Muslim in Britain.

Baroness Warsi was the UK’s first Muslim Cabinet minister and has become a leading voice in the British debate on Islamophobia, not least within the Conservative Party.

Baroness Warsi began her lecture by saying that the recent shocking Islamophobic terror attack in New Zealand highlighted the importance of ‘having an open conversation’ to dispel the myths about what it means to be Muslim. In the current environment, where Islamophobia has become acceptable in so many areas of society, the Christchurch terrorist attack, she says, neither shocked nor surprised her. This conversation about the relationship between Islam and Britain is what Sayeeda Warsi seeks to promote in her book The Enemy Within: A Tale of Muslim Britain. This is a relationship stretching back to the 7th century that has suffered over the last couple of decades. She asks, ‘How do we reset this relationship?’ Continue reading →

Looking into the hybrid spaces of public service reform – what are the implications for staff and users?

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Bishop & Waring Simon Bishop and Justin Waring

Cutting ribbons on gleaming new buildings, politicians have long sought to bolster their public image through association with new facilities developed as the flagships of public service reform. ‘Out with the old and in with the new’ is the clearly intended message. But beyond rhetoric of ‘cutting edge design’ and ‘state of the art working’, there is very rarely any deeper conversations of how new buildings affect the lives of the employees and members of the public who use them daily. Even within more detailed deliberations over new facilities by planners and service managers, the focus tends to be on how new spaces are going to work functionally – cost, technical and ergonomic features of building projects are the predominant concerns.  Continue reading →

Obituary for Professor Ken Young

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kenyoungProfessor Bleddyn Davies, co-founder with Ken Young of Policy & Politics, pays tribute to his former colleague and friend in celebration of his life and work.

Our idea of establishing a journal emerged when Ken and I were members of the Greater London Group.  By that time, the group’s focus was research for the Royal Commission on Local Government in England.  Ken, Andrew Barton and I collaborated in work published by the Commission in Local Government in South-East England, the first in its research studies series.  The contacts continued, Janet Lewis (in effect the third founder of Policy & Politics) becoming increasingly involved.  But what I associate the early history involving Ken and Policy & Politics were meals, networking, and Ken getting himself to the right place at the right time.  Continue reading →

One of Us? How Welfare States Help Shape Immigrant Integration

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KEvins & van kersbergen

Anthony Kevins and  Kees van Kersbergen

The generous, “universal” welfare states of Scandinavia offer a range of perks that foreigners often have a hard time even imagining. In exchange for paying higher taxes, citizens across the income spectrum gain access to a wide array of social programmes and transfers. There’s a lot to praise. But does the generosity and broad accessibility of these welfare states reinforce the dividing line between, for example, native Danes and newcomers to Denmark?

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