Annual Policy & Politics prizewinners announced!

April 24, 2019News, Policy & Politics2019, Article prizes, austerity, Best article, Best early career article, Hybrid organisations, local governance, policy theoriespolicypressblog

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 Annual Policy & Politics prizewinners announced! →

Policy & Politics at the Political Studies Association conference 2019

April 9, 2019News, Policy & Politicsmeet the editors, Policy & Politics, PSA conferencepolicypressblog

FelicityProfile Felicity 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 Policy & Politics at the Political Studies Association conference 2019 →

Does privatisation reduce public deficits?

April 3, 2019Policy & Politics, Public Policyfiscal balance, political ideology, Privatisation, public deficitpolicypressblog

Beatriz and Noemi Beatriz 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 Does privatisation reduce public deficits? →

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

March 21, 2019News, Policy & Politics, PoliticsBaroness Sayeeda Warsi, Britain, islamophobia, Muslim, politicspolicypressblog

Oscar Oscar 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 7^th century that has suffered over the last couple of decades. She asks, ‘How do we reset this relationship?’ Continue reading 2019 P&P Annual Lecture with Baroness Sayeeda Warsi on Muslim Britain →

Winner of our 2019 BSc Social Policy essay prize on Understanding Public Policy

March 20, 2019Policy & Politics, Public Policy, Social PolicyBSc Social Policy prize, choice, democracy, e-democracy, participation, voicepolicypressblog

Oliver Loveday-Fuller

My name is Oli, I am currently studying for a BSc Social Policy (2nd year). I am passionate about issues surrounding inclusion and access in higher education, as well as contemporary challenges facing the welfare state.

I was delighted and surprised to receive the award for the ‘Best Undergraduate Public Policy student essay’. It has given me real confidence in my written voice and ability to comment on policy debates.

In brief, my essay reflects on the relative merits of choice and voice as mechanisms for improving policy outcomes and public service quality. My reading led me to be fairly critical of both mechanisms. Instead, I argue that more privileged social groups are better placed to exercise choice and to make their voice heard. Overall, I advocate voice mechanisms, drawing on the potential of participatory innovations to improve policy outcomes for the greatest number of people. Continue reading Winner of our 2019 BSc Social Policy essay prize on Understanding Public Policy →

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

March 7, 2019Policy & Politics, Public PolicyFoucault, heterotopia, hybrid space, public private partnerships, public sector reformpolicypressblog

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

Obituary for Professor Ken Young

March 5, 2019News, Policy & Politicspolicypressblog

kenyoung Professor 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 Obituary for Professor Ken Young →

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