Showing papers on "Coalition government published in 2013"
Book•
01 Jan 2013
TL;DR: In this paper, distinguished political scientists Anthony King and Ivor Crewe open our eyes to the worst government horror stories and explain why the British political system is quite so prone to appalling mistakes.
Abstract: blunder/'blvnde(r)/, n., A gross mistake; an error due to stupidity or carelessness. There are a handful of cock-ups that we remember all too well, from the poll tax to the Millennium Dome. However, the list is longer than most of us realize - and it's growing. With unrivalled political savvy and a keen sense of irony, distinguished political scientists Anthony King and Ivor Crewe open our eyes to the worst government horror stories and explain why the British political system is quite so prone to appalling mistakes. You will discover why: * The government wasted up to GBP20 billion pounds in a failed scheme to update London's Underground system. * Tens of thousands of single mothers were left in poverty without financial support from absent fathers. * Tony Blair committed the NHS to the biggest civilian IT project the world has ever seen, despite knowing next to nothing about computing. * The Assets Recovery Agency cost far more to run than it ever clawed back from the proceeds of organised crime. * The Coalition government is at least as blunder-prone as any of its predecessors. Groupthink, constantly rotating ministers and a weak parliament all contribute to wasted billions and illogical policy. But, it doesn't have to be this way. Informed by years of research and interviews with senior cabinet ministers and civil servants, this razor-sharp diagnosis of flawed government is required reading for every UK citizen. With its spirited prescriptions for more fool-proof policymaking, it will prove to be one of the most important political books of the decade.
184 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors identify various uses and meanings of localism, maps their geographical assumptions and effects, and critiques their politics, and argue that localism may be conceptualised as spatial liberalism, is never straightforwardly local, and can be anti-political.
176 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors take the case of England, focusing in particular on ways in which neoliberal teacher education policies changed and developed during the new Labour administration (from 1997-2010) and are changing again under the present Coalition government.
Abstract: Over the last 30 years, teacher education has become a major area of government policy in many countries around the world. One of the key factors driving this change has been the growing significance of globalisation, “imagined” by most countries as necessitating the pursuit of neoliberal policies. But neoliberalism itself is not static; interpretations vary between different countries and change over time as a result of political processes. This article takes the case of England, focusing in particular on ways in which neoliberal teacher education policies changed and developed during the new Labour administration (from 1997–2010) and are changing again under the present Coalition government. Both administrations have been fundamentally committed to the pursuit of neoliberal policies, but their interpretations of neoliberalism have varied significantly; as a result, their policies on teacher education are also very different. Despite the very real material changes brought about by globalisation,...
164 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors chart the rise of one of the UK's most high profile forms of food banks: the Trussell Trust Foodbank franchise, and explore the nature of Foodbanks as emergency initiatives, providing relief and alleviation for the'symptoms' of food insecurity and poverty.
Abstract: This article charts the rise of one of the UK's most high profile forms of food banks: the Trussell Trust Foodbank franchise. Employing empirical data it seeks to embed the phenomenon of the growth of Foodbanks within a social policy research context. In the first instance, the role of recent and on-going shifts in the social policy context are examined, notably the importance of welfare diversification under previous Labour governments (1997–2010) and the current public spending cuts, welfare restructuring and Big Society rhetoric of the Conservative−Liberal Democrat Coalition government. The paper goes on to explore the nature of Foodbanks as emergency initiatives, providing relief and alleviation for the ‘symptoms’ of food insecurity and poverty. Data are presented which demonstrate some of the ways in which the Foodbank model and those who run the projects navigate the tension between addressing symptoms rather than ‘root causes’ of poverty and food insecurity. In the face of the simultaneous growth in emergency food initiatives and significant upheavals in social policy and welfare provision, the article culminates with an argument for social policy research and practice to harness and prioritise the human rights-based approach to food experiences.
143 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a low carbon economic future for the UK has been declared a key priority by both the previous Labour government and also the current coalition government, yet there is a large gap between th...
Abstract: Making a low carbon economic future for the UK has been declared a key priority by both the previous Labour government and also the current coalition government. Yet there is a large gap between th...
134 citations
31 Oct 2013
TL;DR: This article studied the role of policy networks in Japanese finance, showing with nuance and detail how Japan's Finance Ministry was embedded within the political and financial worlds, how that structure was similar to and different from that of its counterparts in other countries, and how the distinctive nature of Japan's institutional arrangements affected the capacity of the government to manage change.
Abstract: At the beginning of the 1990s, a massive speculative asset bubble burst in Japan, leaving the nation's banks with an enormous burden of nonperforming loans. Banking crises have become increasingly common across the globe, but what was distinctive about the Japanese case was the unusually long delay before the government intervened to aggressively address the bad debt problem. The postponed response by Japanese authorities to the nation's banking crisis has had enormous political and economic consequences for Japan as well as for the rest of the world. This book helps us understand the nature of the Japanese government's response while also providing important insights into why Japan seems unable to get its financial system back on track 13 years later. The book focuses on the role of policy networks in Japanese finance, showing with nuance and detail how Japan's Finance Ministry was embedded within the political and financial worlds, how that structure was similar to and different from that of its counterparts in other countries, and how the distinctive nature of Japan's institutional arrangements affected the capacity of the government to manage change. The book focuses in particular on two intervening variables that bring about a functional shift in the Finance Ministry's policy networks: domestic political change under coalition government and a dramatic rise in information requirements for effective regulation. As a result of change in these variables, networks that once enhanced policymaking capacity in Japanese finance became "paralyzing networks"--with disastrous results.
95 citations
TL;DR: This article examined the role of resentment in the construction of a particular form of "anti-welfare populism" advanced by the Coalition Government in the UK after 2010 and argued that UK political parties have appropriated the discourse of fairness to promote fundamentally divisive policies which have been popular with large sections of the electorate including, paradoxically, many poorer voters.
Abstract: The role of the emotions in the framing of welfare policies is still relatively underexplored. This article examines the role of resentment in the construction of a particular form of ‘anti-welfare populism’ advanced by the Coalition Government in the UK after 2010. We argue that UK political parties have appropriated the discourse of fairness to promote fundamentally divisive policies which have been popular with large sections of the electorate including, paradoxically, many poorer voters. In focus group research in white working class communities in the UK undertaken just before the 2010 General Election, resentments related to perceived unfairness and loss emerged as very strong themes among our respondents. We examine such resentments in terms of an underlying ‘structure of feeling’ which fuels the reactionary populism seen in ‘anti-welfare’ discourses. These promote increasingly conditional and punitive forms of welfare in countries experiencing austerity, such as the UK, creating rivalries rather than building solidarities amongst those who ‘have little’ and drawing attention away from greater inequalities.
89 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the main ideological contours and materialist drivers of Thatcherism as a hegemonic strategy are revisited, and the central role played by housing privatization in the neoliberal project that was continued, but not completed, by New Labour.
Abstract: The May 2010 election of a Conservative-dominated UK coalition government unleashed an unprecedented austerity drive under the auspices of ‘deficit reduction’ in the wake of the global financial crisis. This article focuses on housing policy to show how the ‘cuts’ are being used as an ideological cover for a far-reaching, market-driven restructuring of social welfare policy that amounts to a return of what Ralph Miliband called ‘class war conservatism’. We revisit the main ideological contours and materialist drivers of Thatcherism as a hegemonic strategy, discussing the central role played by housing privatization in the neoliberal project that was continued, but not completed, by New Labour. We then discuss the Coalition’s assault on the housing welfare safety net it inherited, arguing this has rapidly shut down alternative directions for housing and represents a strategic intervention designed to unblock and expand the market, complete the residualization of social housing and draw people into an ever ...
84 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a case study of the Conservative Party and the UK Independence Party (UKIP) is used to examine the strategies adopted by a soft Eurosceptic mainstream party and hard Eurosceptical niche party as they compete on the issue of European integration.
Abstract: Multi-party politics alters the dynamics of party competition in Westminster elections. In a case study of the Conservative Party and the UK Independence Party (UKIP), theories of niche versus mainstream party competition are used to examine the strategies adopted by a soft Eurosceptic mainstream party and hard Eurosceptic niche party as they compete on the issue of European integration. These theories are also extended to look at how niche parties react to their mainstream competitors’ strategies. In competition with UKIP, the Conservatives have both developed a distinctive soft Eurosceptic position and defused the EU issue. With Conservative policies diluted in coalition government, UKIP has targeted disillusioned Conservative voters. It has sought to raise the salience of the EU issue and highlight its radical position while also developing a broader narrative. The findings suggest that mainstream parties may adopt more than one strategy simultaneously and that niche parties may react to mainstream parties’ adversarial strategies by emphasising differences and attempting to widen their appeal.
78 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors explore the economic thinking behind the UK Coalition government's new framework for achieving local growth and the creation of Local Enterprise Partnerships in England and highlight six key disconnects and limitations of the economics behind the move in England to local growth.
Abstract: This paper explores the economic thinking behind the UK Coalition government’s new framework for achieving local growth and the creation of Local Enterprise Partnerships in England. It does so in the light of recent debates about ‘space-neutral’ and ‘place-based’ policymaking. While the British government states its ambition to achieve greater spatial and industrial balance across England (and by implication the UK), we argue that so far at least there is a mismatch between the ‘rhetoric’ and ‘policies’ of local growth and its limitations. These relate to inconsistencies in the way that the different competing economic ideas in circulation within government have been adopted in practice. As a result, the paper highlights six key disconnects and limitations of the economics behind the move in England to local growth.
73 citations
TL;DR: The role of the police has been distilled down to criminal catching and accountability has become accountancy as mentioned in this paper, under the auspices of New Public Management, under the British Coalition government's tendentious ‘austerity’ measures.
Abstract: This article critically analyses two key debates about police and policing: the problematic definition of their role, and how they can be rendered democratically accountable. Both issues have been radically altered through the profound transformation of policing produced by the last three decades of neo-liberal hegemony. The article focuses on how this has developed in England and Wales, although there are parallels with other jurisdictions. The complex role of the police has been distilled down to criminal catching. Accountability has become accountancy, under the auspices of New Public Management. The current British Coalition government’s tendentious ‘austerity’ measures make these perennial problems especially acute. The Coalition purports to be democratizing police accountability through elected Police and Crime Commissioners. These claims are critically analysed in principle, but how they work out in practice is hard to prophesy. It is suggested they may play out in ways that frustrate their architects’ hopes, due to the continuing baleful consequences of neoliberalism.
TL;DR: The idea of big society is the UK Coalition government's big idea and the personal mission of the Prime Minister David Cameron as discussed by the authors, with particular reference to Red Toryism and libertarian paternalism, and a comparison is made between the present big society idea and Margaret Thatcher's denial of the existence of society.
Abstract: This paper subjects to critical scrutiny the idea of the ‘big society’ which, at present, is the UK Coalition government’s big idea and the personal mission of the Prime Minister David Cameron. First of all the concept is explained, with reference to some of the rhetoric surrounding it. Then the philosophical foundations of the ‘big society’ are unpacked, with particular reference to Red Toryism and libertarian paternalism. This is followed by an assessment of the big society and reference to the other major plank in the government’s social policy agenda, large cuts in public expenditure, that reflects the neo-liberal engine driving the strategy – the hollowing-out of the state – which has implications for the community initiatives and NGOs favoured by the big society’s promoters but which are entirely unacknowledged by them. Then a comparison is made between the present big society idea and Margaret Thatcher’s denial of the existence of society, which reveals many similarities in substance despite the rh...
TL;DR: This article explored the nature and meaning of these changes from a child-centred perspective, to understand how and in what ways policy change and welfare retrenchment may uniquely impinge on low-income children's lives.
Abstract: In 2010, in the UK a new Coalition government inherited an ailing economy at a time of economic uncertainty and recession. Their response was to institute a fundamental revision and retrenchment of government spending accompanied by unprecedented cuts in welfare services and social security provision. This article explores the nature and meaning of these changes from a child-centred perspective, to understand how and in what ways policy change and welfare retrenchment may uniquely impinge on low-income children's lives. It reveals that recent cuts and welfare changes have threatened to overlook their needs and exacerbate their deepest concerns.
TL;DR: The authors assesses the prospect for the survival of strategic spatial thinking under the Coalition government's ethos of localism, identifying three key conundrums around flexibility of scaling, institutional structures and capacity, and core values and forms of knowledge.
Abstract: In the UK, the Labour government (1997–2010) introduced various experiments to uplift English regional and sub-regional spatial strategy to a more prominent position in sub-national governance but much of this has been subsequently guillotined by the incoming Coalition government in May 2010. This paper assesses the prospect for the survival of strategic spatial thinking under the Coalition government's ethos of ‘localism’. It first considers some of the broad conceptual issues relating to strategic spatial planning, identifying three key conundrums around flexibility of scaling, institutional structures and capacity, and core values and forms of knowledge. It then provides one of the first comprehensive accounts of what was achieved during the outgoing Labour administration, and what ultimately went wrong with the English regional planning project. Finally, an initial assessment is made of the future prospects for strategic planning in England to survive in new spatial contexts, despite the host...
TL;DR: The literature on power sharing can reach such divergent conclusions because there is no consensus on what power sharing is, what the aim of it is and how to study it as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: Power sharing, mostly understood as including political opponents in a joint executive coalition government, is today a dominant approach to solving conflict. Almost as a panacea it has been introduced in numerous war-affected countries and is often recommended as a political solution to overcome deep divisions between groups. Researchers, mediators and policy-makers applaud such solutions as forward-looking, peace-strengthening and democratic. However, many have criticized power sharing and its failed ability to create peace and development in divided and conflict-ridden countries. The literature on power sharing can reach such divergent conclusions because there is no consensus on what power sharing is, what the aim of it is and how to study it. Apart from broad inclusion in joint government, the understanding of power sharing varies and recommendations to ‘share power’ give little guidance to policy-makers aiming to mitigate conflict. Therefore, this article reviews 40 years of research on power sharin...
TL;DR: This fascinating book should be mandatory reading for politicians and policymakers alike, as well as everyone involved in health service management.
Abstract: A STUDY IN COALITION GOVERNMENT AND POLICY MAKING NICHOLAS TIMMINS The King’s Fund and the Institute for Government, 2012 PB, 150pp, £15.00
Bristling with incidents and opinion, this controversial paperback introduces a history of the Health and Social Care Act 2012, a bill which became law in March 2012 and involves a huge restructuring within the NHS. The richness of the text derives from the author’s background knowledge, access to numerous publications, and 30 interviews conducted for the sake of a wide assessment on the legislation’s evolution.
Early chapters reveal clashes between politicians (like Clarke and Thatcher), PCTs and clinicians well before health secretary Andrew Lansley’s proposal Liberating the NHS put into print what Professor Timmins ranks as the ‘ biggest ever shift in accountability ’.
Readers are left in no doubt that these plans are radical, introduced during a problematic economic period which forecasts cutting £20 billion from the …
TL;DR: The Coalition Government's employment law policy is facing in two directions, reflecting tensions between social liberalism and market fundamentalism but wrapped in the language of "fairness" as mentioned in this paper, and the arguments for deregulation are not based on hard evidence but are mainly ideological supported by the subjective perceptions of some employers.
Abstract: The Coalition Government’s employment law policy is facing in two directions, reflecting tensions between social liberalism and market fundamentalism but wrapped in the language of ‘fairness’. In one direction there is continuity with New Labour’s ‘Third Way’ of ‘regulating for competitiveness’ and social inclusion. In the other direction the Red Tape Challenge is leading to the abolition or scaling down of employment and equality rights. The arguments for deregulation are not based on hard evidence but are mainly ideological supported by the subjective perceptions of some employers. The Government is locked into a model where there is a presumption that regulation interferes with the efficient working of labour markets, and the supporters of regulation have tended to over-emphasise the ‘business case’ for regulation at the expense of the moral and political case for providing ‘decent work’. There are alternatives to the market values of Thatcherism which take account of the fundamental changes in employment relations over the past 30 years. These include the development of workplace structures for industrial democracy, and effective enforcement of employment and equality rights by greater involvement of workplace representatives. There is a need for an alliance between the forces of social liberalism and social democracy to restore what the founders of labour law regarded as its ‘special function’ to be ‘the guardian of human beings in an age of unrestrained materialism.’
TL;DR: In this paper, the effect of coalition governments and cabinet size on public expenditures with panel data covering all 16 German states over the period 1975-2010 was explored, and it was shown that government fragmentation increases public expenditures.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors consider what the Big Society might mean for the "third sector" of voluntary organisations, community groups and social enterprises, and in particular how the changing relationship with the state might be understood.
Abstract: Despite a largely indifferent and otherwise sceptical public reception, the ‘Big Society’ has remained a central feature of the Conservative-led coalition’s project, with David Cameron referring to it as his passion. However, the Big Society has been a rather elusive concept. Academics and commentators seek to understand what it means, what it signals, and what it might imply. It is viewed by critics as providing political cover for the coalition’s deficit reduction programme and as a Trojan horse for privatisation. Others argue that it represents a significant recasting of the relationship between citizens and the state, as well as providing new opportunities and spaces for voluntary and community activity, recast as social action in civil society. This paper asks what the Big Society might mean for the ‘third sector’ of voluntary organisations, community groups and social enterprises, and in particular how the changing relationship with the state might be understood. The previous Labour government’s approach has been characterised as the development of a closer ‘partnership’ between state and the third sector. Whilst there are important continuities from this time, a partial decoupling may now be underway in the new political and economic context. Theoretically, this might signal a shift away from the idea of interdependence between the state and the third sector, and towards a model involving separate spheres: from partnership to an emergent ‘trial separation’. To explore this dynamic the paper draws on Friedrich Hayek’s theory of ‘spontaneous order’, suggesting that the Big Society involves some implicit Hayekian assumptions. It concludes by considering the implications of regarding the third sector in such terms.
TL;DR: Waterhout, Othengrafen and Sykes as discussed by the authors look at spatial planning and the new localism, focusing on the recent changes to policy in England following the May 2010 elections when the Coalition government came to power.
Abstract: This special issue looks at spatial planning and the new localism, focusing on the recent changes to policy in England following the May 2010 elections when the Coalition government came to power. As Bas Waterhout, Frank Othengrafen and Olivier Sykes note in their contribution, changes in English planning seem to be more frequent and more dramatic than in many other European countries. Partly in consequence of this, planners and critics in other countries watch carefully the English experience for what they can learn about reforming planning systems.
TL;DR: The Olympic Charter asserts that the practice of sport is a human right and outlines role 12 of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) as being to encourage and support the development of sport for all.
Abstract: The Olympic Charter asserts that ‘the practice of sport is a human right’ and outlines role 12 of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) as being ‘to encourage and support the development of sport for all’. This signals an aspiration to the right to sport …for all. Notwithstanding this, the UK Conservative/Liberal Democrat coalition government has consolidated and extended a shift in UK sport policy from ‘sport for social good’ to ‘competitive sport for sports sake.’ In December 2010 the government published ‘Plans for the Legacy from the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games’. The first of four areas of focus is to harness ‘the United Kingdom’s passion for sport to increase grass roots participation, particularly by young people’ and encourage ‘the whole population to be more physically active’. This appears to relate to sport for some, and physical activity for others. Nevertheless, the coalition has signalled a belief in ‘big society’ and democratic not bureaucratic accountability.
This paper proposes a theoretical framework of a ‘big sporting society’ comprising three generations of sporting rights. This enables an evaluation of emergent sport policy in relation to the London 2012 Olympic Games legacy and the Olympic Charter. It is argued that the realisation of the 2012 legacy relating to the IOC’s aspiration to sport as a human right…for all, and consequent democratic sporting accountability, necessitates a ‘sport for all’ rather than ‘competitive sport for sports sake’ policy direction, and the development of all three generations of sporting rights, resulting in a ‘big sporting society’.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examine the policymaking process for physical education and school sport through an examination of the creation and recent demise of the school sport partnerships (SSPs) initiative using Sabatier's advocacy coalition framework (ACF) model.
Abstract: This article examines the policymaking process for physical education (PE) and school sport (PESS) through an examination of the creation and recent demise of the groundbreaking ‘school sport partnerships’ (SSPs) initiative using Sabatier's advocacy coalition framework (ACF) model (1988, An advocacy coalition framework of policy change and the role of policy oriented learning therein. Policy Sciences, 21, 129–168). The central premise of this socio-economic model of policy analysis is that policymaking occurs through the dynamic interplay of policy brokers and interest groups who compete to influence the course of policy selection. The controversial and widely criticized decision in October 2010 by the new coalition government to abandon its funding of SSPs in favour of a new School Games framework for competitive school sport highlights the highly politicized nature of policymaking for PESS. It is argued that the successful bid for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games provided an ideal opportunit...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors focus on case studies of five different petitions systems, but also drawing on the Coalition government's new e-petitions system, and identify a number of characteristics of petitions systems.
Abstract: Focusing on case studies of five different petitions systems, but also drawing on the Coalition government’s new e-petitions system, this article identifies a number of characteristics of petitions systems. It argues that as a tool for participation they have the potential to act as a significant input to representative forms of democracy by providing a mechanism to enable the public to express their
views to those in elected representative institutions. While there may be challenges associated with this, petitions systems may help underpin the legitimacy
and functioning of representative institutions.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors raise a number of questions about the role of localism in the UK's Big Society and strengthening local democracy, which is advocated by the UK Coalition Government as laying the foundation for the Big Society.
Abstract: Localism is advocated by the UK Coalition Government as laying the foundation for the Big Society and strengthening local democracy (DCLG, 2010). In this commentary we raise a number of questions a...
TL;DR: This commentary takes issue with the argument that the Act represented a radical break with the past and suggests that it was an extension of the previous Labour government’s neo-liberal reforms of the public sector.
Abstract: The 2012 Health and Social Care Act, introduced by the coalition government, has been seen as fundamentally changing the form and content of publicly funded health care provision in England. The legislation was hugely controversial and widely criticized. Much of this criticism pointed to the ways in which the reforms undermined the funding of the National Health Service, and challenged the founding principle of free universal provision. In this commentary we take issue with the argument that the Act represented a radical break with the past and instead suggest that it was an extension of the previous Labour government’s neo-liberal reforms of the public sector. In particular, the Act invoked the principles of ‘new professionalism’ to undermine professional dominance, and attract private providers into statutory health care at the expense of public providers. In turn, this extension of new professionalism may encourage public distrust in the medical profession and absolve the state of much of its statutory...
08 Oct 2013
TL;DR: In the context of the global financial crisis and after inheriting a record budget deficit, the British Coalition Government decided in 2010 that the best way forward was a programme of austerity.
Abstract: In the context of the global financial crisis and after inheriting a record budget deficit, the British Coalition Government decided in 2010 that the best way forward was a programme of austerity. What followed were major cuts to public expenditure, including a substantial reduction in police budgets. Whether this was the right decision is beyond the remit of this chapter. However, the effect on the police has been substantial. The police in Britain had enjoyed a sustained period of growth – both in terms of police numbers and increased responsibilities undertaken by police personnel – despite increases in competition and falls in recorded crime (Millie and Bullock, 2012; Millie, 2013). This was to change. In Scotland cuts came through the merging of all eight forces into a single Police Service of Scotland (Police and Fire Reform (Scotland) Act 2012). With the 2010 Comprehensive spending Review (HM Treasury, 2010) government funding of the police in England and Wales was reduced by 20 per cent through to 2015. The scale of these cuts was unprecedented and has required police services to reconsider their priorities. At the same time the police have had to deal with major change in governance structures with the introduction of elected Police and Crime Commissioners in November 2012 – albeit following an election where only 15 per cent of the electorate turned up to vote (Rogers and Burn-Murdoch, 2012). The new policing landscape of fewer resources and (assumed) greater democratic accountability has generated a lot of uncertainty among serving police officers and questions over what form policing will take post-austerity. In this context the question of what the police are for becomes pertinent and is the focus for this chapter.
TL;DR: Although New Labour distanced itself from the neo-liberal ‘underclass’ discourses of its predecessors, its approach to disabled young people maintained key aspects of Neo-liberalism, particularly an emphasis on individuals' human capital, aspirations and self-investments as causes of and solutions to disabled people's unemployment as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: Although New Labour distanced itself from the neo-liberal ‘underclass’ discourses of its predecessors, its approach to disabled young people maintained key aspects of neo-liberalism, particularly an emphasis on individuals’ human capital, aspirations and self-investments as causes of and solutions to disabled young people’s unemployment. This is also apparent in early Coalition government statements. Since the 1990s, policies have focused on providing individually-tailored advice, developing individuals’ skills, and motivating appropriate self-investment. We examine recent evidence that highlights a number of problems with this focus. Notably, it entails a simplistic and individualised notion of ‘barriers’ to employment that cannot account for the complex impacts of disablement and inequality; moves towards open-market models of training and work support create perverse incentives that divert support away from those most in need; employment success is dependent on unpredictable local opportunity structure...
TL;DR: This article studied the nature of what they describe as the "bounded liberal" tradition that has informed British foreign policy thinking since 1945, suggesting that it puts a distinctly UK national twist on conventional conservative thought about international affairs.
Abstract: David Cameron was a critic of Tony Blair's doctrine of the ‘international community’, which was used to justify war in Kosovo and more controversially in Iraq, suggesting caution in projecting military force abroad while in opposition. However, and in spite of making severe cuts to the defence budget, the Cameron-led Coalition government signed Britain up to a military intervention in Libya within a year of coming into office. What does this say about the place liberal interventionism occupies in contemporary British foreign policy? To answer this question, this article studies the nature of what we describe as the ‘bounded liberal’ tradition that has informed British foreign policy thinking since 1945, suggesting that it puts a distinctly UK national twist on conventional conservative thought about international affairs. Its components are: scepticism of grand schemes to remake the world; instinctive Atlanticism; security through collective endeavour; and anti-appeasement. We then compare and contrast th...
TL;DR: The Coalition Government's policies on career guidance are analysed in this article, and it is shown that these policies have been undermined by its commitment to school autonomy and to public expenditure cuts, exacerbated by indecision and delays due to difficulties in resolving the tensions within its policies.
Abstract: The Coalition Government's policies on career guidance are analysed. Its rhetorical concern for career guidance provision is based largely on its support for social mobility, and its recognition of the role of career guidance in moving towards a demand-led skills system. Initial policy statements affirmed its intention to establish an all-age careers service, to revitalise the professional status of career guidance and to safeguard the partnership between schools and external provision. But these policies have been undermined by its commitment to school autonomy and to public expenditure cuts, exacerbated by indecision and delays due to difficulties in resolving the tensions within its policies. The result is a significant erosion of the all-age vision, and a likely major reduction in the extent and quality of careers help for young people.
TL;DR: The UK Cameron-Clegg Coalition government's public service reform narrative juxtaposed its open, transparent and decentralized approach with the top-down configuration of institutional power attributed to New Labour.
Abstract: Narrative stories offer insight into political agency and constructed reality. They are also part of the armoury for maintaining political ascendancy. The UK Cameron–Clegg Coalition government’s public service reform narrative juxtaposed its open, transparent and decentralized approach with the top-down configuration of institutional power attributed to New Labour. The more complex reality of public service reform is exemplified particularly from the criminal justice arena. From a structuralist perspective, the Coalition’s reform trajectory has been related to emergent realities of networked governance. But here too more ambiguous influences were at work with reform again proving more problematic than anticipated.