Research
You will find a complete range of our monographs, muti-authored and edited works including peer-reviewed, original scholarly research across the social sciences and aligned disciplines. We publish long and short form research and you can browse the complete Bristol University Press and Policy Press archive.
Policy Press also publishes policy reviews and polemic work which aim to challenge policy and practice in certain fields. These books have a practitioner in mind and are practical, accessible in style, as well as being academically sound and referenced.
Books: Research
You are looking at 1 - 10 of 19 items for :
- Type: Book x
- Political Analysis and Methods x
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How do we conceive of policy and political studies? To what extent should our science be ‘normative’ or ‘objective’ or ‘positive’? Who are our audiences and how do we engage them? Whose knowledge matters and how does it accumulate? How should we advance the study of policy and politics?
First published as a special issue of Policy & Politics, this book makes a statement about the study of policy and politics: what it is, how it is done, where it has been and where it is going. It comprises scholarship that has rarely been combined to explore several fundamental challenges about research in policy and politics. It concludes by challenging the field to consider different ways of thinking about what we can discover and construct in the world and how we can conduct our science.
Why do top-down reforms to public services so often over-promise and under-deliver?
Using five concepts from psychology, economics and organisational sociology, Thomas Elston addresses this pressing question of good governance.
Focusing on the practical challenge of how to undertake better public management reforms, he questions the assumption that failure typically occurs because of poor reform implementation. Instead, he shows how reforms are often badly designed from the outset, being fashion-led, more focused more on fixing errors than exploiting opportunities and ignoring implicit costs of change.
This concise, practically-orientated work employs diverse examples to propose ways to improve the design of public sector reform programmes – and the services that citizens receive.
As the practices of public governance are rapidly changing, so must the theoretical frameworks for understanding the creation of efficient, effective and democratic governance solutions.
First published as a special issue of Policy & Politics journal, this book explores the role of strategic management, digitalisation and generative platforms in encouraging the co-creation of innovative public value outcomes. It considers why we must transform the public sector to drive co-creation and the importance of integrating different theoretical strands when studying processes, barriers and outcomes.
This book lays out important stepping-stones for the development of new research into the ongoing transition to co-creation as a mode of governance.
This book firmly positions lived experience-led expertise as a unique and compelling form of knowledge in decolonising and disrupting research, teaching and advocacy.
Based on the insights of people with first-hand experiences, each chapter presents unique accounts and reflections on a diverse range of social justice issues. Together, the authors’ perspectives centre lived experiences in the production of knowledge, challenge outsider-imposed views, and create new research and writing norms. They demonstrate that when lived experience experts lead the way, their knowledge of how to address social injustices can enrich, transform and decolonise research, teaching and advocacy.
This collection is an invaluable resource for academic and community-based researchers, practitioners, advocates, educators, policymakers, students and people whose lived experiences and views continue to be marginalised across diverse settings.
Bringing together a team of international scholars, this volume provides a foundational guide to queer methodologies in the study of political violence and conflict.
Contributors provide illuminating discussions on why queer approaches are important, what they entail and how to utilise a queer approach to political violence and conflict. The chapters explore a variety of methodological approaches, including fieldwork, interviews, cultural analysis and archival research. They also engage with broader academic debates, such as how to work with research partners in an ethical manner.
Including valuable case studies from around the world, the book demonstrates how these methods can be used in practice. It is the first critical, in-depth discussion on queer methods and methodologies for research on political violence and conflict.
In recent years, a wave of reforms known as ‘nudges’ or ‘behavioural interventions’ have emerged in public policy and administration. ‘Nudge’ policies are created to lightly influence groups in society to change their behaviour, using behavioural insights to solve complex policy problems. Generally, behavioural approaches focus on the psychology underlying the implementation and effects of policies in practice.
First published as a special issue of Policy & Politics journal, this book situates these reforms within a broader tradition of methodological individualism.
With contributions from international scholars, it demonstrates that when behavioural policies expand their focus beyond the individual, they have the potential to better understand, investigate and shape social outcomes.
The latest edition in the International Library of Policy Analysis series explores a comprehensive overview of policy analysis in Argentina. It explores theoretical frameworks, views of the State, the development of the field and current paradigms before examining knowledge produced at different levels (federal, provincial, and local); the application of the discipline by ‘Internal Policy Advisory Councils, Consultants, and Committees’; the role of think tanks, NGOs, and political parties; and the developments provided by university teaching and research.
Analysing the conceptual frameworks and methodologies used from a meta-theoretical perspective, it provides a panoramic picture of the perspectives and challenges of policy analysis in Argentina.
Design approaches to policymaking have gained increasing popularity among policymakers in recent years.
First published as a special issue of Policy & Politics, this book presents original critical reflections on the value of design approaches and how they relate to the classical idea of public administration as a design science. Contributors consider the potential, challenges and applications of design approaches and distinguish between three methods currently characterising the discipline: design as optimisation, design as exploration and design as co-creation.
Developing the dialogue around public administration as a design science, this collection explores how a more ‘designerly’ way of thinking can improve public administration and public policy.
The articles on which Chapters 4, 5 and 6 are based are available Open Access under CC-BY-NC licence.
The subject of policy analysis in Thailand is less examined than in Western societies. This is the first English language book to engage in a detailed, comprehensive and current study of policy analysis in Thailand.
Providing a broad view of the history, styles and methods of policy analysis in Thailand, it examines policy analysis both within and beyond executive government, revealing the role of parties, military, and interest groups.
It will be a valuable resource for policy analysis researchers and practitioners and as a comparison with other volumes in the International Library of Policy Analysis series.
The industrialisation and modernisation in South Korea that followed the Second World War resulted in rapid progress in economic development, public administration, social service provision and the establishment of modern public policy.
Bringing together outstanding researchers, this book is the first to examine the theory and practice of policy analysis in South Korea. The volume explores the historical development of policy analysis, and procedures for decision making at different levels of government. Drawing on case studies, contributors consider the issues and players that affect executive and legislative branch policy analysis, as well as policy design and analysis in the public arena and the shifting role of policy and research institutes, think tanks and post-secondary institutions.
