The present period is one of economic turbulence but ideological stability. Despite the scale of the 2008 financial crash, there has not so far been much sign of the kind of shift in the ideas governing economic policy which followed the economic upheaval of the 1930s and the smaller upheaval of the 1970s. The 1930s gave birth to Keynesianism and social democracy while the 1970s gave birth to monetarism and neo-liberalism. But, although challenged by recent events, for the moment neo-liberalism appears to be retaining its ascendancy. How should we understand
introduction of the Growth, Employment and Redistribution (GEAR) policy in 1996 had signalled a shift of national government’s economic policy towards neo-liberalism. The new intellectual influences had a powerful effect on the thinking of key policy makers in the ANC. As Padaychee observed: “It was not unusual in the early 90s to hear senior ANC spokespersons arguing that the world had totally changed, and that those arguing for more radical or alternative economic solutions in this new globalised context were simply living in a bygone age” (Padaychee, 1997, cited in
13 2 Neo-liberalism as an ideology, an elite project and its impact on austerity The 2008 financial crisis and the introduction of austerity policies produced a sense that the prevailing economic and policy programme in the United Kingdom (UK), termed neo-liberalism, had suddenly gone off the rails and a new paradigm would have to be grasped. We should begin by defining neo-liberalism. The term gained popularity largely among left-leaning academics in the 1970s ‘to describe and decry a late twentieth century effort by policy-makers, think-tank experts
139 Voluntary Sector Review • vol 5 • no 1 • 139–44 • © Policy Press 2014 • #VSR Print ISSN 2040 8056 • Online ISSN 2040 8064 • http://dx.doi.org/10.1332/204080514X13921367481092 review article Mike Aiken The Open University, UK mike.aiken@open.ac.uk Colin Crouch (2011) The strange non-death of neo-liberalism Polity Press 224 pp Hardback: ISBN 9780745651200, £50.00 Paperback: ISBN 9780745652214, £15.99 e-Book: ISBN 9780745637594, £11.99 Frederick Powell (2013) The politics of civil society: Big Society and small government (2nd edition) Policy Press
This book offers a unique focus on the everyday ethics of community development practice in the context of local and global struggles for equity and social justice.
Contributors from around the world (from India to the Netherlands and USA) grapple with ethical dilemmas and tensions, including how to: respect and learn from Indigenous values and philosophies; challenge environmental destruction; gain consent in divided communities; maintain or breach professional boundaries; and develop new paradigms for transformative community organising, sustainable development and ethically-sensitive practice.
Offering theoretical frameworks, philosophical perspectives and practical case examples (from sex worker collectives to tree action groups and Australian Indigenous communities) this book is essential reading for community-based practitioners, students and academics.
This pioneering book demonstrates the disproportionate impact of state responses to COVID-19 on racially marginalized communities.
Written by women and queers of colour academics and activists, the book analyses pandemic lockdowns, border controls, vaccine trials, income support and access to healthcare across eight countries, in North America, Asia, Australasia and Europe, to reveal the inequities within, and between countries.
Putting intersectionality and economic justice at the heart of their frameworks, the authors call for collective action to end the pandemic and transform global inequities.
Contributing to debates around the effects of COVID-19, as well as racial capitalism and neoliberal globalization at large, this research is invaluable in informing future policy
In this collection, innovative and eminent social and policy analysts, including Colin Crouch, Anna Coote, Grahame Thompson and Ted Benton, challenge the failing but still dominant ideology and policies of neo-liberalism.
The editors synthesise contributors’ ideas into a revised framework for social democracy; rooted in feminism, environmentalism, democratic equality and market accountability to civil society.
This constructive and stimulating collection will be invaluable for those teaching, studying and campaigning for transformative political, economic and social policies.
There has already been much discussion and critique of the New Public Management, and the impact of auditing and inspection on professional work in schools, hospitals, local government and the police. This study, by a qualitative sociologist, uses interpretive methods to examine this new form of regulation from the inside.
Based on interviews with inspectors, quality assurance managers, and auditors, as well as with professionals struggling with red tape, it offers a critical and insightful account of organisational change. The author includes vivid accounts of how quality assurance procedures and systems work in practice, conveying a sense of what is practically involved in the work of counting, measuring and managing quality, and the everyday frustrations of professionals dealing with ever-increasing amounts of paper work and red tape.
This book should be essential reading for anyone concerned about the rise of this new bureaucracy and the contemporary state of the professions. It is intended to support courses on quality assurance and the New Public Management in public administration and management. It also provides an accessible introduction for students in socio-legal studies, sociology and social policy about the effects of neo-liberalism on public sector work.
In the field of ethnic relations the complex, often tortuous, interactions among academic researchers, research funders and those who use the research often result in social policy interventions that are poorly conceived and flawed in their implementation.
In this unique book, the contributors seek to develop a dialogue about the multiple constraints that skew research and its findings, and to kick-start a wider debate about the political context of current research and policy. In doing so, they aim to produce a renewed awareness of the current links between research and social policy in ethnic relations and to provide a critically reflexive basis for shaping interventions.
It will be of interest to academics working in higher and further education as well as to students at higher undergraduate and postgraduate level, and to a wide range of people working in ethnic relations policy fora.
At a time when neoliberal and conservative politics are again in the ascendency and social democracy is waning, Australian public policy re-engages with the values and goals of progressive public policy in Australia and the difficulties faced in re-affirming them. It brings together leading authors to explore economic, environmental, social, cultural, political and indigenous issues. It examines trends and current policy directions and outlines progressive alternatives that challenge and extend current thinking. While focused on Australia, the contributors offer valuable insights for people in other countries committed to social justice and those engaged in the ongoing contest between neo-liberalism and social democracy. This is essential reading for policy practitioners, researchers and students as well those with an interest in the future of public policy.
