Can and should asset-based policies such as universal capital grants become a new pillar of the welfare state? Can they form the basis for a more egalitarian form of market economy? The citizen’s stake throws open the debate by bringing together the ideas of leading thinkers in academia and policy to explore the future scope of asset-based policies in Britain.
The book examines asset-based welfare in connection with a wide range of issues, from tax policy to childcare, and includes the results of two innovative studies of public opinion on capital grants and inheritance tax. It is the first time that public opinion work has been integrated with theory into a serious and cohesive consideration of practical options for the future of asset-based welfare.
The citizen’s stake is accessibly written and aimed at a broad audience of academics, students and policy-makers. Indeed, anyone interested in how this new policy field can and should develop will want to read this book. The discussions are relevant to academics, researchers and policy makers overseas, particularly in the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, Ireland and Sweden, where there is a high level of interest in this topic.
Introduction Over the past few decades, there has been increasing interest on the part of many policymakers around the world in measures to inculcate ‘citizen behaviours’ among school pupils and HE students. Such initiatives have often been developed in response to: the demise of the welfare state in many developed nations and an associated emphasis on the importance of citizens taking care of their own wellbeing; an increase in the diversity of many countries and an attendant perceived need to strengthen social cohesion; a concern about young people
Many of the recent reforms in public services in the UK have been driven by the image of the ‘responsible citizen’ - the service user who does not only have rights to receive services but also has responsibilities for the delivery of policy outcomes. In this way, citizens’ everyday conduct is shaped by governmental action, yet there is much evidence that both front-line staff in public services and the people who use them can sometimes act in ways that modify, disrupt or negate intended policy outcomes.
“Subversive citizens” presents a highly original examination of how official policy objectives can be ‘subverted’ through the actions of staff and users. It discusses the role of public policy in the creation of ‘good citizenship’, such as making appropriate choices about what to eat and how much to save, to being an active participant in the local community. It also examines how the roles of service delivery staff have changed substantially, and how theories of ‘power’ and ‘agency’ are useful in analysing the engagement between public policies (and those employed to deliver them) and the citizens at whom they are targeted.
The idea of subversive citizenship is explored through theoretical and empirical analyses by a range of prominent social researchers and will be of interest to students of social policy, sociology, criminology, politics and related disciplines, as well as policy makers involved in public services.
Involving citizens in policy decision-making processes - deliberative democracy - has been a central goal of the Labour government since it came to power in 1997. But what happens when members of the public are drawn into unfamiliar debate, with unfamiliar others, in the unfamiliar world of policy making at national level?
This book sets out to understand the contribution that citizens can realistically be expected to make. Drawing on the lessons from an ethnographic study of a public involvement initiative in the health service - the Citizens Council of NICE (National Institute for Clinical Excellence) - the book explores the practical realities behind the much-quoted faith in ‘deliberation’ that underpins so many models of public involvement and presents the analysis of sixty four hours of video and audiotape capturing a warts-and-all picture of deliberation in action. It sets deliberative participatory initiatives within a broad inter-disciplinary context and challenges politicians, policy-makers and academics to develop more realistic approaches to democratic innovation.
“Citizens at the centre” will be of interest to academics and students in social policy, sociology, politics, health, social care, economics, and public administration and management. It will also be valuable to anyone involved in the policy making process, not only in the UK, but also in Europe, the USA and other countries where deliberative democracy is being implemented or discussed.
The creative citizen unbound introduces the concept of ‘creative citizenship’ to explore the potential of civic-minded creative individuals in the era of social media and in the context of an expanding creative economy.
Drawing on the findings of a 30-month study of communities supported by the UK research funding councils, multidisciplinary contributors examine the value and nature of creative citizenship, not only in terms of its contribution to civic life and social capital but also to more contested notions of value, both economic and cultural.
This original book will be beneficial to researchers and students across a range of disciplines including media and communication, political science, economics, planning and economic geography, and the creative and performing arts.
This book examines a participatory approach in child protection practices in both Norway and the United States, despite key organizational differences.
Križ explores ways that children can be empowered to participate in child protection investigations and decisions after removal from home. The author shows how children can be encouraged to develop and express their own opinions and explores tools for child protection workers to negotiate complex boundaries around the inclusion of children in decision-making.
She presents valuable insights from front-line child protection professionals’ unique perspectives and experiences within two very different systems, and evaluates the impacts of different organizational practices in promoting children’s participation.
In the five years since Money for Everyone was published the idea of a Citizen’s Basic Income has rocketed in interest to an idea whose time has come.
In moving the debate on from the desirability of a basic income this fully updated and revised edition now includes comprehensive discussions on feasibility and implementation.
Using the consultation undertaken by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales as a basis, Torry examines a number of implementation methods for Citizen’s Basic Income and considers the cost implications.
Including real-life examples from the UK, and data from case studies and pilots in Alaska, Namibia, India, Iran and elsewhere, this is the essential research-based introduction to the Citizen’s Basic Income.
The relationship between citizens and local decision makers is a long standing policy pre-occupation and has often been the subject of debate by politicians across parties. Recent governments have sought to empower, activate and give responsibility to some citizens, while other groups have been abandoned or ignored.
Drawing on extensive up-to-date empirical work by leading researchers in the field, “Changing local governance, changing citizens” aims to explain what debates about local governance mean for local people. Questions addressed include: what new demands are being made on citizens and why? Which citizens are affected and how have they responded? What difference do changing forms of local governance make to people’s lives? The book explores governance and citizenship in relation to multiculturalism, economic migration, community cohesion, housing markets, neighbourhoods, faith organisations, behaviour change and e-democracy in order to establish a differentiated, contemporary view of the ways that citizens are constituted at the local level today.
“Changing local governance, changing citizens” provides a pertinent and robustly empirical contribution to current debates amongst policy makers, academics, practitioners and local communities about how to respond to this changing policy framework. It will be of interest to post-graduate students and academic researchers in politics, public and social policy, sociology, local government and urban studies, as well as policy makers and practitioners.
1 ONE Changing local governance, changing citizens: introduction Catherine Durose, Stephen Greasley and Liz Richardson introduction Renegotiating the roles of citizens and their relationships to public governance have been policy preoccupations of New Labour during its period in office. As Clarke (2005: 447) observes: ‘at different points, citizens have been activated, empowered, and made the subjects of responsibilities as well as rights’. This is not just a New Labour fixation; Cameron’s Conservatives have also been interested in the limits of state
Matt Ryan’s landmark comparative review of participatory budgeting, or collective decisions on how public money is spent, reveals the factors behind its success in achieving democratic engagement.
The culmination of ten years of research into participation, this is a systematic analysis of how, when and why citizens gain control over these important decisions. Comparing global examples of both positive change and notable failure, the book provides persuasive evidence and guidance for future public involvement in taxation and spending.
For advocates and participants of democratic reform and those with interests across political science, this is an essential guide to one of the most significant democratic innovations of our times.
