Our Politics and International Relations list engages with today’s global challenges and with political change at domestic and international levels. It includes work from across the subdisciplines and reflects the variety of approaches and methods used in political analysis.
Book highlights include the Bristol Studies in East Asian International Relations and Bristol Studies in International Theory series, the Policy & Politics and European Journal of Politics and Gender journals and work from prestigious authors such as Andrew Gamble, Andrew Linklater, Laura Shepherd and Keith Dowding.
Our journals in the area are Policy & Politics, ranked 15th of 49 in Public Administration and celebrated its 50th year in 2022, Global Discourse, the European Journal of Politics and Gender and Global Political Economy.
Politics and International Relations
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Public services are delivered by a range of public, private and voluntary sector organisations, which are embedded in an ever-changing context. Drawing on ideas behind the creation of public service organisations and their history, this chapter examines continuity and change in and of public service organisations. It explores organisational structures, organisational culture and organisational dynamics and their impact and outlines key concepts and theories of organisational change. Based on an outline of organisational change, this chapter further outlines key developments impacting public services, such as e-government and co-production of public services which are essential parts of the public services in the COVID-19 era.
Since the mid-20th century, tackling inequality and promoting equality have become increasingly important concerns in many countries. Equality is also a core concern for public services for a number of reasons ranging from legal obligations to concerns about the ability of public services to effectively fulfil their goals. Outlining that equality is also an important consideration for public services, this chapter explores equality in relation to public services. It examines different concepts of equality and highlights the multifaceted and complex nature of inequalities. Turning to public services, it highlights the impact that (implicit) access requirements, the service and the conditions under which it is delivered can have for equality, and outlines key strategies public services are using to promote equality both externally and internally.
Public services are embedded in and shaped by a multitude of external factors, among which the sociopolitical context features prominently. Focusing on the interaction between public policies and public services, this chapter examines public policies and their interaction with public services and familiarises the reader with key concepts. The chapter showcases that the relationship between public policies and public services is not unilateral. At the same time as being shaped by public policies, public services are also core actors in the implementation of public policies. Based on an outline of policymaking, this chapter highlights the crucial role of public services and street-level bureaucrats in the implementation of policies. It argues that the implementation of policies exacerbates a crucial influence on the definition and operationalisation of the goals followed and the outcomes achieved, making public services crucial actors shaping public policy outcomes.
Sustainability is gaining ever more importance. Initially confined in meaning to environmental considerations, today, sustainability is commonly understood as a multidimensional concept that brings together environmental, social and economic concerns. The multidimensional nature of sustainability oftentimes poses challenges for sustainable practices. This chapter explores the nature and history of the idea of sustainability, its relationship with public services as well as challenges in the implementation of sustainable practices. It furthermore outlines approaches to develop and support more sustainable practices. Taking public procurement as an example, it showcases that sustainability is becoming an increasingly important factor shaping public services.
A growing scientific consensus exists that, as a direct result of human activity, the ecological systems which support life on earth are threatened with potentially irreparable and catastrophic damage. These developments encompass a range of interrelated issues, such as climate change, pollution and the loss of biodiversity. This chapter outlines this ‘environmental crisis’ from the perspective of a social problem, that is a problem, which is both caused by human societies and that presents fundamental challenges for future patterns of life. Based on a consideration of the nature of the environmental crisis and its key social dimensions and dynamics, this chapter introduces the concept of the Anthropocene and examines the relationship between the environmental crisis and public services. It shows that public services are at the same time affected by and contributing to the environmental crisis. As a result, public services need to adapt to environmental changes but can also contribute to broader strategies of mitigating the environmental crisis.
The law is a particular framework that is crucial for shaping the aims and objectives as well as the responsibilities and structure of public services. Legal regulations influencing public services exist at the international, regional, national and subnational levels. This chapter explores the law in relation to public services. Starting with international institutions, such as the United Nations, it provides an introduction to major law-making bodies influencing public services at international and regional levels. Taking the United Kingdom as an example, this chapter furthermore explores the role and interaction of national, subnational and local laws.
Addressing needs and safeguard rights, public services are a crucial part of modern states and everyday lives. This book presents an in-depth introduction to public services as a field of study and provides a holistic guide to both the discipline of public services and core elements of working in public services. Aiming to provide a comprehensive account of core public service topics, this book explores the context in which public services operate, the delivery of public services between the state, the market and civil society as well as strategy, leadership and management of public services and emerging key themes of public service delivery. The introduction provides an outline of the aims and nature of public services. The first part of this book introduces the reader to the relationship between public services and public policies, explores organisations and the mixed economy of public service provision, and outlines the legal framework that shapes public services. Focusing on the internal dimension of public services, the second part then explores strategy, management and leadership of and in public services. Contributions on current and emerging issues and themes, from sustainability and the environment to equality, and their relationship to public services form the third part of the book.
Strategy focuses on long- or longer-term goals and aims and on aligning the working with individual public service organisations with these goals. Strategic management can be understood as a deliberate effort to shape the future direction of an organisation. This chapter explores different concepts of strategy. It outlines the idea of strategic management and examines different approaches, processes and techniques associated with it. It furthermore outlines the role that strategy and strategic management plays in organisations and highlights how strategic managers can understand the broader environment in which their organisations operate in order to create effective strategies.
Dive inside this textbook for an accessible guide to the discipline of public services.
Perfect for students, it offers a comprehensive account of core public service topics and explains the fundamental elements of working in the public services. Outlining their role in the welfare state, it explores the policies, providers and legalities shaping the context in which public services operate.
Students will study concepts of organisational change, strategy, management, leadership and funding, and engage with timely discussions around contemporary public issues such as equality, sustainability and climate change. Key features to support student learning include:
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objectives at the beginning of each chapter;
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case studies and examples;
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end of chapter summaries;
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reflective questions;
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further reading recommendations and resources.
Although studies have found a lasting negative impact of the communist legacy on political attitudes in the post-communist region, the effect of this legacy on gender attitudes is less well researched. While post-communist countries share a history of women-friendly policies under communism, their socio-political paths diverged after the transition. We ask: do communist gender regimes have a lasting effect on gender role attitudes? We answer this question by comparing the attitudes of cohorts socialised under communism with the attitudes of the post-transition generation using Life in Transition III survey data. We find a distinct legacy effect on attitudes. Non-European Union communist cohorts have more progressive attitudes than the post-transition cohort. In the European Union, the attitudinal gender egalitarianism of the post-transition cohort is indistinguishable from the attitudes of communist cohorts, likely due to this cohort also experiencing gender equality promotion during socialisation. The findings support the need to continue gender equality promotion.
