Policy In Britain Research Articles

Collaboration for School Improvement

Those with an interest in public sector institutions increasingly recognize the necessity for those institutions to work collaboratively with each other and with other organizations. In part, this trend is based on the acceptance that many public policy problems are interconnected and can only be meaningfully tackled interorganizationally. One such policy area is school improvement, which constitutes the central concern of the article and is currently a dominant feature of education policy in Britain. The article conceptualizes the notion of educational collaboration by developing a framework through a review of the relevant literature. The analytical framework makes a paradigmatic distinction between resource dependency and institutional perspectives on collaboration. It recognizes that, although the perspectives interrelate in practice, the interests they serve are distinct and different. The framework acknowledges that individual actors, such as teachers, those in leadership positions in schools, and managers in local authorities may have different purposes for collaboration and disaggregates the antecedents, the process and the successful and unsuccessful outcomes of collaboration.

Metaphor, Catachresis and Equivalence: The Rhetoric of Freedom to Fly in the Struggle over Aviation Policy in the United Kingdom

This article investigates the dynamics of current aviation policy in Britain by examining the consultation process surrounding the New Labour government's 2003 strategic plan to expand airport capacity in the UK. It examines the way in which the Freedom to Fly coalition structured the terrain of public reasoning and debate so as to negate or at least contain those voices that challenged the Labour government's desire for expansion. The article draws upon recent developments in post-Marxist discourse theory to examine the rhetorical strategies and mechanisms by which organic intellectuals welded together a diverse range of pro-expansion interests, thus securing agreement that the demand for growth ought to be the overriding demand to be defended in the policy and public domains. In so doing, the article examines three rhetorical logics – those of rhetorical redescription, catachresis and equivalence – showing how these informed the new and successfuldiscourse of aviation expansion.

Evidence-Based Planning

This paper aims to conceptualize the upsurge of governmental interest in evidence-based policy in Britain by drawing on two models of policy-evidence interface; the instrumental and the enlightenment model. It argues that much of the drive behind the enthusiasm for evidence is rooted in the linear and utilitarian view of research which is broadly based on three interrelated misconceptions about the nature of evidence, the role of experts, and the influence that these can have on policy. By drawing on examples from the UK planning systems, the paper explores the mismatch between the use of evidence in the “ideal” and the “real” worlds of planning and policy process. It is argued that the assumption made under the positivist view of planning in the 1960s and 1970s are similar to those made under the instrumental view of the policy-research interface.

Cultural Diversity and the Interwar Conjuncture: Soviet Nationality Policy in Its Comparative Context

Soviet nationality policy was one of several political responses to cultural diversity in the interwar period. Peter A. Blitstein situates that policy in its comparative context, contrasting the Soviet Union to its eastern European neighbors and to British and French rule in Africa. Contrary to the nationalizing policies of the new states of eastern Europe, which sought national unity at the expense of ethnic minorities, Soviet nationality policy was initially based on practices of differentiation. Contrary to the colonial policies of Britain and France, which were based on ethnic and racial differentiation, Soviet policy sought to integrate all peoples into one state. In the mid-to-late 1930s, however, Soviet policy took a nationalizing turn similar to its neighbors in eastern Europe, without completely abandoning policies of ethnic differentiation. We should thus understand the Soviet approach as a unique hybrid of contradictory practices of nationalization and differentiation

Moving workers with the work: State selection, key workers and spatial development policy in post-war Britain

Spatial and planning policies in Britain have increasingly become focused on regional inequalities and the creation of mixed, sustainable and balanced communities. Within these new policy paradigms the category of the key workers has emerged as an essential element in the socio-economic sustainability of any bounded area programmes have been introduced to support their needs. Yet, defining key workers is an inherently political process as it necessitates the selection of essential and non-essential workers. Theoretical approaches that highlight state selectivity and the ways in which key policy subjects and objects are identified and mobilised have become increasingly popular across the social sciences and key worker support programmes provide a clear example of these processes in action. This paper draws on archival research to explore the formation of the category ‘key’ worker as an object of government in spatial development policies of the post-war period. It examines how key worker programmes were established to tackle the economic problems of Development Areas. It argues that definitions of key workers were forged in and through particular social, political, and economic contexts and that their emergence as an object of government presupposed and reinforced the existence of different classes of workers and different types of citizens. The paper highlights the significance of such historical work in assessments of contemporary policy and academic debates concerning the changing character of sustainable communities and citizenship, regional development, and changing modes of state regulation.

Patriots of the Future? A Critical Examination of Community Cohesion Strategies in Contemporary Britain

This paper focuses on four inter-related areas of recent public policy in Britain associated with community cohesion, asylum and immigration, the Strength in Diversity consultation strategy and counter-terrorism. This paper comprises of a critical examination of the various reports, speeches and strategies associated with these areas of public policy. The central concern of the paper is to explore the relationship between these areas of public policy through illuminating the extent of the ‘policy tropes’ common to each, for example, (1) the problematisation of the weakness of ‘citizenship’ in contemporary Britain and the strategy for revitalizing it, common to all four policy areas; (2) the emphasis on ‘the material’ over ‘the cultural’ in the explanations of ‘weak integration’ in these policy areas; and (3) the ethnic and religious minority focus in all four areas. The relationship exposed between these policy tropes is then used in the paper to suggest that the focus on ethnic and minority communities (especially young Muslims) within this discursive formation, belies a barely repressed risk consciousness that informs the wider rhetoric of building community cohesion in twenty-first century Britain.

Book reviews

Books reviewed:Day, S. and Ward, H. (eds), Sex Work, Mobility and Health in Europe.Engelhardt, H.T. and Cherry, M.J. (eds), Allocating Scarce Medical Resources: Roman Catholic Perspectives.Luke, H., Medical Education and Sociology of Medical Habitus: ‘It's not about the Stethoscope!’.Borsay, A., Disability and Social Policy in Britain Since 1750.Bolton, S.C., Emotion Management in the WorkplaceClark, D. and Wright, M., Transitions in End of Life Care: Hospice and related developments in Eastern Europe and Central AsiaDe Vries, R.A., A Pleasing Birth. Midwives and Maternity Care in the NetherlandsHawkes, G. and Scott, J. (eds), Perspectives in Human Sexuality.

Union Organizing: Campaigning for Trade Union Recognition

Foreword, Sheldon Friedman Chapter 1. Introduction, Gregor Gall Chapter 2. Organising the Unorganised: Union Recruitment Strategies in American Transnationals, c. 1945-1977, Bill Knox and Alan McKinlay Chapter 3. Organising in the Offshore Oil and Gas Industry in Britain, c. 1972-1990: A Long Flame Burning or a Spark that has Gone Out?, Gregor Gall Chapter 4. Trade Union Recruitment Policy in Britain: Form and Ethics, Edmund Heery, Melanie Simms, Rick Delbridge, John Salmon and Dave Simpson Chapter 5. Employer Opposition to Union Recognition, Gregor Gall Chapter 6. Union Organising in a Not-for-Profit Organisation, Melanie Simms Chapter 7. Organising in Electronics: Recruitment, Recognition and Representation - Shadow Shop Stewards in Scotland's 'Silicon Glen', Patricia Findlay and Alan McKinlay Chapter 8. Organising in Transport and Travel: Learning Lessons from TSSA's Seacat Campaign, Jane Wills Chapter 9. Call Centre Organising in Adversity: From Excell to Vertex, Phil Taylor and Peter Bain Chapter 10. Comparisons and Prospects: Industrial Relations and Trade Unions in North America and Britain, Brian Towers Chapter 11. Union Organising in the United States, Jack Fiorito Chapter 12. Union Recognition in Germany: A Dual System of Industrial Relations with Two Recognition Problems, Otto Jacobi Chapter 13. Conclusion: Drawing up a Balance Sheet, Gregor Gall

James Habersham: loyalty, politics, and commerce in Colonial Georgia

James Habersham was an early American success story. After arriving in Savannah in 1738, he failed in his efforts to wrest a living from the Georgia wilderness and lived his first year at public expense. Then, by dint of his own efforts and through the connections he forged, Habersham emerged as one of the colony's most influential and prosperous citizens, making his name as a planter, merchant, evangelist, and political leader. The third wealthiest person in the colony at the time of his death in 1775, Habersham had a public career that included service as the secretary of Georgia, president of the King's Council, and acting Governor. But Habersham's story is more than biography. It also provides a window into colonial Georgia and its transformation from a struggling colony on the brink of collapse in the 1740s to a prosperous province in the 1770s, confident enough to defy the Crown. Ranging over such topics as the rise of Methodist missionary fervor, the development of transatlantic trade, the introduction of slavery, and the escalating debate over American independence, Frank Lambert tells how Habersham's success is inextricably tied to Georgia's fortunes and how he played a major role in helping the colony exploit its abundant resources. Habersham's economic development plan provided a blueprint for attracting new settlers, supplying an abundance of cheap labor, and opening new markets. Habersham's achievements, however, are obscured by his unpopular stance on American independence. While his three sons distinguished themselves as Patriots, Habersham remained loyal to the Crown, though he had opposed Britain's new imperial policies in the 1760s. Nevertheless, it was Habersham's loyal service to colonial Georgia that enabled the colony to separate successfully from the mother country and assume its place in the new republic as a prosperous, vigorous state.

Viewpoint: The liveability agenda: new regionalism, liveability and the untapped potential of sport and recreation

In recent years the relationship between sport and strategic planning has grown in importance as both the economic and social benefits of hosting major sporting events and developing sporting infrastructure have increasingly permeated policy making agendas and funding regimes at local, regional and national levels. Additionally, in Britain a great importance is now being placed upon developing a strategic agenda for sport and its implications for the development of sustainable communities, liveable places and healthier populations. Sports policy in Britain, which traditionally focused upon the dual strands of increasing participation and raising performance levels, has begun to shift towards viewing the potential benefits and impacts of sport in more holistic and cross-cutting ways. This has been expressed in relation to urban and rural renaissance, neighbourhood renewal, health, crime prevention and quality of life agendas. It has also been highlighted in policy statements - for example, through A Sporting Future for All (2000) and later Game Plan - a strategy for delivering Government's sports and physical activity objectives (2002), the Social Exclusion Unit's Policy Action Team 10 Report on Arts and Sport (2001) as well as in a number of Planning Policy Guidance notes and the new Planning Policy Statement 11 (PPS 11) on Regional Spatial Strategies in England - all of which explicitly attempt to develop the untapped potential of sport and recreation to contribute to emerging planning policy. This can be articulated in a number of ways. First, the urban and regional impacts of hosting major sporting events or building new sports stadiums have received widespread attention. In particular, given the level of investment involved and the potential to master-plan large areas of brownfield land, the legacy impacts of the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester and the envisioned regenerative impacts of the London 2012 Olympic bid have become highly politicised. Secondly, the links between the ways in which cities are designed and long-term health problems associated with inactive lifestyles are generating a good deal of policy interest. This is often expressed as a growing concern about the development of so-called 'obesogenic' urban environments and has prompted research about the relationship between urban design, public health and physical activity (Sui, 2003). The issue was recognised by the British government in Game Plan (2002) which outlined the links between physical activity, health, education, criminality, drug abuse and overall quality of life. Moreover, the recent Public Health White Paper (2004) makes clear that the British population is more obese and less active than previous generations, leading to calls for increased opportunities and access to sports facilities. There is also an economic imperative to improve the health of the nation as it is estimated that the lack of physical activity costs the English economy over £2 billion per annum. Thirdly, the continuing loss of playing fields and community recreational facilities, which reduces access to physical activity, is seen as problematic. The reworked Planning Policy Guidance Note (PPG) 17 encourages local authorities to audit existing sport and recreational facilities and set these out in a strategic way. It also emphasises that local authority planning decisions must take into account the impact of any loss of community open space or recreational facilities and offer appropriate compensation. In particular, Sport England, the strategic body primarily responsible for delivering the government's sporting objectives, has called upon strategic planning authorities to use such a system to influence the future provision and funding of sport more positively as well as levering in higher levels of investment associated with new development through enhanced developer contributions. In short, PPG 17 seeks to protect playing fields and open space as well as give sports policy a strategic voice in future planning, arguing that sport and recreation are essential in implementing broader government policies. …

The legacies of history? Colonization and immigrant integration in Britain and France

This article scrutinizes the widely held belief that British and French colonial models have influenced each country’s immigrant integration structures. It assesses the core assumptions underlying the argument: that British colonial and integration policies have relied on indirect rule of groups defined by race or ethnicity; and that corresponding French policies have emphasized direct rule and have been highly assimilationist. It demonstrates that the two countries are not as different as often portrayed. It also pinpoints the specific paths through which colonial legacies influenced integration policies, while rejecting the thesis that colonial institutions have broadly informed integration policies in Britain or France. The article thus challenges a series of received ideas, replacing them with a more precise assessment of the relations between the colonial past and the integration present.

Anglo-Jewry and the State of Israel: Defining the Relationship, 1948-1956

THE IMPACT OF THE ESTABLISHMENT of a Jewish state after two thousand years had immediate repercussions for Anglo-Jewry, necessitating a redefinition of the response of Anglo-Jewish leaders and institutions toward Zionism and of their attachment to the Jewish homeland. This article analyzes the evolution of an unprecedented modus operandi between the Anglo-Jewish community and Israel's representatives and seeks to fill a void in published research on the relationship between Anglo-Jewry and the State of Israel, which has been inexplicably conspicuously terra incognita.1 Our point of departure for this analysis is May 1948, when, having fostered the Jewish National Home, Britain, albeit reluctantly, was directly responsible for the birth of the State of Israel, and continues through to the Suez Crisis in October 1956, when Anglo-Jewry was embroiled in defining its stance on Israel's alleged collusion with Britain. Anglo-Jewry's response to the establishment of Israel was unique because of its historical and complex involvement in Britain's policy toward Zionism and the Jewish National Home. The role of Zionist activists was crucial during Britain's Mandate over Palestine as London became the pivot of the activities of the Jewish Agency Executive and the World Zionist Organization. This status, however, rapidly declined as Britain's policies were seen to be detrimental to the aspirations of the Zionist movement-policies that culminated, in the May 1939 White Paper, which set in motion the creation of an independent Arab state and the demise of the Jewish National Home. Following the Nazi occupation of Europe, the threat of an imminent Nazi invasion of Britain and Palestine became an increasing possibility. Thus the fate of Anglo-Jewry and the Yishuv (the Jewish community in Palestine prior to May 1948) lay in an outright victory and the total eradication of Hitler's Nazi war machine. Anglo-Jewry miraculously escaped

British Media in a Global Era

Foreword. The media in Britain some thoughts from home By Martyn J Lee Introduction A look at the past Industry and trends International aspects of media policy Media policy in Britain The role of the public The 'others' of the British Media Moments and contexts in the British media

Social exclusion, and educational opportunity: the case of British education policies within a European Union context1

This paper first examines the New Labour government's redefinition of equality of opportunity in Britain, mainly with regard to education and the ways in which it mediates ‘opportunity’. In doing so, it also draws on wider social policy issues, such as the use of education policies to combat social exclusion. Second, the paper reviews European Union policies and selected documents that address questions of social inclusion, social cohesion and the role of education in achieving those policy goals. The main argument is that both New Labour policies in Britain and the examined EU documents promote rather minimal understandings of the term ‘equality of opportunity’, while, education, in both cases, is given an enormous burden to carry in balancing increasingly liberalised market‐driven economies, with the requirements of a socially just society.

Australian External Policy and the End of Britain's Empire1

The winding down of Britain's colonial empire in the 1950s and 1960s impacted upon Australian external policy in several ways. Australia had to build diplomatic capacity in order to manage relationships with numerous newly independent states. As many of these states were non-aligned in the Cold War context, Australia had to think afresh about the problems of regional security. Decolonisation also meant the transformation of the Commonwealth into a “nest of republics”, a development that hastened the demise of the older sense of organic empire and, for Robert Menzies, compromised the quality of the Anglo-Australian relationship. The effect on Australia of Britain's post-colonial restrictive immigration policy compounded this process. So too did Britain's move towards Europe. In addition there were implications for Australia's policy towards the United Nations and towards its own dependent territories.

「英米特殊関係」とイギリスの第一回EEC加盟申請, 1955-61年

The British Government under Harold Macmillan made its first application to join the European Economic Community (EEC) in August 1961. This application marked not only a significant turning point of Britain's post-war external policy, but also a very beginning of the enlargement process of the European Integration (“from the Six to the Twenty-five”).In the existing studies, it has often been pointed out that the British Government's consideration about its “special relationship” with the United States, particularly its recognition that the new John F. Kennedy Administration (inaugurated in January 1961) supported the EEC and Britain's entry into it more vigorously than the previous Dwight D. Eisenhower Administration, was one of the factors which facilitated the first application. However, this article, which is based on both British and American governmental records, claims that America's strong support for the European Integration of the Six and its relative coolness towards British initiative such as the European Free Trade Area (FTA) plan (the so-called Plan G) and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) were largely consistent throughout the Eisenhower and Kennedy Administrations. The British Government tried hard to persuade the Americans into adopting more pro-British and pro-FTA/EFTA attitudes, but those efforts turned out to be mostly abortive. Consequently, the consistency (rather than change, as often pointed out in many existing studies) of the American attitudes facilitated Britain's policy change towards its first application to the EEC.In the diplomatic sphere, Britain's first application to the EEC can be understood as a measure to maintain and strengthen its “special relationship” with the United States, by becoming a member and a “stabilising force” in the EEC. In the trade sphere, Britain's first application can be understood as a measure to secure an equal access to the EEC market, which was expected to be an alternative to the huge but still protective American market but (if Britain remained outside) be surrounded by relatively high common external tariffs. Therefore, it can be pointed out that Britain's first attempt to join the EEC was a primarily defensive effort to avoid the danger of being sandwiched by the United States and the EEC and seriously losing the basis of its international influence and economic power.

Quality or Control? Management in Higher Education

Over the past fifteen years the rationale, organisational infrastructure and delivery of social policy in Britain have undergone radical transformation. Whereas efficiency was the key word of the 1980s, quality was the touchstone of the 1990s and quality control with accountability has become the management philosophy of the new millennium. Increased pressure for greater accountability in the use of public funds, together with changes to the structure and funding of higher education, were designed to increase competition for students and subsequent resources. This has provided the initial thrust for increasing the profile of quality issues than in the past. The difficulty is that there is much confusion about the definition of quality and this leads to problems in assessing it. Many academics would argue that quality has always been high on their agenda and the government motivation is simply another element of control to change the focus away from a government policy that led to massification without the necessary injection of resources. Blame has to be levelled so why not at the already overworked, under resourced and demotivated academics?

The monkey's mask: identity, memory, narrative and voice

This thesis is a largely ethnographic analysis of the life histories of six bilingual, second generation settlers in Britain, from different language communities. All have been academically successful within the English educational system ie all possess at least a first degree from a British university. In the thesis I analyse common patterns in their experiences and chart the complex changes to their view of their own identities. From this I am attempting to trace common patterns in identity formation in complex and plural societies. Following phenomenographic approaches, I conducted a series of unstructured 'interviews' or dialogues, which concentrated on the individuals' views of their own histories and identities. These consisted of anecdotes and vignettes of what they considered as significant episodes from their lives. Each narrative is contextualised within patterns of migration and settlement of their particular 'community'. They are also located within the broader context of the political and social conditions in Britain throughout the time of their parents' settlement and their own lives. Moreover, they are set against the changing background of legislation and public policy in Britain, particularly educational initiatives in the area of multiculturalism, anti racism and multilingualism. I use three levels of analysis: the identification of common patterns and discontinuities, analysis of the process of identity formation and analysis of the cultural aspects of narrative style. Using such analyses I attempt to 'unriddle' the process of identity formation and discuss this against the existing literature on culture and identity. For this I draw on work in the fields of ethnography, literature, cultural studies and social psychology. I argue that there is a need for more complex theoretical conceptions than are currently employed. In the final chapter I consider the implications of the research in the light of recent educational policy in Britain.

Pragmatism in the Polder: Changing Prostitution Policy in The Netherlands

Pragmatism in the Polder: Changing Prostitution Policy in The Netherlands

British Policy and the Ruhr Crisis 1922–24

This article provides an overview of British policy during a defining episode in the interwar period — the Ruhr crisis of 1923–4. The author assesses the external considerations influencing Britain's policy (especially the roles of France, Germany, and the United States), and also explores the processes of foreign policy making within Britain's complex bureaucratic system. In particular, the relationship between the Foreign Office and the Treasury is analyzed and its impact on European policy assessed. The article challenges traditional views of British policy at this time, concluding that it was far more complex, but also far more limited and constrained, than previous studies would suggest.