This vivid book of 'continuity and change' in policy and management by Pollitt and Bouckaert follows in the footsteps of Pollitt's previous book on the issue of time, a vital but often neglected issue.

President Obama was sworn into office on January 20, 2009 and within the first month of his presidency, against a backdrop of staggering concerns about financial reform, energy efficiency, and the need to allocate $787 billion dollars of stimulus funds, he began to focus the form and function of metropolitan America as an engine of sustainable economic growth. The early blueprint of this project took on modest proportions, reflecting both his professional beginnings as a community organizer in the south side of Chicago and contemporary planning debates of equitable sustainable development. The scope of this project morphed into a large-scale agenda on metropolitan development. Over the past two years, the goals of the President's metropolitan agenda have held wide consensus within the federal government, which in turn has led to institutional changes in the grant-in-aid system. From the Congressional floor to foundations and prominent think tanks, the support it garnered collectively inspired several organizations to begin thinking across traditional divisions to find their role in sparking the engines of equitable and sustainable economic growth. Notably, The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) re-organized its entire strategic plan for FY2010-2015 along the lines of three core themes, namely economic competitiveness, environmental sustainability, and equity. Despite the widespread support behind the president's project and the timely response to concerns of the American people, it is not clear how distinct this agenda really was. This thesis is an exploration of policy history and transformation purposed to address the following question: where did the Obama Metropolitan Agenda come from and how is this effort different from past ones that aimed to achieve similar goals? By understanding the evolution and comparative history of Obama's metropolitan agenda, I explore how the core concepts of comprehensive planning evolved into sustainability; this is accomplished through a policy analysis of the reference document, the Sustainable Communities Regional Planning Grant (SCRPG) program, followed by a comparative historical analysis of federal policy and metropolitan planning from 1949-2010.

In this volume, academics and researchers across disciplines including education, psychology and health studies come together to discuss personal, political and professional narratives of struggle, resilience and hope. Contributors draw from a rich body of auto/biographical research to examine the role of narrative and how it can be constructed to compose a life story, considering the roles of significant others, inspirational, educational and fictional characters, and those in myth and legend. The book discusses how personal narrative, often neglected in social and psychological enquiry, can be a valuable resource across a range of settings. Reference is made to the evolving role of narrative in education and health care, medicine and psychotherapy. This includes how particular narratives are hardwired into culture in ways that stifle personal and social understanding. Rather than providing a ‘how to’ guide, the book illustrates the range and power of narrative, including poetry, to re-awaken senses of self and agency in extremis. Each chapter draws on specific research, describing the context, explaining the methodology, and illuminating important findings. Discussing implications for research and practice, this book will be key reading for postgraduate and doctoral students in auto/biographical and narrative studies, and across a range of disciplines, including education, health and social care, politics, counselling and psychotherapy. It will be of interest to academics teaching research methods, and those developing biographical and auto/biographical narrative research.

This book assesses which work-family policies work best, and explains why they are unlikely to be adopted everywhere.

The fully revised second edition of this textbook offers a comprehensive introduction to theories of public policy and policymaking. The policy process is complex: it contains hundreds of people and organisations from various levels and types of government, from agencies, quasi- and non-governmental organisations, interest groups and the private and voluntary sectors. This book sets out the major concepts and theories that are vital for making sense of the complexity of public policy, and explores how to combine their insights when seeking to explain the policy process. While a wide range of topics are covered – from multi-level governance and punctuated equilibrium theory to 'Multiple Streams' analysis and feminist institutionalism – this engaging text draws out the common themes among the variety of studies considered and tackles three key questions: what is the story of each theory (or multiple theories); what does policy theory tell us about issues like 'evidence based policymaking'; and how 'universal' are policy theories designed in the Global North? This book is the perfect companion for undergraduate and postgraduate students studying public policy, whether focussed on theory, analysis or the policy process, and it is essential reading for all those on MPP or MPM programmes. New to this Edition: - New sections on power, feminist institutionalism, the institutional analysis and development framework, the narrative policy framework, social construction and policy design - A consideration of policy studies in relation to the Global South in an updated concluding chapter - More coverage of policy formulation and tools, the psychology of policymaking and complexity theory - Engaging discussions of punctuated equilibrium, the advocacy coalition framework and multiple streams analysis

Stories that Bind: Political Economy and Culture in New India examines the assertion of authoritarian nationalism and neoliberalism; both backed by the authority of the state and argues that contemporary India should be understood as the intersection of the two. More importantly, the book reveals, through its focus on India and its complex media landscape that this intersection has a narrative form, which author, Madhavi Murty labels spectacular realism. The book shows that the intersection of neoliberalism with authoritarian nationalism is strengthened by the circulation of stories about “emergence,” “renewal,” “development,” and “mobility” of the nation and its people. It studies stories told through film, journalism, and popular non-fiction along with the stories narrated by political and corporate leaders to argue that Hindu nationalism and neoliberalism are conjoined in popular culture and that consent for this political economic project is crucially won in the domain of popular culture. Moving between mediascapes to create an archive of popular culture, Murty advances our understanding of political economy through material that is often seen as inconsequential, namely the popular cultural story. These stories stoke our desires (e.g. for wealth), scaffold our instincts (e.g. for a strong leadership) and shape our values.