Theorising Irish Social Policy addresses theoretical and conceptual debates underpinning Irish social policy and is an advanced text for courses in social policy as well as being intended for academics, researchers, policy analysts and policy makers. It will be an invaluable aid for students who in the past were left to their own devices in the task of relating internationally developed themes and frameworks to Irish developments. The book is comprehensive in its choice of themes which include an introductory discussion on locating Irish social policy, followed by chapters written by leading Irish academics on globalisation; communitarianism, social capital and subsidiarity; individualisation; women, autonomy and bodily integrity; fathers, identity and well-being; poverty and insecurity; equity, efficiency and health care; difference and social diversity; rights and judicial activism.Theorising Irish Social Policy is part of the University College Dublin Press series of social policy texts, which include Contemporary Irish Social Policy (1999), Irish Social Policy in Context (1999), Disability and Social Policy in Ireland (2003) and Mental Health and Social Policy in Ireland (forthcoming, 2005).

This 2nd edition of a highly respected textbook offers a comprehensive introduction to Irish social policy. It provides an accessible, critical overview taking account of significant changes over recent years. The book is organised across four key sections: 1: Traces the emergence and development of Irish social policy from its origins to the present 2: Situates the Irish case in the wider context of the politics, ideology and socio-economic factors relevant to the development and reform of welfare states 3: Analyses core social service areas with specific reference to the contemporary Irish context 4: Explores how social policy affects particular groups in Irish society including children, older people, people with disabilities, carers, new immigrant and minority ethnic groups, and LGBT people. Discusses the challenges posed by environmental issues and the importance of a social policy perspective Text boxes used throughout provide policy summaries, definitions of key concepts, along with guides for further reading and discussion. This is a valuable resource for undergraduate and postgraduate students studying Irish social policy and allied subjects.

This book analyzes the changing shape of Irish society over the hundred years since the 1916 rising, arguing that there are distinctive master patterns that characterize its development of a welfare state that triangulates among church, state, and capital. Fred Powell charts the influence of social movements that resisted oppressive power structures, including the labor and feminist movements, organizations working for the rights of tenants and the homeless, survivors of institutional abuse, groups of asylum seekers and refugees, and activists for gay rights and minority and ethnic cultural rights. The tension between these groups and the more conservative institutions that have dominated Ireland raises major questions about whether an inclusive welfare state is possible in a quasi-religious society.

Key Themes in Social Policy provides an accessible and authoritative introduction to the key concepts used in social policy, from autonomy to wellbeing. With over 100 ideas discussed, this is a comprehensive student guide and is designed to help readers to gain a deeper understanding of major debates and issues. Each entry: explains the origin of the word discusses its relationship to the social sciences describes its relevance to social policy and how widespread its use is outlines some of the key thinkers and research on the topic and gives suggestions for further reading. Making it easy to understand and use the most important ideas in the area, this is an essential companion for all students taking social policy courses.

This book works from a multidisciplinary approach across health, welfare, and education, linking practice and research in order to improve our understanding of the processes and principles that foster social exclusion and how to prevent it.

Using empirical qualitative research, this book conceptualises and demonstrates the value of local practical knowledge for peacebuilding in the context of Northern Ireland. There are increasing calls to involve local people to ensure legitimacy, relevance, and sustainability when seeking to build peace and transform violent conflict. However, as peacebuilding becomes increasingly professionalised, this raises fundamental questions about whose knowledge matters for building peace and what kind of knowledge matters. Seeking to address these questions and to learn from applied practice, this book provides a qualitative empirical research study, investigating 40 practitioners active in conflict transformation at a grassroots level in Northern Ireland over 50 years. This research led not only to recapturing lost knowledge from practitioners, but also to a neglected ‘virtue’ – the Aristotelian concept of practical wisdom, phronesis. This book argues that phronesis has deepened our understanding of why ‘local’ practical knowledge is vitally important and calls for its global rediscovery as knowledge necessary for building sustainable peace. This book will be of much interest to practioners and students in the fields of peacebuilding, conflict resolution, philosophy, and British and Irish politics.

This book provides a critical and theoretically-informed assessment of the nature and types of structural change occurring in the Irish welfare state in the context of the 2008 economic crisis. Its overarching framework for conceptualising and analysing welfare state change and its political, economic and social implications is based around four crucial questions, namely what welfare is for, who delivers welfare, who pays for welfare, and who benefits. Over the course of ten chapters, the authors examine the answers as they relate to social protection, labour market activation, pensions, finance, water, early child education and care, health, housing and corporate welfare. They also innovatively address the impact of crisis on the welfare state in Northern Ireland. The result is to isolate key drivers of structural welfare reform, and assess how globalisation, financialisation, neo-liberalisation, privatisation, marketisation and new public management have deepened and diversified their impact on the post-crisis Irish welfare state. This in-depth analysis will appeal to sociologists, economists, political scientists and welfare state practitioners interested in the Irish welfare state and more generally in the analysis of welfare state change.