Books published by Policy Press

This is the first book to analyse the use of rape as a tactic of war and international progress away from tacit acceptance to active rejection of this violation of international law. Including powerful testimonies of victims, it is a much-needed volume for academic and professional communities.

This book presents a comprehensive exploration of the state of infrastructure in Africa and provides an integrated analysis of the challenges the sector faces, based on extensive fieldwork across the continent, providing an important resource for researchers, students, policymakers and NGOs.

This book provides succinct yet robust definitions and explanations of core concepts and themes in relation to state power, liberties and human rights. Laid out in a user-friendly A-Z format, entries have with clear direction to related entries and further reading. It will be suitable for students on a variety of courses.

Offering a succinct approach to the vocabulary and terminology of historical and contemporary approaches to crime and punishment, it includes concise but robust definitions of key terms and concepts from expert contributors in a user-friendly A-Z format with clear direction to related entries and further reading.

This is the first accessible, succinct text to provide definitions and explanations of key terms and concepts relating to the expanding field of crime, harm and victimisation. Written by a wide range of experts, it includes theories, ideas and case studies relating to victims of conventional crime and victims outside the remit of criminal law.

This book showcases research from a wide range of authors in the field of desisting from crime and recovering from addiction and examines the experiences of change for individuals seeking healthier and more successful futures

The creative citizen unbound explores the potential of civically-minded creative individuals in the era of social media and in the context of an expanding creative economy. Contributors examine creative citizenship's contribution to civic life and to social capital and its economic and cultural definitions of value.

A wide-range of experts respond to the political and social policy changes made under the UK coalition government (2010-15) and provide a critical assessment of how their policies affected the British welfare state.

Health policy thinking must change. This book explores the fundamental currents and tensions that lie behind recent trends such as shared decision-making, co-production, and personalisation. These are often discussed in relation to an epidemiological transition but this text argues that they embody a philosophical transition - a change in our conceptions of healthcare and of appropriate forms of knowledge and analysis. As clinical concerns are increasingly nested within social concerns then policy analysis must engage with the multiple philosophical tensions that are now centre stage. This focus on key underlying ideas and tensions in healthcare couldn't have come at a better time. With international relevance, the book's arguments help fuel a shift away from a 'delivery' model towards a more deliberative model of healthcare.

Drawing on the findings of a two-year European research project, this book presents a new model for responding meaningfully and effectively the 'problem' of how to respond to violence involving young people that continues to challenge youth workers and policy makers.

The book offers critical reflections on the recent history and future direction of policy studies, advancing the debate by rethinking the ways in which scholars and students of policy studies can (re)engage with pertinent issues. First published as a Special Issue of Policy & Politics.

What size is 'just right' for a care provider? This book explores size as an independent variable in care services, comparing outcomes and value for money across micro, small, medium and large organisations.

Featuring detailed case studies and examples of good practice, this is an excellent international source book for practitioners and policy makers in social work and social care.

This comprehensive book uses a rich array of case studies from cities in Asia, Latin America, Africa, Southern Europe, and beyond to highlight the intensifying global struggle over urban space and underline gentrification as a growing and important battleground in the contemporary world.

Drawing on both research and examples from practice, this book offers students an insight into the nature and challenges of writing in social work practice, enabling them to improve their writing skills.

Women are encouraged to believe that they can occupy top jobs in society by the example of other women thriving in their careers. Who better to be a role model for career success than your mother? Paradoxically, this book shows that having a mother as a role model, even for graduates of top universities, does not predict daughters progressing in their own careers. It finds that mothers with careers, whilst highly influential in their daughters' choice of career path, rarely mentor their daughters as they progress. This is partly explained by 'quiet ambition' - the tendency of women to be modest about their achievements. Bigger issues are the twin pressures from contemporary motherhood and workplace culture that ironically lead career women's daughters to believe that being a 'good mother' means working part-time. This stalls career progress. Based on a large, cross-generational qualitative sample, this book offers a timely and original perspective on the debate about gender equality in leadership positions.

The history of social policy is emerging as an area of growing interest to both students and researchers. This topical book charts the period from the 1830s to the present day, providing a fresh analysis of the relationship between social theory and social policy in the UK.

This book considers the rise of Plural Policing in England and Wales over the past decade or so. It critically analyses this approach and contains examples of practice, both nationally and internationally.

This book summarises and builds on current knowledge and research about direct payments in the UK and considers developments in other European countries. It identifies good practice in the area and explores the implications of direct payments, both for service users and for social work staff.

This unique volume brings together the main findings from the Nuffield Foundation's Changing Adolescence Programme and explores how social change may affect young people's behaviour, mental health and transitions toward adulthood.

Collaborative working is an established feature of the public, business and third sector environments, but its effectiveness can be hampered by complex structural and personal variants. This original book explores the influence of agency through the role of individual actors in collaborative working processes, known as boundary spanners. It examines the different aspects of the boundary spanner's role and discusses the skills, abilities, and experience that are necessary. It will be of interest to academics, researchers and students interested in this field of study, and provides learning for policy makers and practitioners active in the fields of collaboration.

Focusing on the history and theory of community in urban policy, and including a unique set of case studies that draw on artistic and cultural community work, After urban regeneration engages with debates on how urban policy has changed and continues to change following the financial crash of 2008

As part of the devolution process, a range of powers was granted to the newly formed Scottish Parliament in 1999. These powers principally governed social welfare where there was already a degree of Scottish autonomy. Welfare has thus been central to the devolution project. The book looks at why social welfare issues were central to the devolution process in Scotland; explores the particular social and financial circumstances in which Scottish policy makers operate; reviews and assesses Scottish policies for children, education and lifelong learning; examines health policy, including care for the elderly, an especially controversial example of 'policy divergence' from England and provides an invaluable overview of the Scottish welfare state is as it is, and discusses how it might develop in the future. This book is essential reading for all those concerned with the contemporary and historical dimensions of social policy in Scotland and how they relate to developments in other parts of the United Kingdom.

This collection of innovative approaches to social work placements offers hope in the current climate of cuts to services and over-regulation. The international contributions offer practical guidance and challenge conventional approaches to placement finding, teaching and assessment in field education.

This is the classic assessment of the state of child well-being in the UK. This fourth edition has been updated to review the latest evidence, including the impact of the economic crisis and austerity measures since 2008. An essential resource.

As housing supply in England reaches crisis point, Duncan Bowie provides a critical review of housing policy under successive UK governments. From Blair's New Labour and Cameron's Coalition government to the 2016 Housing and Planning Act, Bowie demonstrates how successive governments have failed to provide adequate, affordable housing, leading to a chronic lack of provision. Exploring the inter-relationship between housing, planning and land policies, Bowie puts forward a reform programme based on an alternative set of policy priorities and delivery mechanisms, arguing the case for an integrated approach on land, taxation, planning and public investment to provide radical solutions to a growing crisis.

This book offers a fresh new approach to the study of housing, exploring the meaning that housing has for individuals and households by examining 'housing pathways'. Although drawing on British experiences, the methodology and theoretical framework used are applicable to the study of housing in any national context.

Combining theory and international practice,this book examines how local government can develop active citizens and make a difference to the well-being of those in disadvantaged areas.

This important volume provides the foundation for a shift in policy learning on a global scale and demonstrates the need to take account of the psychological consequences of poverty for policy to be effective.

The UK government's reforms of the NHS and public health system require partnerships if they are to succeed. Those partnerships concerned with public health are especially important and are deemed to be a 'good thing' which add, rather than consume, value. Yet the significant emphasis on partnership working to secure effective policy and service delivery exists despite the evidence testifying to how difficult it is to make partnerships work or achieve results. Partnership working in public health presents the findings from a detailed study of public health partnerships in England. The lessons from the research are used to explore the government's changes in public health now being implemented, most of which centre on new partnerships called Health and Wellbeing Boards that have been established to work differently from their predecessors.The book assesses their likely impact and the implications for the future of public health partnerships. Drawing on systems thinking, it argues that partnerships can only succeed if they work in quite different ways. The book will therefore appeal to the public health community and students of health policy.