Author: Theodore J. Stein
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 9780231529181
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 536
Book Description
An essential resource for students of social policy and social welfare as well as for social welfare practitioners and other human services professionals, this text examines the policymaking activity of the different branches of the American government and of the public-at-large as well as the interactions between the branches of government and the general public in the formation and implementation of social policy. In addition to examining the role of the legislative and executive branches of government, Theodore J. Stein covers the often-overlooked role of the judiciary in policymaking. He addresses the ways social welfare practitioners should interpret (1) conflicting judicial rulings in cases where courts of equal jurisdiction rule differently on the same matter and (2) judicial rulings that signal significant changes in the law. The book looks at politics, practice, and implementation and provides a historical background of social policy and social work practice plus a wealth of descriptive and analytic information concerning policymaking processes, specific social policies, and the effect of social policy on social programs.
Social Policy and Policymaking by the Branches of Government and the Public-at-Large
Author: Theodore J. Stein
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 9780231529181
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 536
Book Description
An essential resource for students of social policy and social welfare as well as for social welfare practitioners and other human services professionals, this text examines the policymaking activity of the different branches of the American government and of the public-at-large as well as the interactions between the branches of government and the general public in the formation and implementation of social policy. In addition to examining the role of the legislative and executive branches of government, Theodore J. Stein covers the often-overlooked role of the judiciary in policymaking. He addresses the ways social welfare practitioners should interpret (1) conflicting judicial rulings in cases where courts of equal jurisdiction rule differently on the same matter and (2) judicial rulings that signal significant changes in the law. The book looks at politics, practice, and implementation and provides a historical background of social policy and social work practice plus a wealth of descriptive and analytic information concerning policymaking processes, specific social policies, and the effect of social policy on social programs.
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 9780231529181
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 536
Book Description
An essential resource for students of social policy and social welfare as well as for social welfare practitioners and other human services professionals, this text examines the policymaking activity of the different branches of the American government and of the public-at-large as well as the interactions between the branches of government and the general public in the formation and implementation of social policy. In addition to examining the role of the legislative and executive branches of government, Theodore J. Stein covers the often-overlooked role of the judiciary in policymaking. He addresses the ways social welfare practitioners should interpret (1) conflicting judicial rulings in cases where courts of equal jurisdiction rule differently on the same matter and (2) judicial rulings that signal significant changes in the law. The book looks at politics, practice, and implementation and provides a historical background of social policy and social work practice plus a wealth of descriptive and analytic information concerning policymaking processes, specific social policies, and the effect of social policy on social programs.
The Role of Law in Social Work Practice and Administration
Author: Theodore J. Stein
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 0231126484
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 489
Book Description
This book addresses this relationship between the professions of social work and law and helps social workers develop the knowledge necessary to practice in a legal environment. The author focuses on how the law affects the day-to-day practice of social work; the creation, administration, and operation of social service agencies; and the ways in which social workers and attorneys collaborate to serve the public.
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 0231126484
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 489
Book Description
This book addresses this relationship between the professions of social work and law and helps social workers develop the knowledge necessary to practice in a legal environment. The author focuses on how the law affects the day-to-day practice of social work; the creation, administration, and operation of social service agencies; and the ways in which social workers and attorneys collaborate to serve the public.
Policy & Practice
Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Public welfare
Languages : en
Pages : 340
Book Description
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Public welfare
Languages : en
Pages : 340
Book Description
Making Policy, Making Law
Author: Mark Carlton Miller
Publisher: Georgetown University Press
ISBN: 1589010256
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 257
Book Description
This volume proposes a new way of understanding the policymaking process in the United States by examining the complex interactions among the three branches of government, executive, legislative, and judicial. Collectively across the chapters a central theme emerges, that the U.S. Constitution has created a policymaking process characterized by ongoing interaction among competing institutions with overlapping responsibilities and different constituencies, one in which no branch plays a single static part. At different times and under various conditions, all governing institutions have a distinct role in making policy, as well as in enforcing and legitimizing it. This concept overthrows the classic theories of the separation of powers and of policymaking and implementation (specifically the principal-agent theory, in which Congress and the presidency are the principals who create laws, and the bureaucracy and the courts are the agents who implement the laws, if they are constitutional). The book opens by introducing the concept of adversarial legalism, which proposes that the American mindset of frequent legal challenges to legislation by political opponents and special interests creates a policymaking process different from and more complicated than other parliamentary democracies. The chapters then examine in depth the dynamics among the branches, primarily at the national level but also considering state and local policymaking. Originally conceived of as a textbook, because no book exists that looks at the interplay of all three branches, it should also have significant impact on scholarship about national lawmaking, national politics, and constitutional law. Intro., conclusion, and Dodd's review all give good summaries.
Publisher: Georgetown University Press
ISBN: 1589010256
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 257
Book Description
This volume proposes a new way of understanding the policymaking process in the United States by examining the complex interactions among the three branches of government, executive, legislative, and judicial. Collectively across the chapters a central theme emerges, that the U.S. Constitution has created a policymaking process characterized by ongoing interaction among competing institutions with overlapping responsibilities and different constituencies, one in which no branch plays a single static part. At different times and under various conditions, all governing institutions have a distinct role in making policy, as well as in enforcing and legitimizing it. This concept overthrows the classic theories of the separation of powers and of policymaking and implementation (specifically the principal-agent theory, in which Congress and the presidency are the principals who create laws, and the bureaucracy and the courts are the agents who implement the laws, if they are constitutional). The book opens by introducing the concept of adversarial legalism, which proposes that the American mindset of frequent legal challenges to legislation by political opponents and special interests creates a policymaking process different from and more complicated than other parliamentary democracies. The chapters then examine in depth the dynamics among the branches, primarily at the national level but also considering state and local policymaking. Originally conceived of as a textbook, because no book exists that looks at the interplay of all three branches, it should also have significant impact on scholarship about national lawmaking, national politics, and constitutional law. Intro., conclusion, and Dodd's review all give good summaries.
Hijacking the Agenda
Author: Christopher Witko
Publisher: Russell Sage Foundation
ISBN: 1610449053
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 402
Book Description
Why are the economic interests and priorities of lower- and middle-class Americans so often ignored by the U.S. Congress, while the economic interests of the wealthiest are prioritized, often resulting in policies favorable to their interests? In Hijacking the Agenda, political scientists Christopher Witko, Jana Morgan, Nathan J. Kelly, and Peter K. Enns examine why Congress privileges the concerns of businesses and the wealthy over those of average Americans. They go beyond demonstrating that such economic bias exists to illuminate precisely how and why economic policy is so often skewed in favor of the rich. The authors analyze over 20 years of floor speeches by several hundred members of Congress to examine the influence of campaign contributions on how the national economic agenda is set in Congress. They find that legislators who received more money from business and professional associations were more likely to discuss the deficit and other upper-class priorities, while those who received more money from unions were more likely to discuss issues important to lower- and middle-class constituents, such as economic inequality and wages. This attention imbalance matters because issues discussed in Congress receive more direct legislative action, such as bill introductions and committee hearings. While unions use campaign contributions to push back against wealthy interests, spending by the wealthy dwarfs that of unions. The authors use case studies analyzing financial regulation and the minimum wage to demonstrate how the financial influence of the wealthy enables them to advance their economic agenda. In each case, the authors examine the balance of structural power, or the power that comes from a person or company’s position in the economy, and kinetic power, the power that comes from the ability to mobilize organizational and financial resources in the policy process. The authors show how big business uses its structural power and resources to effect policy change in Congress, as when the financial industry sought deregulation in the late 1990s, resulting in the passage of a bill eviscerating New Deal financial regulations. Likewise, when business interests want to preserve the policy status quo, it uses its power to keep issues off of the agenda, as when inflation eats into the minimum wage and its declining purchasing power leaves low-wage workers in poverty. Although groups representing lower- and middle-class interests, particularly unions, can use their resources to shape policy responses if conditions are right, they lack structural power and suffer significant resource disadvantages. As a result, wealthy interests have the upper hand in shaping the policy process, simply due to their pivotal position in the economy and the resulting perception that policies beneficial to business are beneficial for everyone. Hijacking the Agenda is an illuminating account of the way economic power operates through the congressional agenda and policy process to privilege the interests of the wealthy and marks a major step forward in our understanding of the politics of inequality.
Publisher: Russell Sage Foundation
ISBN: 1610449053
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 402
Book Description
Why are the economic interests and priorities of lower- and middle-class Americans so often ignored by the U.S. Congress, while the economic interests of the wealthiest are prioritized, often resulting in policies favorable to their interests? In Hijacking the Agenda, political scientists Christopher Witko, Jana Morgan, Nathan J. Kelly, and Peter K. Enns examine why Congress privileges the concerns of businesses and the wealthy over those of average Americans. They go beyond demonstrating that such economic bias exists to illuminate precisely how and why economic policy is so often skewed in favor of the rich. The authors analyze over 20 years of floor speeches by several hundred members of Congress to examine the influence of campaign contributions on how the national economic agenda is set in Congress. They find that legislators who received more money from business and professional associations were more likely to discuss the deficit and other upper-class priorities, while those who received more money from unions were more likely to discuss issues important to lower- and middle-class constituents, such as economic inequality and wages. This attention imbalance matters because issues discussed in Congress receive more direct legislative action, such as bill introductions and committee hearings. While unions use campaign contributions to push back against wealthy interests, spending by the wealthy dwarfs that of unions. The authors use case studies analyzing financial regulation and the minimum wage to demonstrate how the financial influence of the wealthy enables them to advance their economic agenda. In each case, the authors examine the balance of structural power, or the power that comes from a person or company’s position in the economy, and kinetic power, the power that comes from the ability to mobilize organizational and financial resources in the policy process. The authors show how big business uses its structural power and resources to effect policy change in Congress, as when the financial industry sought deregulation in the late 1990s, resulting in the passage of a bill eviscerating New Deal financial regulations. Likewise, when business interests want to preserve the policy status quo, it uses its power to keep issues off of the agenda, as when inflation eats into the minimum wage and its declining purchasing power leaves low-wage workers in poverty. Although groups representing lower- and middle-class interests, particularly unions, can use their resources to shape policy responses if conditions are right, they lack structural power and suffer significant resource disadvantages. As a result, wealthy interests have the upper hand in shaping the policy process, simply due to their pivotal position in the economy and the resulting perception that policies beneficial to business are beneficial for everyone. Hijacking the Agenda is an illuminating account of the way economic power operates through the congressional agenda and policy process to privilege the interests of the wealthy and marks a major step forward in our understanding of the politics of inequality.
Prevention, Policy, and Public Health
Author: Amy A. Eyler
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190224657
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 409
Book Description
Prevention, Policy, and Public Health provides a basic foundation for students, professionals, and researchers to be more effective in the policy arena. It offers information on the dynamics of the policymaking process, theoretical frameworks, analysis, and policy applications. It also offers coverage of advocacy and communication, the two most integral aspects of shaping policies for public health.
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190224657
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 409
Book Description
Prevention, Policy, and Public Health provides a basic foundation for students, professionals, and researchers to be more effective in the policy arena. It offers information on the dynamics of the policymaking process, theoretical frameworks, analysis, and policy applications. It also offers coverage of advocacy and communication, the two most integral aspects of shaping policies for public health.
Institutional Frameworks for Social Policy in Latin America and the Caribbean
Author: Rodrigo Martínez
Publisher: UN
ISBN:
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 312
Book Description
Foreword .-- Introduction .-- Part 1. Social policy institutions. -- Chapter I. Institutional framework for social development / Rodrigo Martínez, Carlos Maldonado Valera .-- Chapter II. Social development and social protection institutions in Latin America and the Caribbean: overview and challenges / Rodrigo Martínez, Carlos Maldonado Valera .-- Part 2. Components and institutional framewoek of social protection. -- Chapter III. Labour market regulation and social protection: institutional challenges / Mario D. Velásquez Pinto .-- Chapter IV. Institutional aspects of Latin America's pension systems / Andras Uthoff .-- Chapter V. Care as a pillar of social protection: rights, policies and institutions in Latin America / María Nieves Rico, Claudia Robles .-- Part 3. Policies for specific populations and their institutional framework .-- Chapter VI. Life cycle and social policies: youth institutions in the region / Daniela Trucco .-- Chapter VII. Disability and public policy: institutional progress and challenges in Latin America / Heidi Ullmann .-- Chapter VIII. Latin American Afrodescendants: institutional framework and public policies / Marta Rangel.
Publisher: UN
ISBN:
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 312
Book Description
Foreword .-- Introduction .-- Part 1. Social policy institutions. -- Chapter I. Institutional framework for social development / Rodrigo Martínez, Carlos Maldonado Valera .-- Chapter II. Social development and social protection institutions in Latin America and the Caribbean: overview and challenges / Rodrigo Martínez, Carlos Maldonado Valera .-- Part 2. Components and institutional framewoek of social protection. -- Chapter III. Labour market regulation and social protection: institutional challenges / Mario D. Velásquez Pinto .-- Chapter IV. Institutional aspects of Latin America's pension systems / Andras Uthoff .-- Chapter V. Care as a pillar of social protection: rights, policies and institutions in Latin America / María Nieves Rico, Claudia Robles .-- Part 3. Policies for specific populations and their institutional framework .-- Chapter VI. Life cycle and social policies: youth institutions in the region / Daniela Trucco .-- Chapter VII. Disability and public policy: institutional progress and challenges in Latin America / Heidi Ullmann .-- Chapter VIII. Latin American Afrodescendants: institutional framework and public policies / Marta Rangel.
Society's Choices
Author: Institute of Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 030917676X
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 559
Book Description
Breakthroughs in biomedicine often lead to new life-giving treatments but may also raise troubling, even life-and-death, quandaries. Society's Choices discusses ways for people to handle today's bioethics issues in the context of America's unique history and cultureâ€"and from the perspectives of various interest groups. The book explores how Americans have grappled with specific aspects of bioethics through commission deliberations, programs by organizations, and other mechanisms and identifies criteria for evaluating the outcomes of these efforts. The committee offers recommendations on the role of government and professional societies, the function of commissions and institutional review boards, and bioethics in health professional education and research. The volume includes a series of 12 superb background papers on public moral discourse, mechanisms for handling social and ethical dilemmas, and other specific areas of controversy by well-known experts Ronald Bayer, Martin Benjamin, Dan W. Brock, Baruch A. Brody, H. Alta Charo, Lawrence Gostin, Bradford H. Gray, Kathi E. Hanna, Elizabeth Heitman, Thomas Nagel, Steven Shapin, and Charles M. Swezey.
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 030917676X
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 559
Book Description
Breakthroughs in biomedicine often lead to new life-giving treatments but may also raise troubling, even life-and-death, quandaries. Society's Choices discusses ways for people to handle today's bioethics issues in the context of America's unique history and cultureâ€"and from the perspectives of various interest groups. The book explores how Americans have grappled with specific aspects of bioethics through commission deliberations, programs by organizations, and other mechanisms and identifies criteria for evaluating the outcomes of these efforts. The committee offers recommendations on the role of government and professional societies, the function of commissions and institutional review boards, and bioethics in health professional education and research. The volume includes a series of 12 superb background papers on public moral discourse, mechanisms for handling social and ethical dilemmas, and other specific areas of controversy by well-known experts Ronald Bayer, Martin Benjamin, Dan W. Brock, Baruch A. Brody, H. Alta Charo, Lawrence Gostin, Bradford H. Gray, Kathi E. Hanna, Elizabeth Heitman, Thomas Nagel, Steven Shapin, and Charles M. Swezey.
Making Policy in a Complex World
Author: Paul Cairney
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108645577
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 149
Book Description
This provocative Element is on the 'state of the art' of theories that highlight policymaking complexity. It explains complexity in a way that is simple enough to understand and use. The primary audience is policy scholars seeking a single authoritative guide to studies of 'multi-centric policymaking'. It synthesises this literature to build a research agenda on the following questions: 1. How can we best explain the ways in which many policymaking 'centres' interact to produce policy? 2. How should we research multi-centric policymaking? 3. How can we hold policymakers to account in a multi-centric system? 4. How can people engage effectively to influence policy in a multi-centric system? However, by focusing on simple exposition and limiting jargon, Paul Cairney, Tanya Heikkila, Matthew Wood also speak to a far wider audience of practitioners, students, and new researchers seeking a straightforward introduction to policy theory and its practical lessons.
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108645577
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 149
Book Description
This provocative Element is on the 'state of the art' of theories that highlight policymaking complexity. It explains complexity in a way that is simple enough to understand and use. The primary audience is policy scholars seeking a single authoritative guide to studies of 'multi-centric policymaking'. It synthesises this literature to build a research agenda on the following questions: 1. How can we best explain the ways in which many policymaking 'centres' interact to produce policy? 2. How should we research multi-centric policymaking? 3. How can we hold policymakers to account in a multi-centric system? 4. How can people engage effectively to influence policy in a multi-centric system? However, by focusing on simple exposition and limiting jargon, Paul Cairney, Tanya Heikkila, Matthew Wood also speak to a far wider audience of practitioners, students, and new researchers seeking a straightforward introduction to policy theory and its practical lessons.
The Politics of Evidence
Author: Justin Parkhurst
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 131738086X
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 287
Book Description
The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.tandfebooks.com/, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 3.0 license. There has been an enormous increase in interest in the use of evidence for public policymaking, but the vast majority of work on the subject has failed to engage with the political nature of decision making and how this influences the ways in which evidence will be used (or misused) within political areas. This book provides new insights into the nature of political bias with regards to evidence and critically considers what an ‘improved’ use of evidence would look like from a policymaking perspective. Part I describes the great potential for evidence to help achieve social goals, as well as the challenges raised by the political nature of policymaking. It explores the concern of evidence advocates that political interests drive the misuse or manipulation of evidence, as well as counter-concerns of critical policy scholars about how appeals to ‘evidence-based policy’ can depoliticise political debates. Both concerns reflect forms of bias – the first representing technical bias, whereby evidence use violates principles of scientific best practice, and the second representing issue bias in how appeals to evidence can shift political debates to particular questions or marginalise policy-relevant social concerns. Part II then draws on the fields of policy studies and cognitive psychology to understand the origins and mechanisms of both forms of bias in relation to political interests and values. It illustrates how such biases are not only common, but can be much more predictable once we recognise their origins and manifestations in policy arenas. Finally, Part III discusses ways to move forward for those seeking to improve the use of evidence in public policymaking. It explores what constitutes ‘good evidence for policy’, as well as the ‘good use of evidence’ within policy processes, and considers how to build evidence-advisory institutions that embed key principles of both scientific good practice and democratic representation. Taken as a whole, the approach promoted is termed the ‘good governance of evidence’ – a concept that represents the use of rigorous, systematic and technically valid pieces of evidence within decision-making processes that are representative of, and accountable to, populations served.
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 131738086X
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 287
Book Description
The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.tandfebooks.com/, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 3.0 license. There has been an enormous increase in interest in the use of evidence for public policymaking, but the vast majority of work on the subject has failed to engage with the political nature of decision making and how this influences the ways in which evidence will be used (or misused) within political areas. This book provides new insights into the nature of political bias with regards to evidence and critically considers what an ‘improved’ use of evidence would look like from a policymaking perspective. Part I describes the great potential for evidence to help achieve social goals, as well as the challenges raised by the political nature of policymaking. It explores the concern of evidence advocates that political interests drive the misuse or manipulation of evidence, as well as counter-concerns of critical policy scholars about how appeals to ‘evidence-based policy’ can depoliticise political debates. Both concerns reflect forms of bias – the first representing technical bias, whereby evidence use violates principles of scientific best practice, and the second representing issue bias in how appeals to evidence can shift political debates to particular questions or marginalise policy-relevant social concerns. Part II then draws on the fields of policy studies and cognitive psychology to understand the origins and mechanisms of both forms of bias in relation to political interests and values. It illustrates how such biases are not only common, but can be much more predictable once we recognise their origins and manifestations in policy arenas. Finally, Part III discusses ways to move forward for those seeking to improve the use of evidence in public policymaking. It explores what constitutes ‘good evidence for policy’, as well as the ‘good use of evidence’ within policy processes, and considers how to build evidence-advisory institutions that embed key principles of both scientific good practice and democratic representation. Taken as a whole, the approach promoted is termed the ‘good governance of evidence’ – a concept that represents the use of rigorous, systematic and technically valid pieces of evidence within decision-making processes that are representative of, and accountable to, populations served.