Home and care are central aspects of everyday, personal lives, yet they are also shaped by political and economic change. Within a context of austerity, economic restructuring, worsening inequality and resource rationing, the policies and experiences around these key areas are shifting. Taking an interdisciplinary and feminist perspective, this book illustrates how economic and political changes affect everyday lives for many families and households in the UK. Setting out both new empirical material and new conceptual terrain, the authors draw on approaches from human geography, social policy, and feminist and political theory to explore issues of home and care in times of crisis.

Contemporary craft, art and design are inseparable from the flows of production and consumption under global capitalism. The New Politics of the Handmade features twenty-three voices who critically rethink the handmade in this dramatically shifting economy. The authors examine craft within the conditions of extreme material and economic disparity; a renewed focus on labour and materiality in contemporary art and museums; the political dimensions of craftivism, neoliberalism, and state power; efforts toward urban renewal and sustainability; the use of digital technologies; and craft's connections to race, cultural identity and sovereignty in texts that criss-cross five continents. They claim contemporary craft as a dynamic critical position for understanding the most immediate political and aesthetic issues of our time.

This critical and highly topical introduction to the current debates and politics surrounding welfare reform in the United Kingdom and the United States explains the origins and main tenets of the new Blair-Clinton orthodoxy. Central to the book is an examination of this orthodoxy's appeal to the concept of social justice. Bill Jordan demonstrates how values derived from the family and voluntary associations are in danger of running counter to the more fundamental principles of liberal democracy and the requirements of transnational economic exchange. He links the new politics of welfare to liberal and communitarian theories of citizenship and social justice, and assesses the broader prospects for European social policy in

The curbing of trade union power is often seen as one of the major achievements of Margaret Thatcher's premiership. David Marsh's book provides a broad-ranging introduction to British trade unionism in the 1990s and an assessment of the last decade's major changes in legislation, policing and attitudes. He concludes that while the political role of unions has been reduced, much less has changed at shopfloor level; moveover what has changed has owed more to economic recession than government action.

The elections for Israel's nineteenth Knesset were held on January 22, 2013. This volume offers an in-depth analysis of Israel's 2013 elections from various perspectives. It presents an up-to-date picture of the complexity of Israeli democracy, and its challenges, achievements, and failures. The chapters in this collection shed light on different facets of Israeli democracy. Yaron Ezrahi provides a sceptical perspective on prospects for democracy. Gayil Talshir explains the party system's slowness to respond to citizen demands and to social movements. Michal Shamir and Keren Weinshall-Margel explore the politics of the right to be elected to the Knesset. Nir Atmor and Chen Friedberg highlight the decline in participation in Knesset elections in the Periphery versus the Center. Assaf Shapira and Gideon Rahat reveal the complexity of inter-party democracy. Dganit Ofek analyses the stability of government coalitions. Gal Levy examines Mizrahi Jews and the Shas Party. Mtanes Shihadeh discusses the voting patterns of Israeli Arabs. Asher Cohen focuses on religious Zionism and the success of the renewed Jewish Home Party. Michal Shamir and Einat Gedalya-Lavy document a gender gap in voting. Elections in Israel 2013 analyses the give-and-take between the public and its leaders that is at the heart of elections. In doing so, it illuminates the role of elections in providing representation for different groups in Israeli society and in giving voice to their political choices.

As the world economy slides into the worst recession since the 1930s, there is fear that hard times will ignite a backlash against free trade policies and globalization more generally. This book explores the political and economic institutional foundations of the bargain of embedded liberalism and the ways domestic institutions shape how governments redistribute the risks and benefits of economic globalization. The author identifies the Anglo-American democracies, because of their majoritarian polities combined with decentralized, competitive economies, as uniquely vulnerable to the contemporary challenges of globalization and the most susceptible to a backlash against it.

The New Politics of the NHS has become established over 30 years as the key overview of the NHS, its processes and paths of influence. The seventh edition remains a clear, easy-to-read guide to often complex debates. It encompasses both the background of the evolution of the NHS since its foundation, and a completely up-to-date picture of its prese

This book is about the new politics of leisure and pleasure - the values, practices, struggles and contradictions that now characterize the social worlds of rambling, drinking, tourism, sex, watching TV, gambling, using the internet, reading, comedy, sport, popular music and censorship.

The New Politics of the NHS has become established over a quarter century and five editions as the key overview of the NHS and its processes and paths of influence. This latest edition remains a clear, easy-to-read guide to often complex debates. It encompasses both the background of the evolution of the NHS since its foundation, and a completely up-to-date picture of its present and future in a more pluralistic - and possibly more financially austere - era in which deference to medical expertise is eroding and information on health and care is far more widely available. Assuming no prior knowledge of NHS politics and systems, The New Politics of the NHS focuses on management, structure, centralisation, funding, economic performance, challenges, current party political debates, interest groups and rationing, and also on the NHS's institutional and cultural continuity as a tax-funded service providing comprehensive, universal healthcare free at the point of delivery. It is a vital update for all healthcare professionals, NHS managers, policy makers and shapers, and those in special interest groups including patient advocacy organisations. From reviews of previous editions: ' A valuable insight into the discussions and decisions that determine such an important aspect of our daily life.' CANCER CARE NEWS

This book provides an overview of recent government initiatives in the field of crime and punishment, reviewing both the policies themselves, the perceived problems and issues they seek to address, and the broader social and political context in which this is taking place. The underlying theme of the book is that a qualitative change has taken place in the politics of crime control in the UK since the early 1990s. Although crime has stabilised, imprisonment rates continue to climb, there is a new mood of punitiveness, and crime has become a central policy issue for the government, no longer just a technical matter of law enforcement. At the same time the politics of crime control have taken on a pronounced gender, race and age preoccupation. This book will be essential reading for anybody seeking an understanding of why crime and criminal justice policy have risen to the top of the political agenda.