Joined–up Food Policy? The Trials of Governance,Public Policy and the Food System

To address the policy malfunctions of the recent past and present, UK food policy needs to link policy areas that in the past have been dealt with in a disparate manner, and to draw on a new ecological public health approach. This will need a shift within the dominant trade liberalization–national economic competitiveness paradigm that currently informs UK food policy, and the international levels of the EU and the WTO trade rules, and grants the large corporate players in the food system a favoured place at the policy–making tables. The contradictions of the food system have wrought crises that have engendered widespread institutional change at all levels of governance. Recent institutional reforms to UK food policy, such as the FSA and DEFRA, reflect a bounded approach to policy integration. Initiatives seeking a more integrated approach to food policy problems, such as the Social Exclusion Unit's access to shops report, and the Policy Commission on the Future of Food and Farming, can end up confined to a particular policy sector framed by particular interests—a process of "policy confinement". However, the UK can learn from the experience of Norway and Finland who have found their own routes to a more joined–up approach to public health and a sustainable food supply by, for example, introducing a national food policy council to provide integrated policy advice. Also, at the local and community levels in the UK, policy alternatives are being advanced in an ad hoc fashion by local food initiatives. More structural–level interventions at the regional and local governance levels are also needed to address the social dimensions of a sustainable food supply     

Neoliberal Knowledge: The Decline of Technocracy and the Weakening of the Montreal Protocol*

Objective. The turn to participatory, stakeholder modes of governance has been accompanied by the legitimization of a new “particularist knowledge regime” emphasizing the knowledge claims made by private interests and local voices. It has also tended to de‐legitimize the ways of knowing that had characterized central state governance, namely, state expertise based on general welfare analytics such as cost‐benefit analysis. This turn away from state expertise, what we call the “anti‐technocratic consensus,” while stemming from democratic motivations, may actually make environmental governance less democratic. Method. We examine the problems that arise from the abandonment of general welfare economic analytics and technical expertise—the anti‐technocratic consensus—through a specific case study: the recent handling of “critical use exemptions” to the ban on methyl bromide under the Montreal Protocol, a treaty that mandates the elimination of methyl bromide in order to protect the ozone layer. We show that decisionmakers specifically rejected general welfare analytics as a basis of regulatory action in favor of a particularist form of analytics based on measuring market disruption. Results. This case illustrate how the de‐legitimization of technical expertise can weaken the effectiveness of an environmental agreement in meeting its regulatory mandate. Critics have often criticized technical expertise as supporting the economic status quo. However, in the case of methyl bromide and the Montreal Protocol, technical experts using general welfare analytics represented a challenge to U.S. regulatory officials who supported industrial interests and their request for significant exemptions to the ban. Conclusion. The legitimization of a particularist knowledge regime opens up policy making to domination by private interests playing the stakeholder game. Stakeholder input and particularist knowledges are important to democratic decision making. However, technical expertise, despite all its weaknesses, is a form of knowledge that remains necessary to the protection of the environment and public health.     

Governmentality by Network in English Primary Healthcare

In England, the quality of clinical work is being regulated in new ways following recent developments in “clinical governance” policy and apparent failures in the previous system of medical self‐regulation. Using multiple case studies, this paper examines how these changes are affecting professional governmentality and discipline in general practice. Formal organizational structures play little role in clinical governance there. Clinical quality is managed largely through semi‐formal networks, relying on medical self‐surveillance. Compliance is achieved largely by discursive appeals to the legitimacy of clinical governance, but local GPs’ leaders also argue that governments might otherwise regulate medical practice more actively. As yet the effects of clinical governance activity on service delivery are slight. Professional self‐regulation is replacing permissive exception management with more collegial, directive methods.     

Social Enterprise – A New Phenomenon in the Field of Economic and Social Welfare?

Drawing upon insights from historical institutionalism, this article critically examines the origins of social enterprise and its emergence into the mainstream policy arena. It begins by relating the social enterprise idea to major non‐state/non‐private institutional traditions, including the European social economy, US non‐profits and the UK charitable sector, and places it within the specific field of economic and social welfare. In so doing, the article contests the idea that social enterprise is a new phenomenon in the social welfare field and proposes instead that the supposed ‘novelty’ of social enterprise as an organizational form and a subject of public policy lies primarily in the nature of the socio‐political and economic context of the 1980s–1990s, during which time it became ‘en vogue’. The process of institutionalization of social enterprise and its ascension into the mainstream policy arena is examined in more detail in the case of England during the time New Labour was in office and beyond, and lessons are drawn from this experience concerning both the role that social enterprise plays or is expected to play as a vehicle to address economic and social needs, and how this is intertwined with both a dominant neo‐liberal discourse, as well as alternative perspectives that emphasize more equalitarian and sustainable development paths. The article concludes with some reflections in relation to the apparent consensus that seems to exist around social enterprise as a legitimate subject of public policy and the resulting social enterprization of public services which is currently taking place in England.     

When the Export of Social Problems Is No Longer Possible: Immigration Policies and Unemployment in Switzerland

Throughout the twentieth century, Switzerland has been one of the OECD countries with the highest proportion of immigrants in its population. The aim of this article is to show how institutional factors have shaped the opportunities for change in immigration and immigrant‐employment‐related policies there in the 1990s. Whereas unemployment had remained low in the 1970s and 1980s, there was a marked increase at the beginning of the 1990s. Existing migration policies were considered a central cause of this increase, since the great majority of foreigners who had come and settled in Switzerland in the periods of economic expansion were low‐skilled, and were now over‐represented among the unemployed. The reforms undertaken in the field of immigration and integration policy to respond to these new problems have been determined by specific institutional factors: direct democracy, a defensive migration regime, the development of immigrant rights and the weak autonomy of the central state. These factors account to a large extent for the limited scope and specific pathways of policy reforms in these two domains.     

Envisioning the Third Sector's Welfare Role: Critical Discourse Analysis of ‘Post‐Devolution’ Public Policy in the UK 1998–2012

Welfare state theory has struggled to come to terms with the role of the third sector. It has often categorized welfare states in terms of the pattern of interplay between state social policies and the structure of the labour market. Moreover, it has frequently offered an exclusive focus on state policy – thereby failing to substantially recognize the role of the formally organized third sector. This study offers a corrective view. Against the backdrop of the international shift to multi‐level governance, it analyses the policy discourse of third sector involvement in welfare governance following devolution in the UK. It reveals the changing and contrasting ways in which post‐devolution territorial politics envisions the sector's role as a welfare provider. The mixed methods analysis compares policy framing and the structural narratives associated with the development of the third sector across the four constituent polities of the UK since 1998. The findings reveal how devolution has introduced a new spatial policy dynamic. Whilst there are elements of continuity between polities – such as the increasing salience of the third sector in welfare provision – policy narratives also provide evidence of the territorialization of third sector policy. From a methodological standpoint, this underlines the distinctive and complementary role discourse‐based analysis can play in understanding contemporary patterns and processes shaping welfare governance.     

从矿区政府到地方政府:中国油田地区条块关系的形成与演变

条块关系是由“条”与“块”分别承担的任务之冲突程度决定的，条块关系的演变也是由任务之间的冲突变化所导致的。如果中央政府需要下属政府机构同时完成多项任务，那么，多项任务之间的冲突将导致条与块的形成，而且，其冲突的严重程度决定了条块关系的特征，即决定了条块结合程度的高低。进而言之，任务之间的冲突程度上升将推动条块结合程度下降；反之，将导致条块结合程度上升。这一观点来源于多任务委托—代理理论，在本研究中得到了油田地区条块关系的支持，即可以解释在六个设市的油田地区条块关系的形成与演变。     

The vicious layering of multilevel governance in Southern Europe: The case of elderly care in Italy and Spain

Aging and changes in family arrangements and female employment have brought about important policy developments in long‐term care (LTC). Southern European countries have relied for a long time on family care and residual social care for the dependent elderly. Two paradigmatic cases, Italy and Spain, have shown two apparently different trends during the last 15 years: while in Italy, reforms seem to have been persistently blocked, in Spain, an ambitious reform has fallen short of expectations. Based on data on services and institutional arrangements, the article shows that a complex and inconsistent allocation of responsibilities across government levels, a sort of “vicious layering” of multilevel governance, may be playing a key role in this situation. The article discusses the dysfunctional effects of such arrangements, namely territorial inequalities, cost‐shifting between government levels and towards users, and misallocation of resources. We suggest that the development and reform of LTC in Southern European countries must address these problems if they want to avoid getting marooned by a complex network of vetoes and resource allocation problems.     

'Policies Don't Protect People, It's How They Are Implemented': Policy and Practice in Protecting People with Learning Disabilities from Abuse

Recent years have seen the development of policy guidance documents in both Wales and England relating to the protection of vulnerable adults from abuse. This policy guidance does, however, require translation into policies at the local level and that these policies are then implemented in day‐to‐day practice. This article reports some of the findings of a two‐year study that examined the development and implementation of such policies in services for people with learning disabilities within Wales. Data were gathered by means of a survey of service providers from across Wales and also via focus groups held with direct care staff and those with a responsibility for investigating alleged abuse. Positive developments include a commitment to multi‐disciplinary working, increased clarity and consistency, and greater awareness. Less positive aspects include the potential for policy ‘overload’ and a feeling that, while there is awareness of the existence of vulnerable adults policies, knowledge of their content may be more limited. Recommendations are made for the development of policy, practice and research.     

Co‐production,governance and practice: The dynamics and effects of User Voice Prison Councils

Drawing on Bevir's (2013) decentered theory of governance, and Donati's (2016) theory of the relational subject, this article explores how User Voice Prison Councils in England have contributed to shifts in aspects of prison governance and practice. It discusses the cultural and policy context in which the Councils emerged and operate before exploring their perceived purposes, dynamics, and effects. User Voice Prison Councils represent an important example of different actors co‐producing alternative patterns of governance through innovations in democratic participation. Interviews with Prison Council participants, User Voice and prison staff revealed that the development of such “bottom–up” participatory governance practices require and restore interpersonal trust, the mechanisms of which are interactions underpinned by a distinct manner of relating and the establishment of a network of relations oriented to the common good. The effects include enhanced institutional legitimacy; improvements in prison officer‐prisoner relations; and greater quality of life for prisoners. Revealing the “how” of co‐production, from the “inside”, the argument advanced here is that while the effects of co‐production may be more ameliorative than transformative, such collaborative and dialogic approaches can enable differently situated people to forge new norms of interactions and forms of democratic participation to achieve collective goals.     

Exploring the Social Roots of Smart Growth Policy Adoption by Cities*

Objective. This study identifies: (1) the smart growth policies adopted in a sample of U.S. cities; and (2) the relative impact of four social factors—education, local environmental activism, race, and homeownership on policy adoption. Method. A survey was sent to planning and development officials in a sample of 340 cities. Results. On average, the cities have 4.96 smart growth policies on their books. Adoption of such policies is more associated with two indicators of the new political culture (NPC)—the presence of environmental activist groups at the local level and the percent of college‐educated residents—than with the percent of residents who are white or the percent who are homeowners. Conclusion. The smart growth movement at the local level is a product of the environmental concerns associated with the NPC and is more likely to influence the adoption of land‐preserving policies than land‐use‐intensifying policies.     

A governance network perspective on environmental conflicts in China: findings from the Dalian paraxylene conflict

Employing the Governance Network framework, this article presents an in-depth case study of the conflict that evolved from 2003 onwards over the construction and operation of a paraxylene plant in Dalian, China. The study explores the usefulness of this framework as an empirical tool to describe and make sense of policy processes and governance in multi-actor situations in China. The analysis shows the lack of anticipation and deliberation by Chinese governments, resulting in the buildup of citizens’ concerns, mediated by social media beyond government control. This results in an outbreak of protest followed by uncoordinated governmental responses, with high costs for all parties. It is argued that, because of the underlying institutional causes, the challenges are even greater for Chinese governments to come to grips with the increasing need for internal coordination, deal with new social media, and balance economic and environmental values.     

Bottom Up and Top Down? Community Development in Post‐Soviet Armenia: The Social Fund Model

The main objective of this article is to discuss the effectiveness of bottom‐up, community‐driven approaches in promoting community participation and building local capacity within the post‐Soviet social, institutional and political context of Armenia. In exploring this issue, the article examines the nature of local participation and social relations in rural communities in Armenia and the impact of the World Bank‐supported Armenia Social Investment Fund (ASIF) project on the existing forms of local social organization. One of the objectives of the ASIF project was to promote the participation of local communities in their own economic and social development. The research finds that the project did not change the existing patterns of local social organization and had no significant impact on the nature of participation in the beneficiary communities. Bottom‐up, capacity‐building interventions that mainly focus on changing patterns of interpersonal social relations may not be effective in fostering sustainable civic institutions without changes in the nature of a country's governance.     

European Union Policy on Asylum and Immigration. Addressing the Root Causes of Forced Migration: A Justice and Home Affairs Policy of Freedom,Security and Justice?

This paper contributes to the debate on the development of the future common European Union Policy on Asylum and Immigration. It seeks to explain the rationale behind the evolution of the Union's policy outlook on asylum and immigration. It then analyses the most recent Union‐wide policy tools available to address asylum and migration issues, arguing that common European asylum policies thus far have focused on containment of migration flows seen as a threat to the European internal security regime and in response to perceived populist pressures. The return and readmission clauses now being implemented, in agreements with countries outside of the Union, serve to illustrate this point, as does the political willingness to extra‐territorialize asylum processing. However, the focus on eliminating the root causes of migration flows is a relatively new paradigm, developed since the 1999 Tampere European Council. Although off to a slow start, the European Union Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument may become an institutional outlet to create a more normative framework for asylum and migration. The success of such a framework is contingent upon breaking with earlier conceptualizations of “asylum” as a security threat. Implicit in such a framework is the need to retain a clear distinction between asylum‐ and labour‐related migration. Partnerships must also be granted a budget sufficient for their establishment in real terms with countries of origin and transit. Lastly, there must be changes in modes of governance, as well as institutional reform, if efforts to elaborate a strategy on asylum and migration are to be executed successfully. Curiously, while the proposed Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe sought to abolish the pillar structure put in place by the 1992 Treaty of Maastricht, it would have retained the institutional inhibitions imposed by long‐existing tensions between national and community administrations and the “inter‐pillar” battles between the foreign policy, humanitarian and development dimensions of the EU apparatus. The current political debate about moving Europe “closer to its people”, following the rejection of the proposed Constitution at national referenda in France and the Netherlands, appears unlikely to solve any of these tensions.     

The Revenge of History – The Institutional Roots of Post‐Communist Family Policy in the Czech Republic,Hungary and Poland

The authors combine historical and sociological institutional analysis to show that despite the political and socio‐economic transformation in 1990s, the institutional development during and before the communist era provides the best explanation for current childcare policies in Central Europe. While most authors have concentrated on policy changes that have taken place in the region since 1989, this article concentrates on the historical roots of these policies and shows that today's policies are highly influenced by a certain dynamics that had already emerged under communist rule. It shows that a historical institutional approach, which analyses the ‘gendered logic of appropriateness’ and policy legacies at various critical junctures, can explain why family policies in Central Europe had already begun to differ during the communist era, why these main differences continue and why even the changes that have taken place follow logically from historical‐institutional developments.     

Jobs in the Bush: Global Industries and Inclusive Rural Development

How do rural communities manage the challenge of local governance and community capacity‐building, given the policy choices of central government (both state and national) in favour of global resource‐development industries? Central government policy choices expose rural communities to the vagaries of the global economy, even as the Australian government's stated intent vis‐à‐vis rural Australia is the exact opposite: to encourage locally driven economic and community sustainability. Rural development policy in Australia often has the effect of denying the very outcomes it hopes to achieve. On the one hand, government policies encourage rural communities to be independent, to build ‘social capital’, and to add value to their local produce; on the other hand, macroeconomic policies change the contexts within which these communities function, creating a tension which is difficult to reconcile. In the case of the Western District of Victoria, an established agricultural and pastoral region, the cycles of economic activity have been disrupted in recent years by new and exciting global industries whose trajectories sit largely outside local control. This paper questions whether governments have a systemic view of the impact of these competing demands on rural communities, and calls for a more informed, whole‐of‐government policy‐making for the development of Australia's rural regions.     

The Changing Governance of Welfare: Recent Trends in its Primary Functions, Scale, and Modes of Coordination

This paper discusses four dimensions of the capitalist state's role in economic and social reproduction: its economic and social policy roles, the scales on which these roles are performed, and the modes of governance with which they are associated. It describes the typical postwar welfare regime on these dimensions, analyses the crisis in the governance of welfare that began to emerge in the late 1970s and 1980s, and characterizes the new regime that is tendentially replacing the postwar welfare state.     

The New Economy and the Forest: Rural Development in the Post‐Industrial Spaces of the Rural Alleghenies*

Objective. Government policy has long linked resource production with economic development in surrounding rural communities. The purpose of this article is to examine how the USDA Forest Service 's (USFS) resource‐based, rural development policies have shifted due to economic restructuring and environmental challenges to the “management” of nature. Methods. Historical data was gathered on USFS timber harvests and policies toward forest‐dependent communities. Data was also gathered through interviews and participant‐observation on a USFS‐supported, locally planned ecotourism project. Results. USFS rural development policies have shifted from predominantly providing federally determined, sustained timber harvests in the industrial era to increasingly emphasizing local, amenity‐based entrepreneurship and economic diversification in the post‐industrial era. Conclusions. USFS rural development policies and resource production have been de‐coupled. However, amenity‐based development may depend both on amenity migrants and sustained commitment from external sources to support local initiative, given limited entrepreneurship in rural areas long dependent on high‐wage extraction and manufacturing.     

Weaving nets: Housing and leadership in two Italian cities

As part of local welfare in Italy, housing policies underwent reforms that emphasized the role of local governments—and cities in particular—in the definition of the problem and in the elaboration of possible solutions. Housing is quite neglected in the political debate, but it is increasingly important for responding to citizens' demands in times of economic crisis. This paper reconstructs the policy process in two Italian cities, Turin (1997–2011) and Florence (1995–2011). The paper argues that policy change in housing can be fostered by a local political leadership that invests ideational, relational, and positional resources in policy making to spread new ideas, build networks of public and private actors at the local level, and attract fiscal resources while taking advantage of windows of opportunity at different institutional levels. Moreover, collaboration with local bureaucratic leadership proves fundamental to promoting innovative policies.     

Child Welfare in England: Problems, Promises and Prospects

This paper discusses developments in child welfare services in England in recent years and, particularly, the role and contribution of research. It is shown that a more significant and coherent body of child welfare research has been developed, which has linked formally to the policy process. Research programmes in England have highlighted specific problems in three areas: first, moving away from a narrow focus on child protection to an approach that provides broader family support for children in need; second, the absence of policies relating to services for adolescents; and, lastly, problems in the delivery of residential care for young people. A major programme of reform has been introduced by the new Labour government, consistent with research messages. It is concluded that research has had an impact on the development of child welfare services in England, although influencing the structure of services, social work practice and outcomes for young people are highly complex issues.