Full Description
This insightful book develops a new theoretical account of governance as regimes of governing practices that shape the political ordering of social relations. This account develops insights from sociology, politics and political economy and is 'post'-poststructuralist in scope. Chapters explore and synthesise three key features of governing that are often treated as contradictory: the historical contingency of statehood, the structured and unequal distribution of power and authority in governing, and the transformative possibilities of political action. This book proposes an innovative approach to governance analysis as a critical mode of empirical enquiry that is systematic, contextualised and holistic. In doing so, it also provides a new analytical framework to facilitate empirical investigation.
Featuring tools of situated critique and analytical contextualisation, and with case study chapters that apply this framework in a range of empirical settings, this book is vital reading for all researchers of public policy and governance. Furthermore, researchers applying state theories to empirical investigation, and postgraduate students scrutinising complex governance settings, will also benefit from this book s theoretical account, analytical framework and case examples.
Contents
Contents:
PART I: Ontology, theory, epistemology
1. Introduction to governance analysis: critical enquiry at the intersection of politics, policy and society
Emma Carmel
2. Regimes of governing practices, socio-political order and contestation
Emma Carmel
3. Governance analysis: epistemological orientations and analytical framework
Emma Carmel
PART II: Governing practices, statehoods and social inequalities
4. Governing skills, governing workplaces: explaining the New Labour Skills Strategy for England
Hannah Durrant
5. The political ordering of migrant workers through labour admission policies
Regine Paul
6. Understanding the complexity and implications of the English care policy system
Fiona Morgan
7. Understanding the state-third sector relationship in public services delivery
Jenny Harlock
PART III: Governing practices, social politics and contestation
8. Participatory governing through co-production and co-design
Michelle Farr
9. Participatory governing at the margins of the state
Sarah Morgan-Trimmer
10. Governing, politics and policy contestation within European networks
Hester Kan
Index
