Public policy research has become increasingly comparative over the past several decades, but the methodological issues involved in this research have not been discussed adequately. This Handbook provides a discussion of the fundamental methodological issues in comparative policy research, as well as descriptions and analyses of major techniques used for that research. The techniques discussed are both quantitative and qualitative, and all are embedded in the broader discussion of comparative research design.
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Edited by B. Guy Peters and Guillaume Fontaine
Public Governance Paradigms
Competing and Co-Existing
Jacob Torfing, Lotte Bøgh Andersen, Carsten Greve and Kurt K. Klausen
This enlightening book scrutinizes the shifting governance paradigms that inform public administration reforms. From the rise to supremacy of New Public Management to new the growing preference for alternatives, four world-renowned authors launch a powerful and systematic comparison of the competing and co-existing paradigms, explaining the core features of public bureaucracy and professional rule in the modern day.
Regions and Innovation Policies in Europe
Learning from the Margins
Edited by Manuel González-López and Bjørn T. Asheim
Offering a novel contribution within the growing field of regional innovation policies, this book combines recent theoretical developments and empirical contributions, with a particular focus on non-core regions. Leading academics in the field discuss the topics of regional path transformation, place-based strategies and policy learning. Also included are sections on the role of EU institutions on the promotion of regional innovation and the analysis and comparison of the innovation policies experiences of four non-core European regions.
Smart Cities in Asia
Governing Development in the Era of Hyper-Connectivity
Edited by Yu-Min Joo and Teck-Boon Tan
At a time when Asia is rapidly growing in global influence, this much-needed and insightful book bridges two major current policy topics in order to offer a unique study of the latest smart city archetypes emerging throughout Asia. Highlighting the smart city aspirations of Asian countries and their role in Asian governments’ new development strategies, this book draws out timely narratives and insights from a uniquely Asian context and policymaking space.
Shaping Policy Agendas
The Micro-Politics of Economic International Organizations
Edited by David Dolowitz, Magdaléna Hadjiisky and Romuald Normand
This fascinating book investigates the strategic importance of the production and dissemination of expertise in the activities of the international organizations (IOs) that have come to symbolize the dominance of the Western political and economic order.
Edited by Nicolina Montesano Montessori, Michael Farrelly and Jane Mulderrig
This book provides a series of contemporary and international policy case studies analysed through discursive methodological approaches in the traditions of critical discourse analysis, social semiotics and discourse theory. This is the first volume that connects this discursive methodology systematically to the field of critical policy analysis and will therefore be an essential book for researchers who wish to include a discursive analysis in their critical policy research.
The Relational Nordic Welfare State
Between Utopia and Ideology
Edited by Sakari Hänninen, Kirsi-Marja Lehtelä and Paula Saikkonen
The success of the Nordic welfare state is well known, but the key drivers of its remarkable expansion are not. This book explores the relationships between citizens that constitute the normative groundwork of Nordic societies, arguing that the quality of relations steers welfare development.
Edited by Stephen Elstub and Oliver Escobar
Democratic innovations are proliferating in politics, governance, policy, and public administration. These new processes of public participation are reimagining the relationship between citizens and institutions. This Handbook advances understanding of democratic innovations, in theory and practice, by critically reviewing their importance throughout the world. The overarching themes are a focus on citizens and their relationship to these innovations, and the resulting effects on political equality. The Handbook therefore offers a definitive overview of existing research on democratic innovations, while also setting the agenda for future research and practice.
Big Data
Promise, Application and Pitfalls
Edited by John Storm Pedersen and Adrian Wilkinson
Big data and 'the package' of the digital society is de-mystified in this important book. A group of international experts frame the debates around big data and analyse its impact in different sectors in practice. They also examine whether big data and the digital society can deliver on its promises.
Edited by Robin Hickman, Beatriz Mella Lira, Moshe Givoni and Karst Geurs
With social inequity in urban spaces becoming an increasing concern in our modern world, The Elgar Companion to Transport, Space and Equity explores the relationships between transport and social equity. Transport systems and infrastructure investment can lead to inequitable travel behaviours, with certain socio-demographic groups using particular parts of the transport system and accessing particular activities and opportunities.