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Agricultural policy is an area in which policy reform tends to be incremental rather than far-reaching, partly due to powerful farm interests. This chapter analyses two decades of debate in US agriculture on the role of direct payments to farmers as an appropriate policy instrument of state intervention, explaining why they could be constructed as a feasible policy solution in the debate on the 1996 and 2002 farm bills, but were later considered problematic, resulting in their discontinuation in the 2014 farm bill. This chapter provides an explanation for this policy shift by focusing on the discursive construction of problems and solutions, particularly how actors develop arguments binding particular problems and solutions, while delegitimating alternative problem-solution associations proposed by opponents. The case study highlights the importance of policy context variables (e.g. fiscal constraints, state of the economy) in the interaction with policy actors’ interests and discursive strategies, explaining why binding of particular problem-solution associations was successful at specific points in time, and not viable at others.

This chapter analyses how research use can be improved in policy settings. It notes the relative dearth of properly evaluated studies. It identifies strategies that address both research supply and research demand issues, and the interplay between them. It also details the strategies that draw on broader models of the policy process. It emphasizes the role of wider policy networks. It illustrates how interaction and intermediation shape the connection between research and policy.

This chapter argues that one cannot make sense of policy analysis in Australia without an appreciation of the economic challenges that have faced Australian governments over the last forty years. A conjunction of cyclical and structural problems in the two decades from the mid-1970s to the mid-1990s forced a re-evaluation of the policy framework that went back to the beginning of the century and had embedded itself in the Australian way of life. Re-evaluation came in the form of an historic shift toward economic liberalisation in both the regulation of the private sector and the operation of the public sector.No aspect of public policy was immune, as economic reasoning established a presence in policy-making across all domains.

It is said that the death of a loved one or a close acquaintance can have a rather profound effect and serve as a challenging experience for a young person. As such, there have been a number of services set up over the last twenty years that provide support to bereaved children and their families. This chapter discusses the philosophy behind the development of childhood bereavement services, as well as the specific policy context in England and the current provision.

This chapter provides a working definition of workfare, which is used in this book. The discussion identifies key elements of workfare programmes, and outlines the policy context for workfare policies in a discussion of a move from ‘passive’ to ‘active’ labour market policies. An ideological context is presented in the discussion of two competing concepts — ‘dependency’ and ‘social exclusion’ — in relation to worklessness. The chapter then presents the structural context for workfare, as well as giving a presentation of key economic indicators in the seven countries and a description of differences in welfare state and social assistance regimes.

The UK austerity programme has been defined as a fiscal policy and a deficit reduction programme consisting of sustained reductions in public spending and tax rises. Among the questions tackled in this chapter are: ‘were austerity policies an inevitable response to the financial crisis?’ Ideas on austerity are featured by writers including Blyth, Dorling, Skidelsky, Seymour, Kynaston, O’Hara, Rushton and Cooper and Whyte. The chapter asks: whether the dismantling of the welfare state became essential to tackle the budget deficit; and whether the UK government was wise to opt for austerity after the financial collapse of 2008, or should it have gone for economic stimulus. Austerity policies rather than stimulating growth have led to a dismantling of social systems that operated as a buffer against economic hardship.

This chapter provides a review of relevant literature on parenting and disability, which looks at parenting support and the barriers that certain parents encounter when bringing up their children. It argues that disabled parents have been mainly invisible in that particular tradition of social-policy research. The chapter studies policy context, particularly of the 1989 Children Act and the 1990 NHS and Community Care Act. It aims to determine the role these Acts play in structuring the response of formal services to disabled parents. The chapter also tries to show how their practice and policy legacies influence the way parents are supported.

Costa Rica has been considered a leader in a wide array of policies and actions that supported natural resource management, conservation, and biodiversity. In this chapter, the policy context for conserving biodiversity in Costa Rica is discussed. It identifies the relevant contextual factors of scale, history, social forces, and other policies that have affected Costa Rican conservation. It also examines how conservation in Costa Rica is linked to larger debates concerning biodiversity conservation worldwide.

This chapter explores some of the issues and challenges faced by a social researcher working in an Australian policy context. It is particularly concerned with the process and politics that underpinned an action research project conducted with a group of young Muslim, refugee women who play together in a ‘New Arrivals’ soccer team in Adelaide, South Australia. Although the chapter is concerned with sport, the issues it raises are considered as well. In addition, the chapter focuses not only on the findings of the research, but on the processes that underpin the research. The chapter begins with an overview of the soccer programme and its underlying preventive health agenda. The chapter ends by considering the key issues of research transfer and the governance of knowledge.

This chapter attempts to explain the background to and timing of the cycle speech by tracing the longer-term continuities. It looks in particular at, first, Joseph's own family background and approach to poverty; second, his interest in problem families; third, the broader policy context of the late 1960s and early 1970s, including debates about poverty, abortion, and family planning; fourth, the DHSS Preparation for Parenthood initiative, including a seminar at All Souls College, Oxford, in April 1973; and, fifth, the influence of debates in the US that focused on IQ, the culture of poverty, and the benefits of early intervention (such as the Head Start programme) as a means of countering the effects of poverty on human development.

This chapter discusses palliative care social work. It sets out to understand and respond to the social dimensions of the experience of people with life-threatening illness. The chapter looks at the policy context and examines social work practice with respect to two levels of engagement with people with life-threatening illness and progressive disorders. It provides fragments of social work practice to form pictures of the social dimensions of ill people's experience and of the breadth of a social work response.

This chapter addresses the broader institutional and policy context that is affecting the development of refugee community organisations. It presents a summary of the theoretical questions, which are discussed in Chapter Two as well. The chapter also has a short summary of the contents of the following chapters.

Written from the perspective of senior officers of a major English metropolitan authority, this chapter offers an insight into the challenge of seeking to service the needs of a diverse citizenry whilst simultaneously negotiating draconian budget cuts. In this context the need for research intelligence with instrumental utility is revealed as an absolute priority. This chapter provides a perspective on the potential cross-over of values between local authority personnel committed to ‘serving the needs and protecting the interests of our communities and the aspirations of researchers informed by a commitment to public engagement. At the same time it also painfully suggests reasons why this possibility may not easily be realised.

This chapter highlights some of the progress that has been made in research on male sex work, and explores the diversity of the male scene. It considers the current policy context in England and Wales in relation to what is known about patterns, places, and forms of male sex work. The chapter provides supporting evidence by research and data emanating from the UK, but also draws on international work. It outlines the current policy context, paying particular attention to A Coordinated Prostitution Strategy (Home Office, 2006). The chapter then contextualizes the male sex industry in terms of its broad demographics and details a new model for thinking about research on male sex work. It also explores different forms and practices of male sex work in public and indoor locations. The chapter draws conclusions regarding the current regulation of the male sex industry, and makes recommendations as to where legislative attention should be focused.

This chapter outlines the geographic social exclusion of asylum seekers as a result of the dispersal policy. It presents figures to provide a descriptive tool and to show how dispersal evolved geographically over time. It argues that the geography of dispersal is a reflection of the exclusionary policy context and the availability of unpopular housing. It also views the design and evolution of the dispersal policy, illustrating the geographical spread of cities involved. It explains that the ultimate geography of dispersal reflects the availability of unpopular or low-demand accommodation encompassing also the exclusionary policy context towards asylum seekers in which the policy is designed.

This chapter talks about the evolution of child poverty in Ireland over the past ten years. It begins by discussing the macroeconomic and policy contexts, and the data to be employed. This is followed by the relative income poverty rates for Irish children from the early 1970s until 1997. The non-monetary indicators of deprivation are used to show that relative income poverty rates are able to provide a partial picture during rapid growth. The chapter ends with a discussion on the implications for poverty measurement and policy.

This chapter discusses how gender can influence the social process of naturalization. It emphasizes that gender relations are crucial for any understanding of how and why men and women can experience changing social, economic, and cultural practices. The chapter shows that gender serves an important role in shaping the practices and discourses of citizenship, before examining the naturalization process found within the social, political, and policy context of the 1990s.

This chapter considers the refused asylum seekers and discusses destitution, poverty, and social networks. It begins with a discussion of the European policy context and the status of destitution in the UK. The chapter ends with a section on some asylum seekers who do not return for voluntary assisted return due to fear of persecution and those who do not receive support from the state. Several excerpts of personal accounts are provided as well.