Providing students and practitioners with a comprehensive introduction to evaluation research, this book shows how social research methods and methodologies can be applied in a variety of evaluation contexts. The author:
- illustrates the contribution both quantitative and qualitative methods can make to evaluation;
- stresses the important part played by theory in the evaluation enterprise;
- introduces some of the conceptual, methodological and practical problems encountered when undertaking this type of applied research, especially in the areas of criminal justice, health care and education.
The urgent and sustained interest in corporate governance is unprecedented, with the connections between corporate governance and economic performance being emphasized by the World Bank, the
IMF and others in the global economic community.
In this timely and definitive intellectual analysis of a key discipline, The SAGE Handbook of Corporate Governance offers a critical overview of the key themes, theoretical controversies, current research and emerging concepts that frame the field. Consisting of original substantive chapters by leading international scholars, and examining corporate governance from an inter-disciplinary basis, the text highlights how governance issues are critical to the formation, growth, financing, structural development, and strategic direction of companies and how corporate governance institutions in turn influence the
innovation and development of industrial and economic systems globally.
Comprehensive, authoritative and presented in a highly-accessible framework, this Handbook is a significant resource to those with an interest in understanding this important emerging field.
This original analysis of the creation of new state forms critically examines the political forces that enabled `more and better management' to be presented as a solution to the problems of the welfare state in Britain.
Examining the micro-politics within public service, the authors draw links between politics, policies and organizational power to present an incisive and dynamic account of the restructuring of social welfare. Clarke and Newman expose the tensions and contradictions in the managerial state and trace the emergence of new dilemmas in the provision of public services. They show that these problems are connected to the recurring difficulties in defining `the public' that receives these services. In particular they question whether the reinvention of the public as either a nation of consumers or a nation of communities can effectively address the implications of social diversity.
Very stimulating and intellectually exciting. In fact, I think it is one of the best books I have read for a long time. - Professor Carsten Greve, International centre for Business and Politics at the Copenhagen Business School Publicness appears to be in decline or retreat in the face of markets, consumerism and individualism. Yet questions of public participation, public governance and the reform of public services are at the top of the political agenda in many countries. Publics, Politics and Power offers an innovative analysis of the changing fortunes of publicness. The book " Explores the emergence of new forms, sites and practices of publicness and the implications for public services. " Examines the remaking of the public in the context of new formations of the nation, where issues of migration, diversity and faith challenge traditional forms of solidarity and citizenship. " Traces the emergence of hybrid organizational forms and new strategies for governing publics and public services. " Assesses some of the ways in which the public domain is being recast around notions of civil society, community, and populist participatory politics. Chapters include vignettes illustrating the book's core concepts, making this a useful teaching resource and valuable reading for students of public management, public and social policy, sociology and cultural studies, and for those working in public services. Janet Newman is a Professor of Social Policy at the Open University, and Director of the Publics Research Programme within the Centre for Citizenship, Identities and Governance. John Clarke is a Professor of Social Policy at the Open University. His research has centred on conflicts over the future of welfare states, public services and citizenship in the UK and elsewhere.
