Book Review: Hugh Bochel and Martin Powell (eds), The Coalition Government and Social Policy: Restructuring the Welfare State
| DOI | 10.1177/1478929917713457 |
| Published date | 01 November 2017 |
| Date | 01 November 2017 |
| Author | Yoric Irving-Clarke |
| Subject Matter | Book ReviewsBritain and Ireland |
656 Political Studies Review 15(4)
spelled out, but objections of unfeasibility and
undesirability are firmly laid to rest.
Building on the work of Elinor Ostrom and
others, this book successfully argues that co-
production is more than a way of doing policy,
but a way of thinking about policy design and
democracy. The blurb on the back cover says
the book is aimed at researchers and students in
public policy and administration, sociology
and politics. It could be equally valuable for
practitioners. The language is accessible, argu-
ments are easy to follow and examples are
wide-ranging and relevant across different lev-
els of government and public service.
One aspect that might limit the book’s
impact, especially on some practitioners, is
that most examples and the general tone sug-
gest that the proposed alternative policy design
offers a way to further a ‘progressive’ political
agenda. It would be unfortunate if this deterred
readers with conservative political values from
paying attention to the demonstrated benefits
of co-productive policy design.
This brings us back to the opening para-
graph of this review. The book shows that
when ordinary people feel their opinions are
valued and make a difference, they become
more productive participants in democracy.
Experts and leaders, take note!
John Tyler
(University College London)
© The Author(s) 2017
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DOI: 10.1177/1478929917716890
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Britain and Ireland
The Coalition Government and Social
Policy: Restructuring the Welfare State by
Hugh Bochel and Martin Powell (eds). Bristol:
Policy Press, 2016. 392pp., £26.99 (p/b), ISBN
9781447324577
With this book, Hugh Bochel and Martin
Powell have produced a welcome summary
and starting point for analysing the welfare
policies of the coalition government between
the Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties
from 2010 to 2015. For this edited volume,
they take the welcome approach of asking a
number of policy experts in their fields to pro-
duce a chapter each, building a broad analysis
of the policy direction of the coalition across a
range of welfare policy areas.
To assist with this, Bochel and Powell set
out a framework showing the various dimen-
sions of the political approach (p. 9) in their
opening chapter. This is useful on two levels.
First, it enables the reader to see how the coali-
tion is placed within the longer policy context
and how the political paradigms have shifted
over time. Second, and more profoundly, it
provides each author with a reference point on
which to anchor their analysis. This provides a
valuable continuity throughout the book and
enables the editors to link issues between
chapters where there is crossover (which they
do very effectively). This provides a welcome
connection between what could otherwise
have been disparate chapters.
Several of the chapters reduce the Liberal
Democrats to an ameliorating influence on a
Conservative-led Government. This poten-
tially undersells their role as an active partner
in some of the policies under analysis, and their
ability to potentially kill policies they disliked.
There is also frequent use of the term ‘neolib-
eral’ by several of the authors to describe the
overall paradigm of the coalition. While this
may not be so much of an issue for academics,
there is a tendency outside academe to use this
as a catchall term for anything unpopular that
the Government does, and this detracts from its
usage in more general discussion. Also, at pre-
sent, the UK Government still spends around
40% of GDP on welfare provision, raising
questions about how far the state has actually
been hollowed out (as per neoliberalism).
These minor niggles aside, this book
provides a thorough, well-researched and
well-referenced analysis of welfare policy
under the coalition. It is easy to read and
accessible to the general reader and should
provide a solid reference text for both under-
graduate and postgraduate students of social
policy in the UK.
Yoric Irving-Clarke
(Independent Scholar)
© The Author(s) 2017
Reprints and permissions: sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav
DOI: 10.1177/1478929917713457
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