Canadian Social Policy, Fifth Edition

Canadian Social Policy, Fifth Edition
Author: Anne Westhues
Publisher: Wilfrid Laurier Univ. Press
Total Pages: 694
Release: 2012-05-25
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1554584108

Social policy shapes the daily lives of every Canadian citizen and should reflect the beliefs of a majority of Canadians on just approaches to the promotion of health, safety, and well-being. Too often, those on the front lines—social workers, nurses, and teachers—observe that policies do not work well for the most vulnerable groups in society. In the first part of this new edition of Canadian Social Policy, Westhues and Wharf argue that service deliverers have discretion in how policies are implemented, and the exercise of this discretion is how citizens experience policy—whether or not it is fair and reasonable. They show the reader how social policy is made and they encourage active citizenship to produce policies that are more socially just. New material includes an examination of the reproduction of systemic racism through the implementation of human rights policy and a comparative analysis of the policy-making process in Quebec and English Canada. The second part of the book discusses policy issues currently under debate in Canada. Included are new chapters that explore parental leave policies and housing as a determinant of health. All chapters contain newly updated statistical data and research and policy analysis. A reworked section on the process of policy-making and the addition of questions for critical reflection enhance the suitability of the book as a core resource in social policy courses. The final chapter explores how front-line workers in the human services can advocate for change in organizational policies that will benefit the people supported.

Social Policy and Practice in Canada

Social Policy and Practice in Canada
Author: Alvin Finkel
Publisher: Wilfrid Laurier Univ. Press
Total Pages: 398
Release: 2012-05-09
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1554588863

Social Policy and Practice in Canada: A History traces the history of social policy in Canada from the period of First Nations’ control to the present day, exploring the various ways in which residents of the area known today as Canada have organized themselves to deal with (or to ignore) the needs of the ill, the poor, the elderly, and the young. This book is the first synthesis on social policy in Canada to provide a critical perspective on the evolution of social policy in the country. While earlier work has treated each new social program as a major advance, and reacted with shock to neoliberalism’s attack on social programs, Alvin Finkel demonstrates that right-wing and left-wing forces have always battled to shape social policy in Canada. He argues that the notion of a welfare state consensus in the period after 1945 is misleading, and that the social programs developed before the neoliberal counteroffensive were far less radical than they are sometimes depicted. Social Policy and Practice in Canada: A History begins by exploring the non-state mechanisms employed by First Nations to insure the well-being of their members. It then deals with the role of the Church in New France and of voluntary organizations in British North America in helping the unfortunate. After examining why voluntary organizations gradually gave way to state-controlled programs, the book assesses the evolution of social policy in Canada in a variety of areas, including health care, treatment of the elderly, child care, housing, and poverty.

Governance and Public Policy in Canada

Governance and Public Policy in Canada
Author: Michael M. Atkinson
Publisher: University of Toronto Press
Total Pages: 225
Release: 2013-01-01
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 144260493X

Governance and Public Policy in Canada lays the foundation for a systematic analysis of policy developments, shaped as they are by multiple players, institutional tensions, and governance legacies. Arguing that provinces are now the most central site of governance and policy innovation, the book assesses the role of the provinces and places the provincial state in its broader economic, institutional, social, and territorial context. The aim throughout is to highlight the crucial role of provinces in policy changes that directly affect the lives of citizens. Three key themes unify this book. First, it addresses the role of policy convergence and divergence among provinces. Although the analysis acknowledges enduring differences in political culture and institutions, it also points to patterns of policy diffusion and convergence in specific areas in a number of provinces. Second, the book explores the push and pull between centralization and decentralization in Canada as it affects intergovernmental relations. Third, it underscores that although the provinces play a greater role in policy development than ever before, they now face a growing tension between their expanding policy ambitions and their capacity to develop, fund, implement, manage, and evaluate policy programs. Governance and Public Policy in Canada describes how the provincial state has adapted in the context of these changing circumstances to transcend its limited capacity while engaging with a growing number of civil society actors, policy networks, and intergovernmental bodies.

The Horizontal Challenge

The Horizontal Challenge
Author: Herman Bakvis
Publisher: Canada School of Public Service
Total Pages: 77
Release: 2004-01-01
Genre: Administrative agencies
ISBN: 9780662365440

Canadian Social Welfare Policy

Canadian Social Welfare Policy
Author: Institute of Public Administration of Canada
Publisher: McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP
Total Pages: 212
Release: 1985
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 9780773506121

Seven experts, representing a variety of disciplinary perspectives, discuss specific reform efforts in a number of social welfare policy areas and identify the jurisdictional fremework of policy-making in Canada's federal system as a factor of significantly affects these efforts.

Successful Public Policy

Successful Public Policy
Author: Joannah Luetjens
Publisher: ANU Press
Total Pages: 551
Release: 2019-04-30
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1760462799

In Australia and New Zealand, many public projects, programs and services perform well. But these cases are consistently underexposed and understudied. We cannot properly ‘see’—let alone recognise and explain—variations in government performance when media, political and academic discourses are saturated with accounts of their shortcomings and failures, but are next to silent on their achievements. Successful Public Policy: Lessons from Australia and New Zealand helps to turn that tide. It aims to reset the agenda for teaching, research and dialogue on public policy performance. This is done through a series of close-up, in-depth and carefully chosen case study accounts of the genesis and evolution of stand-out public policy achievements, across a range of sectors within Australia and New Zealand. Through these accounts, written by experts from both countries, we engage with the conceptual, methodological and theoretical challenges that have plagued extant research seeking to evaluate, explain and design successful public policy. Studies of public policy successes are rare—not just in Australia and New Zealand, but the world over. This book is embedded in a broader project exploring policy successes globally; its companion volume, Great Policy Successes (edited by Paul ‘t Hart and Mallory Compton), is published by Oxford University Press (2019).

Social Work and the Making of Social Policy

Social Work and the Making of Social Policy
Author: Klammer, Ute
Publisher: Policy Press
Total Pages: 256
Release: 2020-12-16
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1447349164

Bringing together international case studies, this book offers theoretical and empirical insights into the interaction between social work and social policy. Moving beyond existing studies on policy practice, the book employs the policy cycle as a core analytical frame and focuses on the influence of social work(ers) in the problem definition, agenda setting, policy formulation and implementation of social policy. Twenty-three contributors offer examples of policy making from seven different countries and demonstrate how social work practitioners can become political actors, while also encouraging policy makers to become aware of the potential of social work for the social policy-making process.

Understanding Public Policy

Understanding Public Policy
Author: Paul Cairney
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 376
Release: 2019-11-08
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1350311979

The fully revised second edition of this textbook offers a comprehensive introduction to theories of public policy and policymaking. The policy process is complex: it contains hundreds of people and organisations from various levels and types of government, from agencies, quasi- and non-governmental organisations, interest groups and the private and voluntary sectors. This book sets out the major concepts and theories that are vital for making sense of the complexity of public policy, and explores how to combine their insights when seeking to explain the policy process. While a wide range of topics are covered – from multi-level governance and punctuated equilibrium theory to 'Multiple Streams' analysis and feminist institutionalism – this engaging text draws out the common themes among the variety of studies considered and tackles three key questions: what is the story of each theory (or multiple theories); what does policy theory tell us about issues like 'evidence based policymaking'; and how 'universal' are policy theories designed in the Global North? This book is the perfect companion for undergraduate and postgraduate students studying public policy, whether focussed on theory, analysis or the policy process, and it is essential reading for all those on MPP or MPM programmes. New to this Edition: - New sections on power, feminist institutionalism, the institutional analysis and development framework, the narrative policy framework, social construction and policy design - A consideration of policy studies in relation to the Global South in an updated concluding chapter - More coverage of policy formulation and tools, the psychology of policymaking and complexity theory - Engaging discussions of punctuated equilibrium, the advocacy coalition framework and multiple streams analysis

Changing Politics of Canadian Social Policy, Second Edition

Changing Politics of Canadian Social Policy, Second Edition
Author: James J. Rice
Publisher: University of Toronto Press
Total Pages: 409
Release: 2013-03-05
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1442696664

A consistent bestseller since its publication in 2000, Changing Politics of Canadian Social Policy is a one-of-a-kind resource in the fields of political science and social work. Examining current conditions affecting the development of social policies in Canada, this book offers in-depth critical analysis of how these policies first arose and the implications they pose for future policy development. This new edition of Changing Politics of Canadian Social Policy features updated chapters while retaining the first edition’s analytical focus on economic globalization, societal pluralization, and social protection. The authors offer fresh considerations of gender relations and families, community agencies and the voluntary sector, as well as the social policy activities of all levels of government in the Canadian federation. Changing Politics of Canadian Social Policy will continue to provide the much-needed groundwork for students and policymakers, as well as propose real solutions for the future.