Re-stating the post-political: depoliticization, social inequalities, and city-region growth

This paper argues that city-region building debates and relatedly ‘post-political’ literatures are missing critical perspectives on the state, particularly the state’s continued existence as a social relation and an arena for politics, its role in the regulation of uneven development and the conflicts and struggles that arise from this. The paper brings the state centrally into ‘post-political’ debates via a critical analysis of the interrelationships between depoliticization and neoliberalism. Focusing on Sheffield (South Yorkshire, England) in the context of devolution and deal-making public policy, the paper explores the seemingly consensual visionmaking dynamics of this city region and dissects the tensions around economic governance, welfare austerity and social inequalities to get a handle on the ‘postpolitical’ depoliticized state in, and of, contemporary capitalism

Flexicurity, workfare or inclusion? The politics of welfare and activation in the UK and Denmark

In this paper through a comparative analysis of welfare to work in the UK and Denmark we wish to redefine the debate and challenge dominant notions of inclusion and exclusion and illustrate how the European Employment Strategy is influenced by different national contexts. The paper sets out to provide a broad comparative framework which places greater emphasis on politics and agency and the role of localisation in the configuration of welfare changes. In the conclusion we outline some suggestions for new guidelines and evaluation criteria of the EU-employment and inclusion strategies and their national implementation. We are aware that the politics of inclusion involves other social policy instruments such as, for example neighbourhood renewal, however, it is employability and insertion into the labour market that are dominant in liberal and social democratic welfare discourses

The city-region chimera: The political economy of metagovernance failure Britain

Within the context of spatial rebalancing and a Northern (metro-region) Powerhouse, this article explores the implementation of the devolution of employment and skills within the Sheffield city region. We make both an original empirical and analytical contribution by suggesting that notions of governance and metagovernance failure are important for analyzing the development, tensions and contradictions of city region economic governance within the context of the UK Government’s devolution and localism agenda (in particular “Devolution Agreements”). We consider that governance failure arises because of the primacy of a neoliberal-dominated strategy orientation towards the market and its failure in the delivery of skills. Governance and metagovernance mechanisms are unable to sufficiently coordinate effective responses to address a legacy of de-industrialisation, deep-rooted labour market and sociospatial inequalitie

Welfare through work and the re-regulation of labour markets in Denmark

This paper is positioned within theoretical perspectives that focus on welfare states as systems of power and negotiation between key social forces acting in and through the state apparatus. Despite an emerging consensus that UK welfare-state restructuring is deeply problematic, there appears to be reluctance, within the debate, to discuss viable alternatives to neoliberalism. In contrast to UK and North American strategies, Denmark has adopted a 'welfare-through-work' model, built around a more inclusive system of welfare reform. This article discusses its emergence, and focuses on the importance of Job Rotation as its leading-edge socio-economic strategy. It highlights recent conflicts and tensions within Job Rotation and, lastly, suggests lessons for the UK

Tackling concentrated worklessness: integrating governance and policy across and within spatial scales

Spatial concentrations of worklessness remained a key characteristic of labour markets in advanced industrial economies, even during the period of decline in aggregate levels of unemployment and economic inactivity evident from the late 1990s to the economic downturn in 2008. The failure of certain localities to benefit from wider improvements in regional and national labour markets points to a lack of effectiveness in adopted policy approaches, not least in relation to the governance arrangements and policy delivery mechanisms that seek to integrate residents of deprived areas into wider local labour markets. Through analysis of practice in the British context, we explore the difficulties of integrating economic and social policy agendas within and across spatial scales to tackle problems of concentrated worklessness. We present analysis of a number of selected case studies aimed at reducing localised worklessness and identify the possibilities and constraints for effective action given existing governance arrangements and policy priorities to promote economic competitiveness and inclusion

Hollowing out national agreements in the NHS? The case of "Improving Working Lives" under a "Turnaround" plan

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to consider the resilience of a national-level initiative (Improving Working Lives (IWL)) in the face of local-level initiative (Turnaround) in an NHS hospital and compare to Bach and Kessler’s (2012) model of public service employment relations. Design/methodology/approach: Case study research consisting of 23 in-depth semi-structured interviews from a range of participants. Findings: The principles behind IWL were almost entirely sacrificed in order to meet the financial objectives of Turnaround. This indicates the primacy of localised upstream performance management initiatives over the national-level downstream employee relations initiatives that form the basis of the NHS’ claim to model employer aspiration. Research limitations/implications: The case study was conducted between 2007 and 2009. While the case study falls under previous government regime, the dualised system of national-level agreements combined with localised performance management – and the continued existence of both Turnaround and IWL – makes the results relevant at the time of writing. Originality/value: Some studies (e.g. Skinner et al., 2004) indicated a perception that IWL was not trusted by NHS staff. The present study offers reasons as to why this may be the case

Emerging themes: (D4.1) UK

Quality is an innovative, quantitative and qualitative research project that aims to examine how, in an era of major change, European citizens living in different national welfare state regimes evaluate the quality of their lives. The project will analyse international comparative data on the social well-being of citizens and collect new data on social quality in European workplaces in eight strategically selected partner countries: UK, Finland, Sweden, Germany, the Netherlands, Portugal, Hungary and a candidate country for EU enlargement, Bulgaria

Marine Benthic Habitat Mapping of Muir Inlet, Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve, Alaska With an Evaluation of the Coastal and Marine Ecological Classification Standard III

Seafloor geology and potential benthic habitats were mapped in Muir Inlet, Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve, Alaska, using multibeam sonar, ground-truth information, and geological interpretations. Muir Inlet is a recently deglaciated fjord that is under the influence of glacial and paraglacial marine processes. High glacially derived sediment and meltwater fluxes, slope instabilities, and variable bathymetry result in a highly dynamic estuarine environment and benthic ecosystem. We characterize the fjord seafloor and potential benthic habitats using the Coastal and Marine Ecological Classification Standard (CMECS) recently developed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and NatureServe. Substrates within Muir Inlet are dominated by mud, derived from the high glacial debris flux. Water-column characteristics are derived from a combination of conductivity temperature depth (CTD) measurements and circulation-model results. We also present modern glaciomarine sediment accumulation data from quantitative differential bathymetry. These data show Muir Inlet is divided into two contrasting environments: a dynamic upper fjord and a relatively static lower fjord. The accompanying maps represent the first publicly available high-resolution bathymetric surveys of Muir Inlet. The results of these analyses serve as a test of the CMECS and as a baseline for continued mapping and correlations among seafloor substrate, benthic habitats, and glaciomarine processes