Policy Press

Democracy, power and governance

In these politically turbulent times, questions about democracy, power and society are frequently raised. How does power work in society? Can we ever achieve equal rights when the power dynamics in society are so skewed?

With the UN Sustainable Development Goal 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions in focus, our publishing in this area addresses questions like these from multiple angles, from extensive research into democratic governance and the concept of political power, to the role of power between different nations in foreign policy negotiations.

Bristol University Press and Policy Press are signed up to the UN SDG Publishers Compact. In Democracy, power and governance, we aim to address the following goal:

SDG Publishers compact logoSDG 16: Peace, justice and strong institutions

Showing 37-48 of 558 items.

Street-Level Bureaucracy in Weak State Institutions

In this book, street-level bureaucracy scholars from South Asia, sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America analyse the conditions that shape frontline work and citizens´ everyday experience of the state.

Policy Press

Understanding and Improving Public Management Reforms

Why do top-down reforms to public services so often over-promise and under-deliver? Using five concepts from psychology, economics and organisational sociology and diverse examples of successes and failures, Thomas Elston addresses this pressing question of good governance.

Policy Press

Racial Justice and the Limits of Law

This book examines law’s troubled relationship with racial justice. Both a lawyer’s guide to anti-racism and an anti-racist’s guide to legal action, it unites these perspectives to help both groups understand how to use the law to tackle racial injustices.

Bristol Uni Press

What Are the Olympics For?

While attention is on Olympic triumphs and tribulations, there is much that goes on behind the scenes that is deeply troubling. Boykoff tells us that radical steps are required if the Games are to be fixed and only then will they be truly ‘athletes first’.

Bristol Uni Press

Claiming and Contesting Representation in Mexico

Meanings, Practices and Settings

Through innovative conceptual work and original case studies, the book explores important trends in Mexican politics and governance through the lens of representation, including who speaks and stands for whom, on what grounds and in what domains and the challenges they face.

Bristol Uni Press

Understanding Theories and Concepts in Social Policy

Demonstrating the relevance of theory to political and policy debates and practice, this dynamic and fully updated second edition helps students to grasp the real-life implications of social policy theory. It includes a new chapter featuring debates around disability, sexuality and the environment.

Policy Press

Neighbourhood Policing

Context, Practices and Challenges

Neighbourhood policing has been called the “cornerstone of British policing” but changing demand, pressures on funding and cyclical political support mean that this approach is under considerable pressure. The book investigates whether this UK model - intended to build confidence and legitimacy - has been successful and assesses its future.

Policy Press

Disasters and Changes in Society and Politics

Contemporary Perspectives from Italy

Edited by Giuseppe Forino

This book brings a critical perspective to post-disaster reconstruction in Italy, and the sometimes radical changes in individual and collective behaviours that persist following such events. Considering the impacts of climate change and COVID-19, this edited book will stimulate debate on policy and practice in disaster recovery.

Bristol Uni Press

The Conservative Governments and Social Policy

This book examines the policy approaches of Conservative governments since 2015 in key social policy areas including education, health, housing, employment, children and young people and more.

Policy Press

The Internet Left

Ideology in the Age of Social Media

This book defines what political social media is and then takes a morphological approach to investigate political ideologies and reveal the ways in which interconnected concepts are arranged. It concludes by coining the term ‘proto-ideologies’ to approach the construction of concepts that generate ideologies in the making.

Bristol Uni Press

Data Power in Action

Urban Data Politics in Times of Crisis

EPDF and EPUB available Open Access under CC-BY-NC-ND licence

Drawing on the study of different cities in the Global South, this book explores how data have become a generative force in shaping what cities are, how they are governed and inhabited, especially during times of crisis, such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

Bristol Uni Press

Politics and Administrative Justice

Postliberalism, Street-Level Bureaucracy and the Reawakening of Democratic Citizenship

This book argues there is urgent need for a radical reassessment of the way the law mediates between citizens and the state. Drawing on public inquiries into high-profile cases, this book examines how the regulation of street-level bureaucracy can play an integral part in reimagining postliberal politics and the role of the law.

Bristol Uni Press


Related journals

Policy and politics coverEuropean journal of politics and gender coverGlobal discourse coverJournal of public finance and public choice cover

Policy & Politics

Can the governance paradigm survive the rise of populism?
Gerry Stoker

Citizen participation and changing governance: cases of devolution in England
Brenton Prosser

The Use and Abuse of Participatory Governance by Populist Governments [Free]
Agnes Batory and Sara Svensson

Beyond radicalism and resignation: the competing logics for public participation in policy decisions
Rikki John Dean

Elite capture of local participatory governance
Wahed Waheduzzaman, Sharif As-Saber and Mohotaj Binte Hamid

The Effects of Economic Crises on Participatory Democracy
Pau Alarcón et al

European Journal of Politics and Gender

Special issue: Contemporary Crises in European Politics: Gender Equality+ Under Threat

Themed Section on: Women, Media and Politics

Special issue: Politics and gender: rocking political science and creating new horizons featuring:
Taking implementation seriously in assessing success: the politics of gender equality policy
Power, knowledge and the politics of gender in the Global South [Open Access]
Feminist international relations: some research agendas for a world in transition

Global Discourse

Themed issue on: The Politics of Negative Emotions

Themed issue on: Cultivating New Post-secular Political Space

Themed issue on: The Limits of EUrope: Identities, Spaces, Values

Themed issue on: Reflections on post-Marxism: Laclau and Mouffe's project of radical democracy in the 21st century

Themed issue on: Militancy and the working class: The case of Northern Ireland

Journal of Public Finance and Public Choice

Imperfect democracy and economic freedom
Ryan H. Murphy

Do Democratic governors lower economic freedom? A regression discontinuity approach
William B Hankins and Gary A. Hoover

The European Union building from Public Choice to Ordo, Röpke’s and Einaudi’s ideas of Europe [Free]
Francesco Forte

The Political Red Queen
Giampaolo Garzarelli and Emma Galli

The political economy of state building
Ilia Murtazashvili and Jennifer Murtazashvili