The Politics and Policy of Wellbeing: Understanding the Rise and Significance of a New Agenda - Hardcover

Bache, Ian; Reardon, Louise

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1783479329 ISBN 13: 9781783479320

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd, 2016

Synopsis

Government interest in wellbeing as an explicit goal of public policy has increased significantly in recent years. This has led to new developments in measuring wellbeing and initiatives aimed specifically at enhancing wellbeing, that reflect new thinking on 'what matters' and challenge established notions of societal progress. The Politics and Policy of Wellbeing provides the first theoretically grounded and empirically informed account of the rise and significance of wellbeing in contemporary politics and policy.

Drawing on theories of agenda-setting and policy change, Ian Bache and Louise Reardon consider whether wellbeing can be described as 'an idea whose time has come'. The book reflects on developments across the globe and provides a detailed comparative analysis of two political arenas: the UK and the EU. Offering the first reflection grounded in evidence of the potential for wellbeing to be paradigm changing, the authors identify the challenge of bringing wellbeing into policy as a 'wicked problem' that policymakers are only now beginning to grapple with.

This pioneering account of wellbeing from a political science perspective is a unique and valuable contribution to the field. The authors' theoretical and empirical conclusions are of great interest to scholars of politics and wellbeing alike.

About this title

About the Author

Ian Bache, Professor of Politics and Co-Director of the Centre for Wellbeing in Public Policy (CWiPP), University of Sheffield and Louise Reardon, Associate Professor in Governance and Public Policy, Department of Public Administration and Policy, University of Birmingham, UK

Edition details

• Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd
• Publication date: 2016
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1783479329
• ISBN 13: 9781783479320
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 200