Available Open Access under CC-BY-NC-ND licenceThis ground breaking book presents the first evidence of forced labour among displaced migrants who seek refuge in the UK.Through a critical engagement with contemporary debates about precarity, unfreedom and socio-legal status, the book explores how asylum and forced labour are linked, and enmeshed in a broader picture of modern slavery produced through globalised working conditions.Drawing on original evidence generat...

As the tragedy of the Grenfell tower fire has slowly revealed a shadowy background of outsourcing, private finance initiatives and a council turning a blind eye to health and safety concerns, many questions need answers. Stuart Hodkinson has those answers. He has worked for the last decade with residents groups in council regeneration projects across London. As residents have been shifted out of 60s and 70s social housing to make way for higher rent paying newcomers, they have been promise...

Welfare states vary across nations and change over time. And the balance between markets and government; free enterprise and social protection is perennially in question. But all developed societies have welfare states of one kind or another - they are a fundamental dimension of modern government. And even after decades of free-market criticism and reform, their core institutions have proven resilient and popular. This Very Short Introduction describes the modern welfare state, ex...

The idea of finding a 'third way' in politics has been widely discussed over recent months - not only in the UK, but in the US, Continental Europe and Latin America. But what is the third way? Supporters of the notion haven't been able to agree, and critics deny the possibility altogether. Anthony Giddens shows that developing a third way is not only a possibility but a necessity in modern politics.

Can we design institutions that increase and deepen citizen participation in the political decision making process? At a time when there is growing disillusionment with the institutions of advanced industrial democracies, there is also increasing interest in new ways of involving citizens in the political decisions that affect their lives. This book draws together evidence from a variety of democratic innovations from around the world, including participatory budgeting in Brazil, Citizens'...

The Message of POWER SHIFT:Fed up with politics-as-usual? Most Canadians are. They (83%) want their MP to represent them and not a party in the House of Commons. Political parties, however, do not consider reforms that would shift significant power from them to citizens. Professor Lyon, breaking the party silence, speaks strongly in support of the interests of his fellow citizens.Drawing on years of experience as a political activist and political scientist, he sho...

If the twentieth century witnessed the triumph of democracy then something appears to have gone seriously wrong. Citizens around the world have become distrustful of politicians, sceptical about democratic institutions, and disillusioned about the capacity of democratic politics to resolve pressing social concerns. This shift in global attitudes has been explored in a vast body of writing that examines the existence of 'disaffected democrats' and 'democratic deficits'. Defending Politi...

According to politicians, we now live in a radically interconnected world. Unless there is international stability – even in the most distant places – the West's way of life is threatened. In meeting this global danger, reducing poverty and developing the unstable regions of the world are now imperative. In what has become a truism of the post-Cold War period, security without development is questionable, while development without security is impossible.

Our democracies repeatedly fail to safeguard the future. From pensions to pandemics, health and social care through to climate, biodiversity and emerging technologies, democracies have been unable to deliver robust policies for the long term.In this book, Graham Smith asks why. Exploring the drivers of short-termism, he considers ways of reshaping legislatures and constitutions and proposes strengthening independent offices whose overarching goals do not change at every election. M...

'Lindy Edwards powerfully shows how politics can be understood as a passionate confrontation of ideas and ideologies. This book gives us a new and compelling way to think about the past, present, and future of Australian politics.' - Professor John Dryzek, Australian National UniversityBehind the evening news lies a world of political ideas and passionate conflict. The Passion of Politics unpacks the ideologies and theories that drive these political clashes, help...

The collapse of Britain's powerful labor movement in the last quarter century has been one of the most significant and astonishing stories in recent political history. How were the governments of Margaret Thatcher and her successors able to tame the unions?In analyzing how an entirely new industrial relations system was constructed after 1979, Howell offers a revisionist history of British trade unionism in the twentieth century. Most scholars regard Britain's industrial relations ...

'Original, courageous, realistic and fresh.' Robert Manne, Professor, School of Politics, La Trobe UniversityDo Right and Left still mean anything in politics? Are environmental issues always 'left wing'? Is it only 'right wing' to worry about the family? In fact, these traditional connections have broken down, but what is taking their place?In Australian politics today a new free market Right holds the ascendancy in ideas, while Labor and the Left struggle with a crisis of...