Alex Nunn
University of Derby, Law, Humanities and Social Sciences, Faculty Member
- Leeds Beckett University, Politics and Applied Global Ethics, Faculty Memberadd
- Global Governance, Political Economy, Globalisation and the labour market, International Political Economy, International Relations, The Global Political Economy, and 23 morePolitics of Global Competitiveness, Corporate Social Responsibility, Human Rights, Philosophy Of Law, Corporate Governance, Soft Law, Business Ethics, Natural Law, International Law, Ethics and economics, Virtue Ethics, International Strategy, Global Economic Governance, Higher Education, Migration, Governance, International Trade, Social Capital, Higher Education Policy, Equity and Social Justice in Higher Education, Social Mobility, Cultural Capital, and Environmental Sustainabilityedit
- I am Professor of Global Political Economy at the University of Derby. My recent research programme focusses on 'the ... moreI am Professor of Global Political Economy at the University of Derby. My recent research programme focusses on 'the New Politics of Inequality' and works at a number of different spatial scales from the global to the very local. I was British International Association IPE Group Co-Convenor between 2014-2016.edit
Many countries around the world instituted a ‘Lockdown’ in response to the novel Coronavirus Covid 19, during March and April 2020. We know a great deal about the unequal health effects of the virus but it is important also to understand... more
Many countries around the world instituted a ‘Lockdown’ in response to the novel Coronavirus Covid 19, during March and April 2020. We know a great deal about the unequal health effects of the virus but it is important also to understand how the measures to tackle the virus have affected different groups in society. This is particularly important for policy makers as further national or local lockdowns are now being instituted to tackle subsequent waves of infection, and in the event that similar restrictive measures are required to tackle future pandemics. We undertake analysis on a recently released representative survey using a core Subjective Well Being measure and decompose results to identify factors which predict variation in self-reported changes Subjective Well Being during the Coronavirus lockdown in the UK. Our analysis suggests that women and young people have seen the most negative effects on their Subjective Well-Being. It appears that women’s role in the household and in caring professions has acted as a ‘shock absorber’ for the wider economy, but in doing so has ‘depleted’ their Subjective Well-Being. Some older age groups who might have initially been expected to have negative effects have seen very small improvements in their Subjective Well-Being. We also find that ‘furloughed’ and ‘key workers’ have been protected economically and emotionally by the government’s economic support measures in the crisis. We conclude that in the medium to long-term policy attention will need to be given to ensuring that women and younger people do not also pay the longer-term costs of any economic fallout from the crisis, that furloughed workers can maintain their jobs and do not merely see redundancies delayed, and that key workers are rewarded for their role in supporting the economy in good times and bad. While the data and commentary are focussed on the UK context, similar effects may be present in other countries, and international policy coordination efforts may want to focus on identifying and supporting those who have been affected by virus containment measures, now and in future pandemics.
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We report data from longitudinal qualitative interviews with thirteen people claiming Universal Credit (UC) immediately before and during the COVID-19 pandemic in England. The article utilizes concepts from feminist theory: “Social... more
We report data from longitudinal qualitative interviews with thirteen people claiming Universal Credit (UC) immediately before and during the COVID-19 pandemic in England. The article utilizes concepts from feminist theory: “Social Reproduction” and “Depletion.” We make several novel contributions, including bringing depletion into conversation with the related concept of “contingent coping.” We argue that the lived experience of UC involves material and emotional depletion, but that UC also helps recipients to “cope” contingently with this depletion. In this sense, depletion through social reproduction is an ongoing and harmful state of being. We show how highly conditional and disciplinary welfare policies both partially mitigate but also accentuate structural pressures associated with an unequal, insecure, and competitive labor market.
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Overlaps exist between critical Criminology and critical International Political Economy (IPE). However, while criminologists are keen to engage with political economy, there has been less interest in criminology from scholars in IPE.... more
Overlaps exist between critical Criminology and critical International Political Economy (IPE). However, while criminologists are keen to engage with political economy, there has been less interest in criminology from scholars in IPE. Recently, though, a literature started to emerge within IPE that focusses on discipline, including research which focusses on ‘authoritarian neoliberalism’ yet without explicitly engaging with the criminological literature. This paper engages with criminological research to demonstrate areas of shared interest, particularly in understanding the role of discipline and consent in the structuring of the ‘social ensemble’ thereby offering something of a corrective to the literature on ‘authoritarian neoliberalism’. We argue that combining insights from Gramscian and (critical) Feminist social theory can help to explain the social reproduction of ‘hegemony’ in which discipline – including self-discipline – plays an important role. Long-term trends in the fracturing of the hegemonic post-war social ensemble were displaced by temporary ‘fixes’ related to consumerism, credit and discipline (including in state institutions, changing economic and ideological structures). However, in the wake of the Global Financial Crisis of 2008 – the limits of these fixes are revealed and social polarisation is the result. In this context, disciplinary processes in and beyond state institutions are becoming more visible.
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The proportion of young people taken into the care of the state has increased recently and there is evidence that this social group suffer negative long‐term outcomes that might be conceptualised by the emergent criminological category... more
The proportion of young people taken into the care of the state has increased recently and there is evidence that this social group suffer negative long‐term outcomes that might be conceptualised by the emergent criminological category of ‘social harm’. Debates in social work around an ethics of care and justice offer different ways of thinking about responding to social harm. This paper reports findings from an innovative arts‐based intervention with Looked After Children and young people and concludes that holding these competing value sets in creative tension is central to the success of the programme in helping young people to cope with and contest social harm.
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This article focuses on the way that households respond to 'global pressures' by adapting their social reproduction strategies (SRS). We understand social reproduction strategies to encapsulate the more or less consciously developed... more
This article focuses on the way that households respond to 'global pressures' by adapting their social reproduction strategies (SRS). We understand social reproduction strategies to encapsulate the more or less consciously developed day-today and inter-generational responses to the social conditions that households confront and their own motivations and aspirations for the future. Yet, due to a range of extant inequalities of accumulated and dynamic resources-some of which are material and some of which are at once ethereal and embodied in the concrete labouring capacities of individuals-we argue that social reproduction strategies, and capacities to pursue them, differ widely. Differences are conditioned by positionality, access to information and the construction of 'economic imaginaries' as well as material resources. By looking at these different expressions of social reproduction strategies, we highlight how they reinforce macro-scale socioeconomic pressures, creating what we term 'compound inequality' into the future. Compound inequalities result from different behavioural responses to socioeconomic conditions, inequality and (perceived or
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The Version of Record of this manuscript is published in Review of International Political Economy: 10.1080/09692290.2019.1625424 Abstract Neoliberalism has been a core concern for IPE for several decades, but is often ill-defined.... more
The Version of Record of this manuscript is published in Review of International Political Economy: 10.1080/09692290.2019.1625424
Abstract Neoliberalism has been a core concern for IPE for several decades, but is often ill-defined. Research offering greater definitional clarity stresses the role of contingent and local level factors in diverse processes of neoliberalisation. This paper contributes to that literature, addressing a surprising gap in critical IPE knowledge; the management practices by which pressures to activate the unemployed and to make them more competitive, are implemented. The paper suggests that performance management, is significant as both a depoliticising policy coordination mechanism and a highly politicised policy implementation practice. The paper invokes a scalar-relational approach which sees the pressure to innovate and compete at lower scales as driven by the political economy of competitiveness at the system scale. The paper reports on research undertaken within the empirical frame of EU meta-governance, showing how performance management is part of lower-scale attempts to adapt to system-scale pressures. It is neoliberalising in both form and content. It concludes by showing that while performance management may be a significant component of neoliberalisation there is scope for engagement and contestation motivated by egalitarian ideals. Critical IPE scholars interested in contesting neoliberalisation should therefore engage with the political economy of management practice as well as policy design.
Abstract Neoliberalism has been a core concern for IPE for several decades, but is often ill-defined. Research offering greater definitional clarity stresses the role of contingent and local level factors in diverse processes of neoliberalisation. This paper contributes to that literature, addressing a surprising gap in critical IPE knowledge; the management practices by which pressures to activate the unemployed and to make them more competitive, are implemented. The paper suggests that performance management, is significant as both a depoliticising policy coordination mechanism and a highly politicised policy implementation practice. The paper invokes a scalar-relational approach which sees the pressure to innovate and compete at lower scales as driven by the political economy of competitiveness at the system scale. The paper reports on research undertaken within the empirical frame of EU meta-governance, showing how performance management is part of lower-scale attempts to adapt to system-scale pressures. It is neoliberalising in both form and content. It concludes by showing that while performance management may be a significant component of neoliberalisation there is scope for engagement and contestation motivated by egalitarian ideals. Critical IPE scholars interested in contesting neoliberalisation should therefore engage with the political economy of management practice as well as policy design.
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Active Labour Market Policies (ALMPs) and Public EmploymentServices (PES) are related components of the European Union andmember state labour market policy. Typically, PES are analysed interms of a narrow concern with efficiency and... more
Active Labour Market Policies (ALMPs) and Public EmploymentServices (PES) are related components of the European Union andmember state labour market policy. Typically, PES are analysed interms of a narrow concern with efficiency and effectiveness ofservice. In this paper, we argue that PES are constituents inbroader processes. They are not just means to facilitateemployment, they are also part of transmission mechanisms for apolitical economy of competitiveness. They play a particular rolein governance processes, and so serve to produce and reproducepower relations that are intrinsic to those processes. We arguethat the technical ways that PES have been managed over recentdecades has contributed to broader processes of disempoweringlabour, through depoliticized management practices. We arguethat attempts at even limited re-empowerment of labour wouldrequire a repoliticization of these management practices.
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This article reports on a study of local implementation in the UK Troubled Families Programme (TFP). Exploring the experiences of 12 families, the policies of local bureaucrats, and a critical reading of the literature, we argue that the... more
This article reports on a study of local implementation in the UK Troubled Families Programme (TFP). Exploring the experiences of 12 families, the policies of local bureaucrats, and a critical reading of the literature, we argue that the local case represented an attempt to partially renegotiate disciplinary elements of the national programme and to recognise that the families were affected by structural poverty and inequality. Locating the TFP in the literature on disciplinary social policy, multi-scale 'Fast Policy' and the potential for local subversion through the agency of frontline workers, we suggest that the local attempts to renegotiate programme priorities were partially successful. These attempts were characteristic of 'contingent coping' in terms of both institutional processes and outcomes for the families involved. The evidence reported is significant and timely in the context of the expanded and relaunched TFP and this shapes our commentary on the recently published Improving Lives strategy.
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The EU suggests that it is committed to ‘sustainable development’ including through its institutionalised relationship with the states of the African, Caribbean and Pacific group in the Cotonou Partnership Agreement. This paper reviews... more
The EU suggests that it is committed to ‘sustainable development’ including through its institutionalised relationship with the states of the African, Caribbean and Pacific group in the Cotonou Partnership Agreement. This paper reviews this relationship with a view to outlining the way in which concepts like ‘sustainable development’ and ‘poverty reduction’ act as legitimation for processes of world market expansion. The paper reviews a range of interpretations of this relationship which view it either from a constructivist or material – Uneven and Combined Development – perspective. We critique these interpretations and provide an alternative materialist reading.
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This article looks at the promise of the ‘New Middle Class’ (NMC) inherent in the neoliberal ideological ideal of individualising societal responsibility for well-being and success. The article points to how this promise enables a... more
This article looks at the promise of the ‘New Middle Class’ (NMC) inherent in the neoliberal ideological ideal of individualising societal responsibility for well-being and success. The article points to how this promise enables a discourse and practice of welfare reform and a disciplining of life styles particularly targeting the very poor in society. Women and some ethnic minorities are particularly prone to poverty and then therefore also discipline. The article then provides a case study of the Troubled Families Programme (TFP) and shows how the programme and the way it is constructed and managed partly undermines the provision of the material needs to alleviate people from poverty and re-produces discourses of poor lifestyle and parenting choices as sources of poverty, thereby undermining the ‘middle-class’ promise.
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This paper addresses a simple, and largely empirical, research question: is the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) recent high level commitment to reducing inequality translated into concrete... more
This paper addresses a simple, and largely empirical, research question: is the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) recent high level commitment to reducing inequality translated into concrete action in its dealings with member states? Addressing this research question is significant in several respects. First, the high level rhetorical commitment to reduce inequality might be seen as paradoxical because the IMF, alongside other institutions of global economic management, has long been criticised for its role in promoting economic reform in member countries, partly on the basis that this increases inequality (Peetet al. 2009; Kentikelenis et al. 2016: 550-1). It is therefore important to assess the extent to which recent pronouncements on inequality by the Fund suggest a change in emphasis or a genuine institutional commitment. Second, addressing the question contributes to a contemporary academic literature on more technical aspects of how we should understand and interpret IMF policy advice and conditionality. This literature currently focusses on a range of aspects of IMF policy advice, but does not address the recent interest of the Fund in inequality. The paper addresses this lacuna.
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Inequality appears to be back on the intellectual and political agenda. This paper provides a commentary on this renewed interest, drawing on an empirical discussion of inequality in the UK. The paper argues that inequality should be seen... more
Inequality appears to be back on the intellectual and political agenda. This paper provides a commentary on this renewed interest, drawing on an empirical discussion of inequality in the UK. The paper argues that inequality should be seen as produced in the inherently unequal social relations of production, drawing attention to the role of social struggle in shaping dynamics of inequality. However, inequality is not just produced in dynamic class struggle in the formal economy, but also through the social reproduction of labour power on a day-to-day and inter-generational basis. As such, inequalities of household resources at any point in time may be reproductive of greater future inequality. It is argued that inequality has risen in the UK over recent decades because of changes in the social relations of production in the formal economy and social reproduction in the domestic sector, both of which have witnessed significant state interventions that have increased structural inequalities. It is argued that, absent of significant change, the underpinning structural dynamics in the UK will lead to further increases in inequality over the short and longer-term. Given this, we might expect to see an already emergent ‘New Politics of Inequality’ intensifying in the coming decades.
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Socio-economic inequality is now firmly on the international political agenda. In recent years the World Economic Forum, Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, World Bank and International Monetary Fund have all produced... more
Socio-economic inequality is now firmly on the international political agenda. In recent years the World Economic Forum, Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, World Bank and International Monetary Fund have all produced publications lamenting increased inequality and its impact on political stability, the fragility of the international financial system and growth. This paper argues that this interest needs to be located in the emergence of an expanding ‘world market society’ (WMS) that these organisations are both representative of and have sought to promote. They are now also engaged in a complex process of identifying and seeking to manage systemic risks to WMS expansion, arising from the expansion process itself, with socio-economic inequality now seen as one of these. Several factors though suggest that their efforts may not be successful. These include the lack of capacity of international organisations to manage risk independently of their mainly state-scale allies and their inability to escape the objective of WMS expansion as they seek to manage risks to it. The paper argues therefore that there is an emergent New Global Politics of Inequality whose forlorn objective is to save world market society from itself.
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This article asserts that attempts to resolve the crisis through recent changes in European meta-governance are just the latest phase in a project to secure ?continual adjustment? in European societies to the systemic demands of... more
This article asserts that attempts to resolve the crisis through recent changes in European meta-governance are just the latest phase in a project to secure ?continual adjustment? in European societies to the systemic demands of competitiveness. The structural pressures experienced at the scale of European societies are located in the process and scale of world market integration. This New Materialist scalar-relational approach sees adjustment to the systemic demands of competitiveness as likely to continue into the future and suggests that the scope for alternative more Keynesian programs of reform through EU meta-governance is highly constrained.
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The death of Margaret Thatcher in April 2013 sparked a range of discussions and debates about the significance of her period in office and the political project to which she gave her name: Thatcherism. This article argues that Thatcherism... more
The death of Margaret Thatcher in April 2013 sparked a range of discussions and debates about the significance of her period in office and the political project to which she gave her name: Thatcherism. This article argues that Thatcherism is best understood as a symbolically important part of the emergence of first-phase neoliberalism. It engages with contemporary debates about Thatcherism among Marxist commentators and suggests that several apparently divergent positions can help us now reach a more useful analysis of Thatcherism’s short- and long-term outcomes for British political economy. The outcomes identified include: an initial crisis in the neoliberal project in the UK; the transformation of the party political system to be reflective of the politics of neoliberalism, rather than its contestation; long-term attempts at the inculcation of the neoliberal individual; de-industrialisation and financial sector dependence; and a fractured and partially unconscious working class. In all long-term outcomes, the contribution of Thatcherism is best understood as partial and largely negative, in that it cleared the way for a longer-term and more constructive attempt to embed neoliberal political economy. The paper concludes by suggesting that this analysis can inform current debates on the left of British politics about how to oppose and challenge the imposition of neoliberal discipline today.
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Social mobility has become a mainstream political and media issue in recent years in the United Kingdom. This article suggests that part of the reason for this is that it can serve as a mechanism to discuss policy concerns that appear to... more
Social mobility has become a mainstream political and media issue in recent years in the United Kingdom. This article suggests that part of the reason for this is that it can serve as a mechanism to discuss policy concerns that appear to be about social justice without questioning important aspects of neo-liberal political economy. The article charts the policy rhetoric on social mobility under both New Labour and the current Coalition Government. It is argued first that under New Labour the apparent commitment to social mobility was in fact subsumed beneath the pursuit of neo-liberal competitiveness, albeit imperfectly realised in policy. Second, the article suggests that under the Coalition Government the commitment to raising levels of social mobility has been retained and the recently published Strategy for Social Mobility promises that social mobility is what the Coalition means when it argues that the austerity programme is balanced with ‘fairness’. Third, however, the Strategy makes clear that the Coalition define social mobility in narrower terms than the previous government. It is argued here that in narrowing the definition the connection with the idea of competitiveness, while still clearly desirable for the Coalition, is weakened. Fourth, a brief analysis of the Coalition's main policy announcements provides little evidence to suggest that even the narrow definition set out in the Strategy is being seriously pursued. Fifth, the international comparative evidence suggests that any strategy aimed at genuinely raising the level of social mobility would need to give much more serious consideration to narrowing levels of inequality. Finally, it is concluded that when considered in the light of the arguments above, the Strategy for Social Mobility – and therefore ‘Fairness’ itself – is merely a discursive legitimation of the wider political economy programme of austerity.
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The relationship between the European Union1 and Africa has been formalised since the beginning of the European integration project in the evolving Yaoundé, Lomé and now Cotonou Agreements. The relationship has shifted in line with the... more
The relationship between the European Union1 and Africa has been formalised since the beginning of the European integration project in the evolving Yaoundé, Lomé and now Cotonou Agreements. The relationship has shifted in line with the emerging global framework for neoliberal accumulation. This shift has involved the 're-designing'of developmental strategies and their 'locking-in'in the long term. Theoretically, this global shift in the organisation of both production and social relations (including popular ...
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As Prime Minister Tony Blair's term in office nears its end, it is an appropriate time to revisit debates about the character and nature of the social, economic and political project that lies at the heart of the New Labour... more
As Prime Minister Tony Blair's term in office nears its end, it is an appropriate time to revisit debates about the character and nature of the social, economic and political project that lies at the heart of the New Labour Project (NLP) and to consider its potential direction of travel after Blair. Previous analyses of the NLP have presented it as variously constrained by the straight jacket of globalisation, driven by, or choosing between, contrasting European and US policy options. Others, including the architects of the project itself, argue the NLP is a modern version of ...
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In 1999 Geddes and Newman highlighted five key tensions in New Labour's adoption of the 'new centrist'approach to Local Economic Development (LED). This article... more
In 1999 Geddes and Newman highlighted five key tensions in New Labour's adoption of the 'new centrist'approach to Local Economic Development (LED). This article reflects on the continuing relevance of these tensions in relation local labour markets and in the light of the publication of three major independent reviews of policy in relation to child poverty, skills provision and welfare reform and the Government's response to these. It suggests that in the main the tensions identified by Geddes and Newman remain relevant, especially within ...
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Research Interests: Business, Business Ethics, Corporate Social Responsibility, International Business, International Law, and 11 moreHuman Rights, Virtue Ethics, Corporate Governance, Natural Law, Philosophy Of Law, Corporate Ethics, Environmental Sustainability, Ethics and economics, International Strategy, Soft Law, and Global Economic Governance
Over the past three decades it has become common place to think of key areas of the economy as being subject to governance as opposed merely to government. This shift is related to the adoption of increasingly neo-liberal approaches to... more
Over the past three decades it has become common place to think of key areas of the economy as being subject to governance as opposed merely to government. This shift is related to the adoption of increasingly neo-liberal approaches to public policy in which key characteristics are the promotion of cost-based efficiency, a preference for contracting and markets and the insulation of key aspects of economic decision-making from democratic and every day political scrutiny. A key cororally of these changes has been the increasing use ...
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An evaluation of a programme designed to support children and young people with care experience engage with education, training or work
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This is a report of a research project on arts and performance activities for children and young people who are, or have been, in the care system. The project reports data from observations, interviews and the artworks produced to... more
This is a report of a research project on arts and performance activities for children and young people who are, or have been, in the care system. The project reports data from observations, interviews and the artworks produced to discuss the experience of the children and young people in the programme and the impact of this participation.
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An Evaluation of a major sport and art participation project for young people in Derby, aimed to increase participant's 'Essential Life Skills' and 'Social Mobility'.
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Research Interests: Sociology, Ethics, Social Policy, Feminist Theory, Social Sciences, and 13 moreMarxism, Feminist Philosophy, Sexuality, Gender, Sigmund Freud, Michel Foucault, Social and Political Philosophy, Solidarity Economy, Social Mobility, Social mobility and education. Social class. Ethnicity/'race' and minority studies. Roma/Gypsy/Travellers. Mixed methods research, Theories of Socialism, Antiglobalization Social Movements, and Latin American feminisms
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The Policy Research Institute is one of the UK's leading university-based centres for applied economic and social research. Founded in 1987, we have an established track-record of delivering high quality research, evaluation and... more
The Policy Research Institute is one of the UK's leading university-based centres for applied economic and social research. Founded in 1987, we have an established track-record of delivering high quality research, evaluation and consultancy for a wide range of clients including central government departments, regional and local development agencies, local authorities and regeneration partnerships, and international bodies like the European Commission.
... Equalities and Social Justice Impacts: The Case for a Positive Public Duty on Age Equality; Promoting Gender Equality in the Public Sector Karen Escott and Dexter Whitfield, Equal Opportunities Commission ... This document was created... more
... Equalities and Social Justice Impacts: The Case for a Positive Public Duty on Age Equality; Promoting Gender Equality in the Public Sector Karen Escott and Dexter Whitfield, Equal Opportunities Commission ... This document was created by Alex Nunn on 2004-05-05 13:50:14. ...
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Abstract The Capacity Building Programme for local government in England has employed a variety of different mechanisms to support local authority improvement. Like other central government initiatives to improve local government... more
Abstract The Capacity Building Programme for local government in England has employed a variety of different mechanisms to support local authority improvement. Like other central government initiatives to improve local government performance, the CBP has been the subject of evaluation of its progress. This article draws on the findings from the evaluation, to compare Direct Support and a series of National Programmes. It concludes by suggesting that the CBP's most recent changes herald an exciting new era for the CBP in which it ...
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Examines the recent Cross Border Healthcare Directive, the role of the European Court of Justice and the 'Europeanisation of Healthcare'. The introduction of EU law into healthcare presents many problems. The most... more
Examines the recent Cross Border Healthcare Directive, the role of the European Court of Justice and the 'Europeanisation of Healthcare'. The introduction of EU law into healthcare presents many problems. The most pressing being that EU institutions have sought to ...
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This evaluation explores the extent to which the new Performance Management Framework (PMF) introduced in April 2011 met its objectives as an improved system for Jobcentre Plus. The PMF was introduced to support greater flexibility in... more
This evaluation explores the extent to which the new Performance Management Framework (PMF) introduced in April 2011 met its objectives as an improved system for Jobcentre Plus. The PMF was introduced to support greater flexibility in service delivery and to facilitate the move away from a target heavy, process focussed performance regime, towards a more outcome based approach. The Department needed a structure which was cheaper, more efficient, simpler and easier to understand.
The evaluation was conducted by the Policy Research Institute at Leeds Metropolitan University on behalf of the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). This evaluation was commissioned in summer 2011 to provide independent and detailed feedback on staff understanding and awareness of the PMF, the implementation and communication process and early evidence of the influence on cultural and behavioural change, following the removal of the previous target regime.
The findings are based on analysis of qualitative data collected during 111 interviews conducted with staff from across Jobcentre Plus Operations (Contact Centres, Benefit Centres and Jobcentres) and the DWP Corporate Centre during October and November 2011. Analysis of key performance management documents was also completed during the evaluation.
The evaluation was conducted by the Policy Research Institute at Leeds Metropolitan University on behalf of the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). This evaluation was commissioned in summer 2011 to provide independent and detailed feedback on staff understanding and awareness of the PMF, the implementation and communication process and early evidence of the influence on cultural and behavioural change, following the removal of the previous target regime.
The findings are based on analysis of qualitative data collected during 111 interviews conducted with staff from across Jobcentre Plus Operations (Contact Centres, Benefit Centres and Jobcentres) and the DWP Corporate Centre during October and November 2011. Analysis of key performance management documents was also completed during the evaluation.
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This evaluation explores the extent to which the new Performance Management Framework (PMF) introduced in April 2011 met its objectives as an improved system for Jobcentre Plus. The PMF was introduced to support greater flexibility in... more
This evaluation explores the extent to which the new Performance Management Framework (PMF) introduced in April 2011 met its objectives as an improved system for Jobcentre Plus. The PMF was introduced to support greater flexibility in service delivery and to facilitate the move away from a target heavy, process focussed performance regime, towards a more outcome based approach. The Department needed a structure which was cheaper, more efficient, simpler and easier to understand.
The evaluation was conducted by the Policy Research Institute at Leeds Metropolitan University on behalf of the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). This evaluation was commissioned in summer 2011 to provide independent and detailed feedback on staff understanding and awareness of the PMF, the implementation and communication process and early evidence of the influence on cultural and behavioural change, following the removal of the previous target regime.
The findings are based on analysis of qualitative data collected during 111 interviews conducted with staff from across Jobcentre Plus Operations (Contact Centres, Benefit Centres and Jobcentres) and the DWP Corporate Centre during October and November 2011. Analysis of key performance management documents was also completed during the evaluation.
The evaluation was conducted by the Policy Research Institute at Leeds Metropolitan University on behalf of the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). This evaluation was commissioned in summer 2011 to provide independent and detailed feedback on staff understanding and awareness of the PMF, the implementation and communication process and early evidence of the influence on cultural and behavioural change, following the removal of the previous target regime.
The findings are based on analysis of qualitative data collected during 111 interviews conducted with staff from across Jobcentre Plus Operations (Contact Centres, Benefit Centres and Jobcentres) and the DWP Corporate Centre during October and November 2011. Analysis of key performance management documents was also completed during the evaluation.
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Research Interests: Collective Bargaining (Industrial And Labor Relations), Labor Economics, Employment Relations, International Human Rights Law, DISCRIMINATION AT WORK, and 6 moreEducation and Labor Markets, Work and Labour, International Refugee Law, Minority Rights, Equality and Non Discrimination, and The Rights of Persons With Disabilities
Research Interests: Gender Studies, Labor Economics, Performance Management, Human Resource Management, Labor Organizations, and 11 moreGlobalisation and the labour market, Women and Work, Intersectionality, Labour market policy, Work-Life Balance, Qualitative Methodologies, Labour Market Dynamics, Public Employment Services, Life-Course Transitions, Life Histories Methodology, and Employment Equity Policies
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Jobcentre Plus has undertaken a series of customer satisfaction surveys in recent years, partly to gauge the impact of significant investment and reform of its services and service delivery model and to determine where improvements to... more
Jobcentre Plus has undertaken a series of customer satisfaction surveys in recent years, partly to gauge the impact of significant investment and reform of its services and service delivery model and to determine where improvements to customer services need to be made.
This report has been prepared to inform the Collective Measures Study (CMS) being undertaken by the UK Commission for Employment and Skills (UK Commission). The Policy Research Institute and IPSOS MORI were commissioned as part of a wider... more
This report has been prepared to inform the Collective Measures Study (CMS) being undertaken by the UK Commission for Employment and Skills (UK Commission). The Policy Research Institute and IPSOS MORI were commissioned as part of a wider research consortium to undertake a policy prioritisation exercise to'test out'policy options and inform UK Commission decision making in terms of employer investment in skills. The CMS reflects an evidence informed approach to policy development, based on a five stage approach to ...
Strategy developed from collaborative research with East Midlands Chambers and East Midlands Rail Forum
Research Interests: High-speed rail and HS2
report of research undertaken collaboratively with the EM Chambers (Chris Hobson) and EM Rail Forum (Elaine Clark) and a colleague at the University of Derby (Jo Hutchinson) to inform policy work around securing jobs and skills benefits... more
report of research undertaken collaboratively with the EM Chambers (Chris Hobson) and EM Rail Forum (Elaine Clark) and a colleague at the University of Derby (Jo Hutchinson) to inform policy work around securing jobs and skills benefits from HS2 rail investments.
Research Interests: High-speed rail and HS2
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Inequality is an idea whose time has apparently come. Thomas’ Picketty’s Capital which focuses on the subject is an airport best seller, international academic conferences have set their entire themes on the subject and leading... more
Inequality is an idea whose time has apparently come. Thomas’ Picketty’s Capital which focuses on the subject is an airport best seller, international academic conferences have set their entire themes on the subject and leading international organisations are falling over themselves to produce publications lamenting increased inequality and its impact on political stability, the fragility of the international financial system and growth. This paper argues that this interest needs to be located in the emergence of a ‘world society’ (WS). However, contrary to the proponents of the idea of WS as an emancipatory realm in which cosmopolitan values of meaningful democracy, human rights and egalitarian social justice might be realised, this paper argues that a WS does indeed exist but it is dominated by the values of a nascent world market. In short, it represents a World Market Society (WMS). The World Economic Forum (WEF), the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) are prominent in the institutional framework for WMS and have long been criticised for advancing neo-liberalisation and increasing inequality. However, over recent years these institutions have paid increasing attention to both the management of systemic risks to the WMS, and inequality as one specific example of these. Read superficially their interest in inequality could appear to signal a Damascene conversion to a progressive distributional politics. However, first the creation of inequality and then a concern to manage its political and social implications is entirely in line with embedding and expanding a WMS, based on the completion of the world market. A framework of positive and negative risk is used to reconcile these apparently contradictory tendencies. It is argued that the ‘New Global Politics of Inequality’ is an attempt to save World Market Society from itself.
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Please excuse any typos - this is a draft copy of the notes for my lnaugural lecture.
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Paper to ESRC Workshop, London, December 2015.
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... Nunn, A., Kelsey, S., Purcell, M. and others ... of undertaking a substantial literature review on organisational learning, knowledge management, performance management, organisational strategy and capacity in local government, an... more
... Nunn, A., Kelsey, S., Purcell, M. and others ... of undertaking a substantial literature review on organisational learning, knowledge management, performance management, organisational strategy and capacity in local government, an evaluation framework was established ...
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We report data from longitudinal qualitative interviews with thirteen people claiming Universal Credit (UC) immediately before and during the COVID-19 pandemic in England. The article utilizes concepts from feminist theory: “Social... more
We report data from longitudinal qualitative interviews with thirteen people claiming Universal Credit (UC) immediately before and during the COVID-19 pandemic in England. The article utilizes concepts from feminist theory: “Social Reproduction” and “Depletion.” We make several novel contributions, including bringing depletion into conversation with the related concept of “contingent coping.” We argue that the lived experience of UC involves material and emotional depletion, but that UC also helps recipients to “cope” contingently with this depletion. In this sense, depletion through social reproduction is an ongoing and harmful state of being. We show how highly conditional and disciplinary welfare policies both partially mitigate but also accentuate structural pressures associated with an unequal, insecure, and competitive labor market.
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Since the dawn of the New Public Management and labor market activation paradigms, public employment services (PES) have been in a state of perpetual reform. This chapter not only identifies key modernization trends in three pioneering... more
Since the dawn of the New Public Management and labor market activation paradigms, public employment services (PES) have been in a state of perpetual reform. This chapter not only identifies key modernization trends in three pioneering PES in Europe, including Denmark, Germany, and the United Kingdom, but also critically assesses whether PES reforms delivered on their promises, especially during the Great Recession. This chapter argues that while PES have performed a crucial social stabilization role, it also finds that the reforms have potentially produced adverse consequences. In Denmark, the strategy toward municipalization has generated new conflict lines between central and local actors, while British efforts toward privatization have led to bottlenecks during times of employment shortages in the private sector. The German PES, in turn, has proved most robust as it was able to balance the need for central guidance and local flexibility.
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Overlaps exist between critical Criminology and critical International Political Economy (IPE). However, while criminologists are keen to engage with political economy, there has been less interest in criminology from scholars in IPE.... more
Overlaps exist between critical Criminology and critical International Political Economy (IPE). However, while criminologists are keen to engage with political economy, there has been less interest in criminology from scholars in IPE. Recently, though, a literature started to emerge within IPE that focusses on discipline, including research which focusses on ‘authoritarian neoliberalism’ yet without explicitly engaging with the criminological literature. This paper engages with criminological research to demonstrate areas of shared interest, particularly in understanding the role of discipline and consent in the structuring of the ‘social ensemble’ thereby offering something of a corrective to the literature on ‘authoritarian neoliberalism’. We argue that combining insights from Gramscian and (critical) Feminist social theory can help to explain the social reproduction of ‘hegemony’ in which discipline – including self-discipline – plays an important role. Long-term trends in the fr...
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This panel will discuss the impact that mobile projects have on cultural, social and political discourse and notions of placemaking (Courage, 2017) or place shaping for cities. It is an opportunity for reflection on the ambitions and... more
This panel will discuss the impact that mobile projects have on cultural, social and political discourse and notions of placemaking (Courage, 2017) or place shaping for cities. It is an opportunity for reflection on the ambitions and lessons learnt for S.H.E.D as a literal and metaphorical vehicle for the design of dialogue. Professor Alex Nunn will describe the way in which intersectional inequalities are produced and reproduced across space and time and explore the ways in which these dynamics might shape the way that we collect and analyse data about inequality. Dr Rhiannon Jones will focus her input on the impact that artistic practice has on engaging or engineering alternative sites for social, creative and cultural engagement. Dr Victoria Barker will draw on her research into the creation of cultural ecosystems and the interdisciplinary nature of artistic practice. To this end, Barker will focus on how cities are a site for cultural policy and dialogue. Together, Barker and Jones will reflect on how their individual areas of research weave together through their collaboration on the interdisciplinary project S.H.E.D.InDialogue Deda Derby Theatre University of Lincoln University of Derby Nottingham Contemporary CVAN Dance4 In Good Company Mansions of the Futur
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This article asks whether there is a discrepancy between the field of International Political Economy (IPE) as we know it from recent debates about its role, distinctiveness, and contribution compared to the experience of its... more
This article asks whether there is a discrepancy between the field of International Political Economy (IPE) as we know it from recent debates about its role, distinctiveness, and contribution compared to the experience of its practitioners on the ground? Intellectually IPE is needed more than ever to engage real world events but faces constraining institutional imperatives. We have two interrelated objectives related to this: (1) to assess the extent to which the patterns in recent interventions are replicated when you ask those who self-identify as IPE scholars in the UK (2) to appraise survey data on the reproduction of a particular community of practice within the field as it evolves intellectually and institutionally. Rather than imposing our interpretation of IPE through publications, citation practices, conference attendance, or textbook content we offer two distinct contributions. First, to report new empirical data on IPE as a ‘field of inquiry’ in UK universities; and, seco...
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An evaluation of a programme designed to support children and young people with care experience engage with education, training or work
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Labour’s adoption of the ‘new centrist ’ approach to Local Economic Development (LED). This article reflects on the continuing relevance of these tensions in relation local labour markets and in the light of the publication of three major... more
Labour’s adoption of the ‘new centrist ’ approach to Local Economic Development (LED). This article reflects on the continuing relevance of these tensions in relation local labour markets and in the light of the publication of three major independent reviews of policy in relation to child poverty, skills provision and welfare reform and the Government’s response to these. It suggests that in the main the tensions identified by Geddes and Newman remain relevant, especially within the emerging national policy framework. However, it also ends optimistically, by suggesting that there is scope for LED actors to piece together an approach which can begin to move toward a resolution of the tensions through bringing together employment and skills policies at the local level, developing more effective models of partnership working (including with employers), and taking the sustainability agenda more seriously.
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Strategy developed from collaborative research with East Midlands Chambers and East Midlands Rail Forum
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In December 2004 the Association of University Teachers and the College and Lecturers Union NATFHE jointly commissioned research to review some of the literature on ‘the Brain Drain’ with a specific emphasis on developing countries in... more
In December 2004 the Association of University Teachers and the College and Lecturers Union NATFHE jointly commissioned research to review some of the literature on ‘the Brain Drain’ with a specific emphasis on developing countries in Africa and on academic labour in the UK. This report is the culmination of that research. The project aimed to review some of the available literature on the ‘Brain Drain’, to locate this in debates and contemporary approaches to international development and to consider especially the impact of the Brain Drain on Africa, where possible drawing reference to the impact on higher education. The report also considers the scale of migration to work in UK higher education and suggests ways in which AUT/NATFHE might work together and with others to offset the impact of Brain Drain factors and to build the capacity of higher education, and those working in it, in developing countries. Migration is an emotive issue and debate in this country is often shaped by...
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This paper addresses a simple, and largely empirical, research question: is the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) recent high level commitment to reducing inequality translated into concrete action in its dealings with member... more
This paper addresses a simple, and largely empirical, research question: is the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) recent high level commitment to reducing inequality translated into concrete action in its dealings with member states? Addressing this research question is significant in several respects. First, the high level rhetorical commitment to reduce inequality might be seen as paradoxical because the IMF, alongside other institutions of global economic management, has long been criticised for its role in promoting economic reform in member countries, partly on the basis that this increases inequality (Peet et al. 2009; Kentikelenis et al. 2016: 550-1). It is therefore important to assess the extent to which recent pronouncements on inequality by the Fund suggest a change in emphasis or a genuine institutional commitment. Second, addressing the question contributes to a contemporary academic literature on more technical aspects of how we should understand and interpret IM...
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Between the mid-1990s and the onset of the 2007/08 economic crisis a strong labour demand appeared to coexist with high levels of worklessness, especially concentrated in deprived areas. Area-based discrimination by employers is one... more
Between the mid-1990s and the onset of the 2007/08 economic crisis a strong labour demand appeared to coexist with high levels of worklessness, especially concentrated in deprived areas. Area-based discrimination by employers is one suggested cause of spatially concentrated worklessness, but there is currently limited evidence to support this. This research was commissioned to investigate whether area-based discrimination exists and is part of the explanation for worklessness in deprived areas. The work also considers the value of using employer information networks to combat inaccurate stereotypical perceptions by employers. The project involved a literature review as well as qualitative fieldwork and an analysis of quantitative data.
Research Interests: Labor Economics, Employment Relations, Political Science, International Human Rights Law, DISCRIMINATION AT WORK, and 7 moreEducation and Labor Markets, Work and Labour, International Refugee Law, Minority Rights, Equality and Non Discrimination, Department for Work and Pensions, and The Rights of Persons With Disabilities
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ABSTRACT Active Labour Market Policies (ALMPs) and Public Employment Services (PES) are related components of the European Union and member state labour market policy. Typically, PES are analysed in terms of a narrow concern with... more
ABSTRACT Active Labour Market Policies (ALMPs) and Public Employment Services (PES) are related components of the European Union and member state labour market policy. Typically, PES are analysed in terms of a narrow concern with efficiency and effectiveness of service. In this paper, we argue that PES are constituents in broader processes. They are not just means to facilitate employment, they are also part of transmission mechanisms for a political economy of competitiveness. They play a particular role in governance processes, and so serve to produce and reproduce power relations that are intrinsic to those processes. We argue that the technical ways that PES have been managed over recent decades has contributed to broader processes of disempowering labour, through depoliticized management practices. We argue that attempts at even limited re-empowerment of labour would require a repoliticization of these management practices.
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This article focuses on the way that households respond to ‘global pressures’ by adapting their social reproduction strategies (SRS). We understand social reproduction strategies to encapsulate the more or less consciously developed... more
This article focuses on the way that households respond to ‘global pressures’ by adapting their social reproduction strategies (SRS). We understand social reproduction strategies to encapsulate the more or less consciously developed day-to-day and inter-generational responses to the social conditions that households confront and their own motivations and aspirations for the future. Yet, due to a range of extant inequalities of accumulated and dynamic resources – some of which are material and some of which are at once ethereal and embodied in the concrete labouring capacities of individuals – we argue that social reproduction strategies, and capacities to pursue them, differ widely. Differences are conditioned by positionality, access to information and the construction of ‘economic imaginaries’ as well as material resources. By looking at these different expressions of social reproduction strategies, we highlight how they reinforce macro-scale socio-economic pressures, creating wha...
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This article reports on a study of local implementation in the UK Troubled Families Programme (TFP). Exploring the experiences of 12 families, the policies of local bureaucrats, and a critical reading of the literature, we argue that the... more
This article reports on a study of local implementation in the UK Troubled Families Programme (TFP). Exploring the experiences of 12 families, the policies of local bureaucrats, and a critical reading of the literature, we argue that the local case represented an attempt to partially renegotiate disciplinary elements of the national programme and to recognise that the families were affected by structural poverty and inequality. Locating the TFP in the literature on disciplinary social policy, multi-scale ‘Fast Policy’ and the potential for local subversion through the agency of frontline workers, we suggest that the local attempts to renegotiate programme priorities were partially successful. These attempts were characteristic of ‘contingent coping’ in terms of both institutional processes and outcomes for the families involved. The evidence reported is significant and timely in the context of the expanded and relaunched TFP and this shapes our commentary on the recently published I...
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The death of Margaret Thatcher in April 2013 sparked a range of discussions and debates about the significance of her period in office and the political project to which she gave her name: Thatcherism. This article argues that Thatcherism... more
The death of Margaret Thatcher in April 2013 sparked a range of discussions and debates about the significance of her period in office and the political project to which she gave her name: Thatcherism. This article argues that Thatcherism is best understood as a symbolically important part of the emergence of first-phase neoliberalism. It engages with contemporary debates about Thatcherism among Marxist commentators and suggests that several apparently divergent positions can help us now reach a more useful analysis of Thatcherism’s short- and long-term outcomes for British political economy. The outcomes identified include: an initial crisis in the neoliberal project in the UK; the transformation of the party political system to be reflective of the politics of neoliberalism, rather than its contestation; long-term attempts at the inculcation of the neoliberal individual; de-industrialisation and financial sector dependence; and a fractured and partially unconscious working class. ...
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This article looks at the promise of the ‘New Middle Class’ (NMC) inherent in the neoliberal ideological ideal of individualising societal responsibility for well-being and success. The article points to how this promise enables a... more
This article looks at the promise of the ‘New Middle Class’ (NMC) inherent in the neoliberal ideological ideal of individualising societal responsibility for well-being and success. The article points to how this promise enables a discourse and practice of welfare reform and a disciplining of life styles particularly targeting the very poor in society. Women and some ethnic minorities are particularly prone to poverty and then therefore also discipline. The article then provides a case study of the Troubled Families Programme (TFP) and shows how the programme and the way it is constructed and managed partly undermines the provision of the material needs to alleviate people from poverty and re-produces discourses of poor lifestyle and parenting choices as sources of poverty, thereby undermining the ‘middle-class’ promise.
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The Investigator's Handbook is a comprehensive 140 page guide to investigating companies, organisations, government and individuals. Includes investigation by sectors health and social care, education, housing, regeneration, public... more
The Investigator's Handbook is a comprehensive 140 page guide to investigating companies, organisations, government and individuals. Includes investigation by sectors health and social care, education, housing, regeneration, public transport, utilities and international organisations plus sections on rights to information and searching the web. An invaluable guide for investigating: Company performance; Developers and contractors; Government organisations and quangos; PFI and partnership projects; Investigate ...