Moments of alignment between devolved political ideology and policy design: the case of Wales

Pearce, Sioned ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6906-1096, Sophocleous, Christala ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6079-1391, Blakely, Helen ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6188-0692 and Elliott, Eva ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1583-2603 2020. Moments of alignment between devolved political ideology and policy design: the case of Wales. People, Place and Policy 14 (1) , pp. 6-23. 10.3351/ppp.2020.6389998796

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Abstract

The devolution of power and responsibility from central to sub national levels of governance over the past half century marks a paradigm shift in forces shaping social policy across much of Western Europe. Scholarship in this field is often concerned with a binary analysis of before and after the advent of devolution, with insufficient attention paid to transitory changes over time. Through attention to Wales’ flagship community regeneration programme, Communities First, a striking instance of divergent devolved social policy, we highlight the need to attend to the dynamics of devolution across time. Drawing on empirical data charting the programme’s conception, implementation, evolution, distortion and eventual demise, we argue that a moment of alignmentbetween ideology and policy design was visible at conception but eroded over 16 years, as the programme increasingly came to bear the hallmarks of neoliberalism. Using this case study, we consider the extent to which newly devolved states can implement ideological policy visions that resist the restraints put upon sub-state governance on the one hand and forces of central state ideologies and logics on the other.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Published Online
Status:	Published
Schools:	Social Sciences (Includes Criminology and Education) Wales Institute of Social & Economic Research, Data & Methods (WISERD)
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General) H Social Sciences > HN Social history and conditions. Social problems. Social reform H Social Sciences > HT Communities. Classes. Races
Publisher:	Sheffield Hallam University
ISSN:	1753-8041
Funders:	Economic and Social Research Council
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	24 June 2020
Date of Acceptance:	12 June 2020
Last Modified:	05 May 2023 23:59
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/132732

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