Understanding Street-Level Bureaucracy / / ed. by Peter Hupe, Michael Hill, Aurélien Buffat.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Bristol University Press Complete eBook-Package 2015
• MitwirkendeR: Bannink, Duco,; Brodkin, Evelyn Z.,; Buffat, Aurélien,; Ellis, Kathryn,; Evans, Tony,; Harrison, Stephen,; Hill, Michael,; Hupe, Peter,; Loyens, Kim,; May, Peter J.,; Maynard-Moody, Steven,; Musheno, Michael,; Nielsen, Vibeke Lehmann,; Osiander, Christopher,; Schuppan, Tino,; Six, Frédérique,; Steinke, Joss,; Walker, Carol,; Wenger, Jeffrey B.,; Wilkins, Vicky M.,; Winter, Søren C.,; van Berkel, Rik,; van Kooten, Eva,; van Wijk, Eelco,; van der Aa, Paul,
• HerausgeberIn: Buffat, Aurélien,; Hill, Michael,; Hupe, Peter,
• Place / Publishing House: Bristol : : Policy Press, , [2015]; ©2015
• Year of Publication: 2015
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (404 p.) :; 8 Black and White

This wide-ranging edited volume provides a state of the art account of theory and research on modern street-level bureaucracy, gathering internationally acclaimed scholars to address the varying roles of public officials who fulfill their tasks while interacting with the public. These roles include the delivery of benefits and services, the regulation of social and economic behavior, and the expression and maintenance of public values. Questions about the extent of discretionary autonomy and the feasibility of hierarchical control are discussed in depth, with suggestions made for the further development of research in this field. Hence the book fills an important gap in the literature on public policy delivery, making it a valuable text for students and researchers of public policy, public administration and public management.

Table of Contents

Front Matter -- Contents -- Biographical notes -- Preface -- Introduction -- Introduction: defining and understanding street-level bureaucracy -- The inside story: street-level research in the US and beyond -- Delivering services and benefits: street-level bureaucracy and the welfare state -- Discretionary payments in social assistance -- Street-level bureaucracy and professionalism in health services -- When and why discretion is weak or strong: the case of taxing officers in a Public Unemployment Fund -- Agents of the state: street-level bureaucracy and law enforcement -- Law enforcement and policy alienation: coping by labour inspectors and federal police officers -- Law enforcement behaviour of regulatory inspectors -- Street-level bureaucrats and regulatory deterrence -- Embedded in society: street-level bureaucrats as public actors -- Street-level bureaucrats and client interaction in a just world -- ‘Playing the rules’: discretion in social and policy context -- Personalisation and adult social work: recasting professional discretion at the street level? -- The management of street-level bureaucrats -- Bureaucratic, market or professional control? A theory on the relation between street-level task characteristics and the feasibility of control mechanisms -- First-line supervisors as gate-keepers: rule processing by head teachers -- Service workers on the electronic leash? Street-level bureaucrats in emerging information and communication technology work contexts -- The promise of professionalism -- Fulfilling the promise of professionalism in street-level practice -- Professionals and discretion in street-level bureaucracy -- The moment of the street-level bureaucrats in a public employment service -- Conclusion -- Conclusion: the present and future study of street-level bureaucracy -- References -- Index