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The practice of public participation has remarkably little theory it can call its own. This paper considers the best-known theory -- the Ladder of Participation -- and updates it to reflect changes in thinking since the original ladder was published. The paper then introduces a new theory, based on the perspective of the participants rather than the practitioners and applies the theory to the notorious problem of the `usual suspects'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Political parties have long since targeted the marginal constituency and floating voters using demographic segmentation approaches and the use of market segmentation techniques in general election campaigns is now well-documented (see Johnson 1971; Ahmed and Jackson 1979; Yorke and Meehan 1986; Baines et al. 2003). The actual practice of segmentation as undertaken by political parties and its relation to theory is less well-considered. This paper represents a serious attempt to outline how political parties targeted a priori segments of the electorate including gender, age and life cycle in the 2005 British General Election when they should have been adopting a product attributed-based approach. Selected MORI surveys from April 2005 were analysed, using logistic regression to indicate the most important factors in determining how Britons vote. Principal components analysis provides an indication of how the three main British political parties are perceived. The paper discusses, using resource-advantage theory (Hunt 1995; Hunt and Arnett 2004) how political parties might use their party and leader image, and policies to build their popularity in an election campaign. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article addresses the relationship between public and private policing in a residential setting. It adopts a case study approach to explore the fabric of such relationships in a UK community. It draws on empirical research in a residential community with concurrent policing inputs from the public and private sector. Empirical research with the public and private police and subscribers and non-subscribers to a commercial security scheme is used to comment upon the status of interconnection between the two policing bodies. The potential for public and private police to work in partnership and for alliances to be formed to reinforce policing of communities is explored. The paper also addresses the public perception of possible collaborative partnerships between public and private police. In a climate of increasing pluralisation of community policing it provides a citizen perspective on such developments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Work exploring the relationship between public opinion and public policy over time has largely been restricted to the United States. A wider application of this line of research can provide insights into how representation varies across political systems, however. This article takes a first step in this direction using a new body of data on public opinion and government spending in Britain. The results of analyses reveal that the British public appears to notice and respond (thermostatically) to changes in public spending in particular domains, perhaps even more so than in the United States. They also reveal that British policymakers represent these preferences in spending, though the magnitude and structure of this response is less pronounced and more general. The findings are suggestive about the structuring role of institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the extent to which yearly changes in health spending reflect yearly changes in public preferences. Time series modelling suggests that health care spending is remarkably more responsive to yearly changes in public opinion in the US than in the UK. A content analysis of party manifestos suggests the significant role of ‘issue definition’ in accounting for this difference. Health care issues in the US have more often been viewed as problems of expenditure, while UK policy-makers have tended to focus on efficiency. Results suggest that the responsiveness of health care expenditures to public preferences in the US and UK is linked to the way in which health care issues are differently defined by policy-makers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discusses key issues concerning the relations of Ministers of Parliament's views on the British welfare state to public opinion and to party policy. Party policy and public attitudes; Ministers of Parliament's attitudes to welfare; Changes in welfare policy.