This book is an introduction and guide to the dramatic changes that have occurred in the provision of public services over the last two decades. The authors combine theoretical perspectives with a global range of case studies from Europe, North America, and other areas to explain why, how, and with what success liberal democracies have reformed the service role of the state.
Growing international trade has helped lift living standards around the world, and yet free trade is always under attack. Critics complain that trade forces painful economic adjustments, such as plant closings and layoffs of workers, and charge that the World Trade Organization serves the interests of corporations, undercuts domestic environmental regulations, and erodes America's sovereignty. …
This second volume, The Cultural Economy, analyzes the dynamic relationship in which culture is part of the process of economic change that in turn changes the conditions of culture. It brings together perspectives from different disciplines to examine such critical issues as: - The production of cultural goods and services and the patterns of economic globalization - The relationship between…