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The 1991 Child Support Act

Failure Foreseeable and Foreseen

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  • © 2019

Overview

Authors:
  1. Leanne McCarthy-Cotter

    1. University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK

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  • Offers the first dedicated examination the policy-making and legislative process of the 1991 Child Support Act
  • Presents new findings based on analysis of previously unpublished documents and undisclosed insights gathered from interviews
  • Advances conceptual understanding of the policy making process by developing and deploying a range of theoretical and methodological approaches

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Table of contents (9 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xxi
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  2. Approaches to Policy Analysis and the Stages Heuristic

    • Leanne McCarthy-Cotter
    Pages 1-31

  3. The Background: ‘Setting the Scene’

    • Leanne McCarthy-Cotter
    Pages 33-44

  4. Problem Definition: Multiple ‘Problems’, Different Frames, and False Representations

    • Leanne McCarthy-Cotter
    Pages 45-71

  5. Policy Formation: ‘Dual-Policy Transfer’ and the 1991 Child Support Act

    • Leanne McCarthy-Cotter
    Pages 73-91

  6. Policy Formation: The Imbalance of Power Within the Core Executive

    • Leanne McCarthy-Cotter
    Pages 93-131

  7. The Flawed Legislative Process

    • Leanne McCarthy-Cotter
    Pages 133-171

  8. Implementation and the 1991 Child Support Act

    • Leanne McCarthy-Cotter
    Pages 173-190

  9. An Evaluation of the Failure of the 1991 Child Support Act

    • Leanne McCarthy-Cotter
    Pages 191-224

  10. Conclusion

    • Leanne McCarthy-Cotter
    Pages 225-230

  11. Back Matter

    Pages 231-262
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Keywords

About this book

This book assesses the 1991 Child Support Act and demonstrates how its failure was ‘foreseeable’ and ‘foreseen’. It provides an understanding of the creation, and failure, of the Act, as well as providing an examination of the British policy-making process. The book re-introduces the ‘stages approach’ as an appropriate framework for examining policy-making in general, and analysing policy failure in particular. It draws on evidence gained through interviews, official documents, unpublished consultation responses, Parliamentary debates, and materials from pressure groups and think-tanks, as well as academic literature. The 1991 Child Support Act is seen as one of the most controversial and notorious policy failures in Britain. However it has received relatively little academic attention. An in-depth analysis of the policy-making process that led to the development and passage of this deeply flawed policy has largely been neglected: this book fills that gap.

Authors and Affiliations

  • University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK

    Leanne McCarthy-Cotter

About the author

Leanne McCarthy-Cotter is Head of Policy for a UK trade union. Dr McCarthy-Cotter’s research is in the fields of governance, policy, and legislation studies, particularly focusing on policy design.

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