The Brown Government

A Policy Evaluation

Matt Beech, Simon Lee

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2013
• eBook ISBN: 9781317966678
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: American Government
• Index: Politics & International Relations

The Brown Government provides an interim evaluation of Gordon Brown's Labour administration through identifying continuities and discontinuities with the Blair governments from 1997. By focusing on key ideas and areas of public policy it presents an analysis of the first 18 months of Brown's government. This book is notable for its topicality particularly for the discussions of the credit crunch, the British banking crises and the interconnectedness of these events with the global economic downturn.

A study of Brown's handling of these crises in the economy is important as it is arguable that the present recession and credit crunch will reach unprecedented proportions and therefore define the character and content of British politics in the coming years. By conducting an examination of the Brown Government's public policy priorities one can begin to decipher its aims and values and, by so doing, begin to understand the next phase of the New Labour project. In this sense the book is a contribution to the ongoing study of contemporary British social democracy.

This book was published as a special issue of Policy Studies.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Notes on Contributors
• Abstracts
• Introduction
• 1. A puzzle of ideas and policy: Gordon Brown as prime minister
• 2. The rock of stability? The political economy of the Brown government
• 3. Gordon Brown and public management reform a project in search of a “big idea”?
• 4. The public services under Gordon Brown similar reforms, less money
• 5. Work to be done? Welfare reform from Blair to Brown
• 6. Gordon Brown and international policy
• 7. In Conclusion: The prospects for Brown's social democracy
• Index