Abstract
The article critically examines the Strategic State approach to social policy as represented by the ‘Scottish Approach’ to policy-making and delivery. The article outlines the defining features of a strategic approach to social policy and critically appraises the Scottish Government’s claim to reflect these principles in flagship welfare reforms. The article considers how far a strategic policy approach has been applied in Scotland and draws upon research exploring the response of local leaders to the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic to examine what this experience reveals about how ‘strategic’ these actions were. The article concludes that, in contrast to previous slow progress in implementing a strategic approach, the exigencies of COVID compelled innovations in policy making and accelerated practices consistent with a strategic approach. The article concludes with some reflections on what this evidence implies for strategic social policy making and governance.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 811-828 |
| Number of pages | 18 |
| Journal | Journal of Social Policy |
| Volume | 53 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| Early online date | 19 Sept 2022 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Jul 2024 |
Keywords
- social policy
- strategic approach
- Scotland
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Sociology and Political Science
Documents and Links
- Sinclair, S. (2022) Challenges to the strategic state: welfare reform lessons from a devolved polity
© The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press. This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.