Jenny M. Lewis establishes a set of parameters for social capital that help us examine how policy can increase cooperation between organisations and individuals, and how a social capital framework can also help us understand the public policy process. This is an invaluable text for researchers, policy-makers and students who are interested in how social capital theories can be integrated into grassroots policy making both in Australia and overseas.

Getting Welfare to Work traces the radical reform of the Australian, UK, and Dutch public employment services systems. Starting with major changes from 1998, this book examines how each national system has moved from traditional public services towards more privately provided and market-based methods.
Each of these three countries developed innovative forms of contracting-out and complex incentive regimes to motivate welfare clients and to control the agencies charged with helping them. The Australian system pioneered the use of large, national contracts for services to all unemployed...