Politics and Administrative Justice
Postliberalism, Street-Level Bureaucracy and the Reawakening of Democratic Citizenship
This book argues there is urgent need for a radical reassessment of the way the law mediates between citizens and the state. Drawing on public inquiries into high-profile cases, this book examines how the regulation of street-level bureaucracy can play an integral part in reimagining postliberal politics and the role of the law.
In recent years, failures in health and social care, mental health services, public housing, welfare and policing have dominated headlines and been the subject of much public debate. The means for addressing such concerns have become increasingly legalistic and subject to a particular brand of liberal legalism that stifles the possibility of transformational intervention.
For this reason, this book argues there is urgent need for a radical reassessment of the way the law mediates between citizens and the state. Drawing on public inquiries into high-profile cases, such as Hillsborough and Grenfell, fictional/cinematic treatments such as I, Daniel Blake, and the disability rights movement, this book examines how the regulation of street-level bureaucracy can play an integral part in reimagining postliberal politics and the role of the law.
Nick O’Brien is a solicitor, a fee-paid first-tier tribunal judge, and an Honorary Research Fellow in the School of Law and Social Justice at the University of Liverpool.
