This thesis explores the nature and extent of convergence and divergence in cannabis control in England & Wales and the Netherlands through an examination of the policy-making process. Over the past couple of decades a number of sociological theories of crime control have pointed towards converging tendencies in the growth of ‘punitiveness’ across advanced Western countries. One of the most influential accounts put forth has been David Garland’s The Culture of Control which suggests that the transition to late-modernity has brought with it new and reconstructed risks and threats, and ambivalent strategies of responding to issues of crime and security. However, despite the usefulness of such bodies of work which attempted to map the ‘master patterns’ of crime control, there is a need to empirically examine how a culture of control unfolds across different national and subnational spheres. An under-examined area of criminological research is the very nature of policy development and negotiation, with tendencies to read off policy outcomes without a deeper exploration of how such responses come into being and unfold across different national and subnational spaces. The area of drugs policy, and specifically regarding cannabis, provided an interesting focus in which to test and build upon The Culture of Control, and particularly so in England & Wales and the Netherlands who have traditionally exhibited differences in their approaches to cannabis policy. Recent policy changes regarding cannabis suggest a toughening of approaches in both jurisdictions, with the reclassification from Class C to Class B in England & Wales in 2009, and the modifications to the ‘coffeeshop’ gedoogbeleid (‘tolerance policy’) in the Netherlands in 2012/13. A thematic analysis was conducted on empirical data from ‘elite’ semi-structured interviews (n=62) as well as key policy documents. The findings suggest that there have been convergent patterns in the way in which problems and policy alternatives have been constructed and molded to fit particular political agendas which shifted policy in a more repressive direction; but there are crucial differences in institutional and political cultures which still generate significant points of divergence across and within these jurisdictions. Consequentially, although ‘contrasts in tolerance’ may not be as marked as once described before (Downes 1988), there are still key components of the policy process in the Netherlands which more readily enable resistance against overly punitive policy movements, and foster the potential for a more pragmatic approach towards cannabis control.

The subject of this study is that of bomb threat risk communication; a ‘sensitive’ topic because of its association with counter-terrorism policy. It is also a subject that has not generated extensive empirical research but is, nevertheless, affected by strongly-held and competing worldviews. The majority of bomb threats are identified, ultimately, as the work of ‘cranks’, ‘pranksters’ or ‘jokers’ (FBI, 2012; CPNI, 2010) but a smaller number have resulted in the adverse event that was threatened - although not always within the temporal or spatial parameters specified by the threat actor (MI5, 2005: 30). Risk management advice intended to inform a decision-making process is located in the collective views of subject matter experts and within this ‘orthodoxy’ the dominant view is that, under conditions of uncertainty, when “vital binary decisions need to be made” (Blackett Review, 2011), the ‘safest’ option is to assume the validity of the terrorist threat. Available evidence suggests that this position is disproportionate and risk averse; specifically, that the assessment of risk fails to take sufficient account of deliberate deception on the part of the threat actor or potential misinterpretation of the message communicated. Research presented here considers the extent to which the literature on the subject supports the orthodoxy. It identifies the risk management response as one founded on a principle of precaution and which has become symptomatic of a “wicked problem” (Rittel and Webber, 1973) - where some elements are addressed in great detail whilst others, integral to risk management decision-making, are circumvented or excluded. This research addresses the absence of published data concerning bomb threats as a tactic of terrorists and expands upon the findings of the very small number of studies concerned exclusively with ‘hoaxing’. It analyses a unique dataset collected by the author comprising of a total sample of 7595 threat events directed at Britain’s railway network and spanning almost a quarter of a century; and uses qualitative data from secondary sources to contextualise the incidents (hoax and real) located. The study also analyses a second sample drawn from 328 ‘newsworthy’ incidents: all of which were hoaxes. By considering hoax and valid threat events within the same study, the findings raise a substantial challenge to the tenets of the bomb threat orthodoxy; particularly the worldview within which to “brave the bomb threat” (HSE, 1992: 27) is characterised as a risk ‘not worth taking’.

Bovine Tuberculosis (bTb) continues to cause turmoil for farmers and their businesses where farmers have endured the impact of the disease for extensive periods of time such is the longevity of the problem. Connections between animal disease and its social impact on humans were recognised widely during the outbreak of foot and mouth disease (FMD) in 2001. However, despite the apparent impact of bTB on farmers and the rural community, there are few studies that seek to explore and measure these social impacts. The aim of this study is to investigate problems associated with the social impacts of bTB on farmers where levels of personal well-being and farmer’s productivity are measured to establish their quality of life and its relationship with bTB. A conceptual framework was drawn up to capture the themes rising from the literature review considered as vital in establishing the social effects of bTB. This framework was used as the basis in developing a mixed methods structure to the research. This approach combined qualitative interviews and participant observation over a longitudinal time frame of eighteen months with farmers and a quantitative postal survey of a sample of farmers across Wales. The qualitative interviews were undertaken with farmers on sixteen farms within four high risk disease areas in Wales. Its aim was to understand the meaning of well-being to farmers and to identify key factors which influence it and their quality of life. The effects of bTB testing on farmers is observed alongside establishing how farmers have managed with bTB and what coping strategies they have adopted both personally and as part of their working lives. A key aim of the quantitative methodology was to establish levels of personal well-being and productivity amongst farmers using recognised scales, to explore what significant pressures affect farmers on their farms and acquire their attitudes to bTB. In qualitative interviews, farmers identified health, happiness, having a sense of worth with respect from others, and having the freedom to farm in their own right as central components to their well-being. Negative influences on well-being were recognised as the weather, red tape and bureaucracy, financial and aspects which causes pressures relative to farm management. In qualitative interviews, farmers linked the impacts of bTB with perceived poor well-being and described various coping strategies to avoid the consequences of bTB. However, survey data found that farmers with bTB were not statistically significantly more likely to have lower well-being than farmers without bTB. Farmers’ well-being appears to be connected to their trust in the Welsh Government; farmers’ perceived ability to control bTB; and their trust in others (such as vets) to help them avoid bTB. The research therefore presents a new perspective of the extent of the social impacts arising from bTB. Where other studies have indicated a relationship between the well-being of farmers and bTB, the results in this research question the extent to which these impacts exist.

The work carried out in this research concerns the use of Deleuze and Guattari’s philosophy in relation to learning, experience, and intervention. The research was carried out in two stages. First, by working with two groups of young people from Valleys Kids, a charity organization located in the heart of the Rhondda South Wales, the first phase consists of a psychogeographical dérive of Cardiff Museum, Wales. Based on the Situationist International approach to studying the emotional effects of place and environment, psychogeography allows young people to become attentive to their sense and emotions in relation to art and culture. This enables researchers, art educationists and those working in the area of youth arts to produce pedagogical documentation which records the processes of lived experience. The second stage of the study consists of a series of poetry workshops: informing the areas of education, micro-politics, and therapeutic intervention. By developing a complex theoretical scaffold using Deleuze, Spinoza, Peirce and Bergson, this research considers art as a relational encounter (Bourriaud, 2002) and approaches it as an unrestricted pattern and structure of experience which flows from perception to recognition (Dewey, 2005). From Deleuze and Spinoza the research sets the empirical inquiry within a bodily logic. As a constructivist approach towards subjectivity and experience, this allows us to look at young people’s encounters with cultural artefacts as produced through a multiplicity of processes and practices. Peircean semiotics permits us to explore how these processes of lived experience communicate through a variety of both signifying and a-signifying registers. In addition, Bergson’s phenomenology of minds allows researchers to detail the relation of lived experience to time and the material body. The result is a form of empirical inquiry that allows researchers to understand the meaning of empiricism in relation to what experience is. In aligning itself with the pedagogical strategies and outreach initiatives currently being deliver by the Museum of Contemporary Art of Barcelona (MACBA) Independent Studies Program (PEI) this research addresses the gap which exists between museum institution and university. Accordingly, by re-drawing its boundaries and modifying its cognitive architecture, practice-led research in the area of youth arts can transform the museum into a workshop for experimentation (Bourriaud, 1998) and challenge the curatorial hegemony of the exhibition apparatus. Indeed, by engaging in experimental practices with young people, and working at the intersection between theory and practice, we can re-evaluate our perceptions of what art is for, and how art might be treated in a devolved museum and gallery space.

This thesis evaluates the Union Learning Agenda (ULA) in Wales using Behrens, Hamann and Hurd’s (2004) model of trade union revitalisation. The political, economic, membership and institutional spheres of union learning activity were explored through a mixed-method study that utilised a quantitative survey of 246 ULRs in Wales, alongside interview, observation and documentary research methods. The examination showed that within a political social partnership environment unions extracted resources from government and gained policy influence. The evaluation of workplace activity showed that ULRs were organising broadly defined learning for colleagues, and developing bargaining and consultation with employers over vocational and educational training (VET). Procedural mechanisms were more common where there was employer support for ULR activity and substantive outcomes were greater where procedural mechanisms were in place. Further, ULRs were engaging members through broad rather than narrow definitions of learning, and supporting the development of union-commitment behaviours (Snape and Redman 2004). The ULA was increasing the infrastructural resources, internal solidarity and network embeddedness of trade union institutional capacity (Lévesque and Murray 2010), thereby contributing to trade union revitalisation processes. The thesis contributes to empirical knowledge on the ULA by providing the first analysis of activity in Wales. Secondly, it assessed the content and importance of multi-union and multi-actor activity in ULA networks. The thesis argues that in a context where government and employer support for union involvement is strong, a partnership approach to the ULA can aid union revitalisation not only at the workplace but beyond it.

This thesis employs a case study approach to explore the ways in which women who are co-accused with a male partner (or accomplices) of committing a range of crimes are framed by British newspapers and compares such reportage with the record made in the legal proceedings of the same cases. Pseudonyms have been provided for the case studies analysed, due to the terms and conditions of the Privileged Access Agreement granted by Her Majesty’s Court and Tribunal Services, which enabled viewing access to the case file material. The case studies analysed are Jane Turner, Sarah Johnson, Alice Jones and Janet Young. The unique aspect of the case studies is that each of the women, either directly or indirectly, argued that they had been coerced into crime by their male partner/accomplice. Using a feminist methodological approach, this thesis explores the news media framing of the co-accused women and the case file material is utilised as a comparative tool. The British newspapers selected for analysis are Daily Mail, Daily Telegraph, The Guardian, The Independent, Daily Star, The Express, The Mirror, The People, The Sun, The Times (including Sunday published versions). This thesis argues that the co-accused women are framed within a range of stock, gendered motifs and narratives which consequently silences, mutes and distorts their perspectives. Furthermore, the concept of ‘coercion into crime’ is also developed to better understand coercion as a pathway into criminality.

The ageing population in the UK is placing huge pressure on Health and Social Care, exacerbated by current economic pressures to cut costs. The British Government is politically driving integrated care, to encourage the different services that constitute the whole system of care to work together in order to reduce fragmentation and overlap in the system. However, methods for effective partnership working towards integrated care are not well researched. This thesis details an action research project to virtually integrate Housing into the whole system of care in Conwy in particular, concluding that the methods used provide an appropriate approach for partnership working towards integrated care, thus addressing this gap. Housing plays an important role in the whole system of care for older people as a person's home environment has a high impact on their wellbeing. Poor quality housing can negatively impact on health, and care can be provided in the home due to the government's emphasis on 'ageing in place'. However, whilst the importance of considering Housing's role in the whole system of care is identified in government policy, efforts towards achieving integrated care do not commonly include Housing departments or providers. The thesis concludes that only types of housing which inherently include care (e.g. extra care, care homes) are integrated into the system, despite the fact that residents can access care in any type of housing. Soft systems methodology (SSM) is used to identify the whole system of care in Conwy, Wales. A Steering Group was established to develop an Older Persons' Housing Strategy (OPHS) for Conwy, one of the aims of which was to integrate Housing into the whole system of care. The local authority act as the 'strategic enabler' in achieving this. Each Steering Group member was interviewed to establish their role within the system, and their worldviews on it. This enabled the Steering Group to develop a shared vision for the OPHS, which is a key feature of successful partnerships to achieve integrated care. Support is identified as an appropriate integrating function and examined to establish appropriate operations structures. Through a survey of support services in Wales, it is identified that support, provided by wardens in sheltered housing, is currently going through a transition period, due to changes to funding guidelines for support. Many local authorities in England are now using offsite support, but the impacts of this are not well researched. This research provides an evidence base for practitioners looking to change the structure of their warden service. This is based on a SWOT analysis of onsite and offsite support, conducted from the data gathered during the survey. Local authorities can capitalise on the changes being made to warden services, taking the opportunity to upskill wardens and using support to integrate Housing into the care system by signposting other services. Finally, focus groups were conducted with older people to ensure the OPHS met their needs. This also served to triangulate the findings of the SSM and the survey, demonstrating the effectiveness of combining these methods.

The growth of personal indebtedness in the UK has become of increasing significance in the years following the 2007/8 global financial crises as both a public issue and within the personal troubles of individuals. What distinguishes contemporary personal debt is its relationship to the political and economic transformations of the last 30 years, characterised as the process of neoliberalization. This process is allied with a particularly virulent form of global financial capitalism that has increasingly come to dominate all aspects of society, from the institutional structures of civil society to the minutiae of everyday life. In order to draw out the main features of this process and its role in the normalization of debt, this thesis addresses two distinct, but interrelated questions: first, how has personal debt been framed through the promotion and dissemination of particular policy and public discourses?; and second, how have attitudes and behaviours towards personal debt been transformed as everyday cultural practices and understandings? First, the research is guided by the post-disciplinary approach of ‘cultural political economy’, using the concept of the ‘economic imaginary’ to identify the evolving material-discursive production of meaning in government policy-making that has framed personal debt. Second, the research examines how intersubjective meanings of personal debt have become resonant within everyday practices of credit and debt through a series of biographical narrative participant interviews. The two strands of research are brought together within a cultural political economy framework. This thesis demonstrates how established neoliberal embedding at policy-level has unswervingly framed a conception of ‘consumer freedom’ that involves increasing access to credit markets, but emergent extra-discursive situations have always constrained such framings. At the same time, increased access to credit has meant a greater acceptance of debt by people who negotiate these transformations by developing modes of calculation that reduce the moral complications of debt accumulation. However, it also involves being vulnerable to greater risks, as they are exposed to the same extra-discursive constraints.

Epilepsy is not just a medical condition but a social label; successful clinical treatment is therefore only one aspect of epilepsy management. However, the particular ways in which features of an individual’s background and clinical condition influence the impact that epilepsy has on them is not yet fully understood. The voice of the individual living with epilepsy is at the core of this study. Drawing upon research on illness narratives, this qualitative study is embedded in the perspective that knowledge construction relies upon the socially crafted tool of language which facilitates a broader range of perspectives and promotes greater subjectivity. I draw upon the illness stories of fourteen adults with epilepsy to explore how the condition impacts directly or indirectly on daily living and life trajectories, and to re-present the diverse nature and meaning of having epilepsy, including its stigma potential. I conducted in-depth interviews with seven male and seven female participants attending epilepsy outpatient clinics. Interview transcripts were subjected to paradigmatic and narrative analysis in order to examine thematic similarities and differences. Participant stories were identified using Mishler’s theoretical model of ‘Core Narrative’. Narrative encounters with participants reflected both their recent and more distant experiences of epilepsy. What emerged from the stories was a discourse of disruption and difference, with epilepsy often imposing barriers to daily living and to maintaining a positive sense of self as participants searched for meaning. While the stories told were uniquely individual, collectively a dominant plot was seen to emerge. For the adults with epilepsy in this study the plot takes the individual from a beginning of ‘discovery and diagnosis’, through the process of ‘searching for a cause’, ‘negotiating risk and uncertainty’, and, ‘striving for control’. As individuals communicate what is significant to them, attention to patient stories provides insight into how experience is constructed and evolves over time. Due consideration of such stories by health professionals can offer direction in which intervention(s) can occur to ensure the interests and needs of the individual with epilepsy are holistically considered and met.

This thesis examines the underlying health impairment and motivational processes associated with volunteer retention, commitment and satisfaction within the Special Constabulary. Recognising the need to understand the impact of organisational-type variables on the volunteer experience, as well as the unique occupational hazards associated with police work, a theoretical model of volunteer retention within the Special Constabulary is developed based on the framework provided by the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) model. An online survey was distributed to volunteers serving at two Special Constabularies (N=272), with a follow-up survey sent out 6 months later (N=150). Secondary data analysis of volunteer workforce management data was also conducted to further understand the impact of operational duties on well-being and retention. Strong support for the effect of various job characteristics within the health impairment and motivational pathways was found. Longitudinal analysis also confirmed the existence of causal and reciprocal relationships between burnout, connectedness and outcome measures. The effects of burnout highlight the detrimental ways in which the demands of police work lead to the development of distancing behaviours. Burnout may therefore also have implications for the conceptual relationship between the Special Constabulary and the public. Volunteer work can however be motivational and offset the experience of burnout. Connectedness was influenced by organisational support and training, as well as on-the-job learning and the provision of challenging assignments. Importantly these findings suggest that rather than simply benefiting from the development of a favourable working environment, volunteers are also motivated to continue in their roles by the provision of job challenge. Overall these findings highlight the importance of job design in volunteerism. Providing volunteers with support, training and job challenge, whilst ensuring specials know what is expected of them and facilitating stronger working relationships with regular police officers has positive effect on retention.