Stephen Mckay
Biographic Data
| ID | 3590569 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Stephen Mckay |
| GIVEN NAMES | Stephen |
| FAMILY NAME | Mckay |
| SIGNATURE | MCKAY S |
| AFFILIATIONS | Queen's University Belfast |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-1580-1287 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 30 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 86 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 30 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2000 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 6 |
Are drugs bad for business (improvement districts)? Policy mobility, security planning, and frontier politics
This journal has previously published several articles on policy mobility, Business Improvement Districts (BIDs), Drug Consumption Rooms (DCRs), and security planning. Drawing upon this literature and through the unique lens of Belfast, our interest is twofold. First, as a “post-conflict city”, in what ways have policies on BIDs and DCRs become “embedded in place”? Second, what are the challenges in securing an appropriate site for a DCR, given t…
Backbench roles in the twenty-first century UK House of Commons: A Latent Class Analysis
Parliamentary roles are central to the functioning of legislatures, but the common starting point for their analysis contains methodological and conceptual flaws and is based on now-50-year-old interviews. We seek to update our understanding by using a new method within parliamentary roles scholarship—Latent Class Analysis—and a newly-curated dataset of parliamentary activity of all House of Commons backbenchers (2001–19). We find seven backbench…
Which MPs get elevated to the UK House of Lords
Using logistic regression and a dataset of 816 MPs who sat in the UK House of Commons between 1997 and 2019, we analyse which MPs get elevated to the upper chamber. Drawing on literatures concerning progressive political ambition, the UK Parliament and the wider nature of the British state, we test hypotheses concerning loyalty, expertise and nepotism. We find evidence to support all three but expertise in the form of frontbench experience and, f…
World Heritage Sites and the question of scale in governance and politics: A study of Stonehenge
In July 2021, Liverpool was removed from the prestigious List of World Heritage Sites, sending shockwaves around the global heritage community. More recently, the spotlight has shifted to another world famous site also located in the United Kingdom. During the same 44th Session of the World Heritage Committee, UNESCO threatened to place Stonehenge on the List in Danger if the required changes to a significant billion-pound road enhancement projec…
A ‘planning revolution’ or an ‘attack on planning’ in England: Digitization, digitalization, and democratization
This article focuses on the planning–technology nexus. Recent work explores the potential of digital technology in overcoming the longstanding limitations of a lack of public engagement and citizen empowerment in the planning process. In August 2020, the Government published a White Paper to democratize, digitize, and digitalize the planning system. We interrogate whether these radical reforms constitute a ‘planning revolution’ or an ‘attack on p…
The politics of World Heritage Sites: City planning, bird shit architecture and European impunity
Liverpool holds the unenviable distinction to be the first UK city to lose its United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage Site status. It was inscribed in 2004, placed on the ‘in Danger’ list in 2012 and de-listed in 2021 due to the perceived negative impact of extensive waterfront regeneration. Planning permission for the £5.5 billion Liverpool Waters project and Everton Football Club's £500 million …
All aboard Belfast’s ‘brandwagon’: From ‘pariah city’ to ‘energised city’
The concept of brand personality is increasingly applied to the contemporary city. During the ‘Troubles’, Belfast – as a ‘pariah city’ – was contaminated with a sclerotic image. Recently it has been rebranded as a ‘post-conflict’ and ‘energised’ city. This paper reveals the significant image transformation in Belfast and its recent engagement with city brand personality. Despite significant progress on destination personality and brand identity, …
Religion, neoliberalism, planning: An analysis of Northern Ireland’s ‘superchurch’
This article adds to and develops extant work on the comparatively under-explored but important link between religion, neoliberalism, and planning. It is noticeable that mega/giga-churches are recalibrating the religious and physical landscapes of cities around the world; in so doing they raise important implications for professional planners. We focus on Green Pastures Church in Northern Ireland. The church has initiated a significant urban deve…
Women in the Profession: An Update on the Gendered Composition of the Discipline and Political Science Departments in the UK
We present data on the proportions and seniority of female and male political scientists working in the UK. Comparing the results with previous research from 2011, we find that progress has been made. However, progress has been incremental and we find no qualitative changes in the status of female political scientists: they continue to be outnumbered by their male counterparts; they are overrepresented in the least senior job groups and underrepr…
A Means to an End and an End in Itself: Select Committee Membership, Parliamentary Roles and Parliamentary Careers, 1979–Present
Committees are important vehicles for parliamentary careers both as means to a (ministerial) end and as an end in themselves. This article explores the relationship between select committee membership and parliamentary career by analysing committee membership and frontbench appointments for the 2130 Members of Parliament (MPs) first elected since 1979. We focus on two of Donald Searing’s four informal backbench roles—Policy Advocates and Parliame…
Illegal geographies and spatial planning: Developing a dialogue on drugs
Recent debates in this, and other, journals have focused ‘illegal geographies’, ‘geographies of the illicit’ and ‘planning and criminal powers’. This paper fuses these debates in geography and planning through an interrogation of the interface between illegal drugs and spatial planning. In unpacking and problematizing the drugs–planning nexus and developing a dialogue on drugs, it sets the context for a new research agenda concerning contemporary…
The Prevalence and Distribution of High Salaries in English and Welsh Charities
There has recently been public discussion of the rewards available to senior staff in English and Welsh charities. However, that discussion is usually based on examples of individual salaries, or on unrepresentative and small subsets of the charity population. To provide a robust and informed basis for debate, we have conducted analyses of evidence on the payment of high salaries (defined as the numbers of people paid above £60,000 p.a., a report…
Do UK MPs engage more with Select Committees since the Wright Reforms? An Interrupted Time Series Analysis, 1979–2016
The 2010 Wright Reforms are the most significant changes to the Select Committee system in the UK House of Commons since their inauguration in their modern form in 1979. We use interrupted time series techniques (ARIMA) to test the impact of the Wright Report on the level of parliamentarians’ engagement with those Select Committees covered by the Wright Reforms using proxy measures of membership attendance and turnover rates. We find little or no…
Lone Parent Families: Gender, Class and State
Appropriate as supplemental reading for courses in Social Policy and Social Studies that examine the role of parenting in society. The subject of lone mothers is a controversial and highly topical social and political issue. This unique core text examines the key issues in the debate, and assesses their impact on the UK and other countries in a comprehensive and accessible way. Broad in scope, it covers a wide range of issues including gender rol…
Benefits, poverty and social justice
The ongoing austerity policies combined with increasingly negative public views about benefits are generating the current crisis of social security benefits. Whilst in previous years there might have been greater concerns about administrative issues and take-up, at present increasing proportions of the public are sceptical about the positive aspects to social security. Strategies to defend social security appear to have gained limited political t…
Is There a Subjective Well-Being Premium in Voluntary Sector Employment
Previous studies have found that employment in the voluntary sector offers a so-called ‘job satisfaction premium’: despite lower salaries, voluntary sector employees are more satisfied with their jobs than workers in other sectors. This paper examines whether voluntary sector employees also experience a subjective well-being premium. Using data from the UK Annual Population Survey 2012/2013, we find that voluntary sector employees do have higher …
The Marketisation of Charities in England and Wales
Much has been written about the reasons for and impact of marketisation on charities, their clients, and wider civil society. A central component of the marketisation thesis is that charities are substituting grants and donations with commercial revenue. However, there is no consensus in the existing literature as to whether the two sources of revenue are substitutes or complementary. This paper shows that between 2003 and 2007 there was a signif…
Disability, partnership and parenting
Partnerships and parenthood can have important effects on economic, social and psychological well-being. We provide new long-term analysis of how disability affects both parental status and partnerships. Analysis of the new Life Opportunities Survey, which is based on social model approaches, demonstrates that disabled people are more likely than non-disabled people to face disadvantages in terms of family formation. Disabled people are more like…
Pitfalls in Strategic Planning: Lessons for Legitimacy
The paper considers how planning as a political activity is underpinned by concepts of justice and how professional practitioners are consistently faced with making ethical choices in the public interest. The key objective is therefore to identify the centrality of ethics in praxis. In this context, political liberal theory is empirically useful in exploring both the role of participants and the processes employed in strategic planning. A case st…
Response 1: Scientific Method in Social Policy Research Is Not a Lost Cause
In ‘Generalisation and phronesis’, Paul Spicker argues that the methodology of empirical research in social policy would be improved by drawing on Aristotle's concept of phronesis (φρόνησις) – which is generally translated as practical wisdom or prudence. He argues against versions of generalisation that rely on cause-and-effect, whether through deductive or inductive means. He maintains, however, that social policy research must still aim at mak…
In Pursuit of Parrhesia: An Investigation into Knowledge Selection in Inquisitorial Planning Practice
Drawing upon interviews with procedural actants from Public Inquiry and Examination in Public fora, I draw upon relevant theoretical frameworks to evaluate modes of discourse in inquisitorial planning practice. In the investigation, which is based primarily upon an empirical study, I focus upon the role of evidence, the selection and handling of multiple knowledges, the behaviour of participants, and the methodology underpinning the process. It i…
Social security and welfare reform
This chapter reviews New Labour’s social security and welfare reform policies. Blair achieved a ‘paradigm shift’ by putting ‘poverty’ back on the policy agenda. His pledge to eradicate child poverty was a major turning point in welfare reform, although the failure to achieve even the interim targets in poverty reduction may come back to haunt his successor(s). The emphasis on poverty was a radical departure from the previous governments, but the …
Social security and welfare reform
This chapter reviews New Labour's social security and welfare reform policies. Blair achieved a ‘paradigm shift’ by putting ‘poverty’ back on the policy agenda. His pledge to eradicate child poverty was a major turning point in welfare reform, although the failure to achieve even the interim targets in poverty reduction may come back to haunt his successor(s). The emphasis on poverty was a radical departure from the previous governments, but the …
The changing world of benefits and Benefits
The Consistency of RAE Outcomes in the Social Sciences: A Quantitative Comparison of Social Policy and Cognate Subjects in the RAE 2001
In the RAE 2001, widely differing proportions of staff were judged internationally excellent in different academic subjects. This has important financial and other implications, and in 2008 a hierarchical structure will aim to increase consistency. We look at those subjects that will be part of a super-unit with social policy in 2008, and consider what objective rationale may explain the wide differences in ratings in 2001. A quantitative analysi…
Lone Motherhood and Socio-Economic Disadvantage: Insights from Quantitative and Qualitative Evidence
Children's socio-economic origins have a major impact on their socio-economic destinations. But what effect do they have on other kinds of destinations, such as family life? In this article we assess the extent and nature of the relationship between social class background and lone motherhood, using a combination of research methods. We analyse three large datasets and explore in detail qualitative information from 44 in-depth interviews. Our ana…
Disability, partnership and parenting
Partnerships and parenthood can have important effects on economic, social and psychological well-being. We provide new long-term analysis of how disability affects both parental status and partnerships. Analysis of the new Life Opportunities Survey, which is based on social model approaches, demonstrates that disabled people are more likely than non-disabled people to face disadvantages in terms of family formation. Disabled people are more like…
Women in the Profession: An Update on the Gendered Composition of the Discipline and Political Science Departments in the UK
We present data on the proportions and seniority of female and male political scientists working in the UK. Comparing the results with previous research from 2011, we find that progress has been made. However, progress has been incremental and we find no qualitative changes in the status of female political scientists: they continue to be outnumbered by their male counterparts; they are overrepresented in the least senior job groups and underrepr…
A Means to an End and an End in Itself: Select Committee Membership, Parliamentary Roles and Parliamentary Careers, 1979–Present
Committees are important vehicles for parliamentary careers both as means to a (ministerial) end and as an end in themselves. This article explores the relationship between select committee membership and parliamentary career by analysing committee membership and frontbench appointments for the 2130 Members of Parliament (MPs) first elected since 1979. We focus on two of Donald Searing’s four informal backbench roles—Policy Advocates and Parliame…
Do UK MPs engage more with Select Committees since the Wright Reforms? An Interrupted Time Series Analysis, 1979–2016
The 2010 Wright Reforms are the most significant changes to the Select Committee system in the UK House of Commons since their inauguration in their modern form in 1979. We use interrupted time series techniques (ARIMA) to test the impact of the Wright Report on the level of parliamentarians’ engagement with those Select Committees covered by the Wright Reforms using proxy measures of membership attendance and turnover rates. We find little or no…
The Marketisation of Charities in England and Wales
Much has been written about the reasons for and impact of marketisation on charities, their clients, and wider civil society. A central component of the marketisation thesis is that charities are substituting grants and donations with commercial revenue. However, there is no consensus in the existing literature as to whether the two sources of revenue are substitutes or complementary. This paper shows that between 2003 and 2007 there was a signif…
Belfast
Illegal geographies and spatial planning: Developing a dialogue on drugs
Recent debates in this, and other, journals have focused ‘illegal geographies’, ‘geographies of the illicit’ and ‘planning and criminal powers’. This paper fuses these debates in geography and planning through an interrogation of the interface between illegal drugs and spatial planning. In unpacking and problematizing the drugs–planning nexus and developing a dialogue on drugs, it sets the context for a new research agenda concerning contemporary…
Is There a Subjective Well-Being Premium in Voluntary Sector Employment
Previous studies have found that employment in the voluntary sector offers a so-called ‘job satisfaction premium’: despite lower salaries, voluntary sector employees are more satisfied with their jobs than workers in other sectors. This paper examines whether voluntary sector employees also experience a subjective well-being premium. Using data from the UK Annual Population Survey 2012/2013, we find that voluntary sector employees do have higher …
The politics of World Heritage Sites: City planning, bird shit architecture and European impunity
Liverpool holds the unenviable distinction to be the first UK city to lose its United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage Site status. It was inscribed in 2004, placed on the ‘in Danger’ list in 2012 and de-listed in 2021 due to the perceived negative impact of extensive waterfront regeneration. Planning permission for the £5.5 billion Liverpool Waters project and Everton Football Club's £500 million …
Benefits, poverty and social justice
The ongoing austerity policies combined with increasingly negative public views about benefits are generating the current crisis of social security benefits. Whilst in previous years there might have been greater concerns about administrative issues and take-up, at present increasing proportions of the public are sceptical about the positive aspects to social security. Strategies to defend social security appear to have gained limited political t…
The Consistency of RAE Outcomes in the Social Sciences: A Quantitative Comparison of Social Policy and Cognate Subjects in the RAE 2001
In the RAE 2001, widely differing proportions of staff were judged internationally excellent in different academic subjects. This has important financial and other implications, and in 2008 a hierarchical structure will aim to increase consistency. We look at those subjects that will be part of a super-unit with social policy in 2008, and consider what objective rationale may explain the wide differences in ratings in 2001. A quantitative analysi…
Quantifying Quality: Can Quantitative Data (“Metrics”) Explain the 2001 RAE Ratings for Social Policy and Administration
This paper finds that around 80 per cent of the differences in the ratings awarded in the 2001 RAE for social policy may be “explained” using half a dozen pieces of quantitative data. Social policy excellence—as judged by peer review—is associated with the award of doctorates, the amount of money raised, publications in a particular (if broad) range of journals and books by major publishers, and being large. Even taking account of differences on …
Belfast
The Saving Gateway: ‘Asset-Based Welfare’ in Action
Quantifying Quality: Can Quantitative Data (“Metrics”) Explain the 2001 RAE Ratings for Social Policy and Administration
This paper finds that around 80 per cent of the differences in the ratings awarded in the 2001 RAE for social policy may be “explained” using half a dozen pieces of quantitative data. Social policy excellence—as judged by peer review—is associated with the award of doctorates, the amount of money raised, publications in a particular (if broad) range of journals and books by major publishers, and being large. Even taking account of differences on …
Reparation or Retribution: An Investigation into Regulatory Compliance in Planning
It is an axiom of good planning practice that procedure is informed by up-to-date research. Consequently, it is surprising to discover that there remains a dearth of specialised planning-enforcement literature relating to theory and implementation. In this paper an evaluation is given of the effectiveness of planning enforcement in Britain by reviewing existing legislative mechanisms and strategies employed by officials. Theoretical perspectives …
Lone Motherhood and Socio-Economic Disadvantage: Insights from Quantitative and Qualitative Evidence
Children's socio-economic origins have a major impact on their socio-economic destinations. But what effect do they have on other kinds of destinations, such as family life? In this article we assess the extent and nature of the relationship between social class background and lone motherhood, using a combination of research methods. We analyse three large datasets and explore in detail qualitative information from 44 in-depth interviews. Our ana…
The changing world of benefits and Benefits
The Consistency of RAE Outcomes in the Social Sciences: A Quantitative Comparison of Social Policy and Cognate Subjects in the RAE 2001
In the RAE 2001, widely differing proportions of staff were judged internationally excellent in different academic subjects. This has important financial and other implications, and in 2008 a hierarchical structure will aim to increase consistency. We look at those subjects that will be part of a super-unit with social policy in 2008, and consider what objective rationale may explain the wide differences in ratings in 2001. A quantitative analysi…
Social security and welfare reform
This chapter reviews New Labour’s social security and welfare reform policies. Blair achieved a ‘paradigm shift’ by putting ‘poverty’ back on the policy agenda. His pledge to eradicate child poverty was a major turning point in welfare reform, although the failure to achieve even the interim targets in poverty reduction may come back to haunt his successor(s). The emphasis on poverty was a radical departure from the previous governments, but the …
Social security and welfare reform
This chapter reviews New Labour's social security and welfare reform policies. Blair achieved a ‘paradigm shift’ by putting ‘poverty’ back on the policy agenda. His pledge to eradicate child poverty was a major turning point in welfare reform, although the failure to achieve even the interim targets in poverty reduction may come back to haunt his successor(s). The emphasis on poverty was a radical departure from the previous governments, but the …
In Pursuit of Parrhesia: An Investigation into Knowledge Selection in Inquisitorial Planning Practice
Drawing upon interviews with procedural actants from Public Inquiry and Examination in Public fora, I draw upon relevant theoretical frameworks to evaluate modes of discourse in inquisitorial planning practice. In the investigation, which is based primarily upon an empirical study, I focus upon the role of evidence, the selection and handling of multiple knowledges, the behaviour of participants, and the methodology underpinning the process. It i…
Pitfalls in Strategic Planning: Lessons for Legitimacy
The paper considers how planning as a political activity is underpinned by concepts of justice and how professional practitioners are consistently faced with making ethical choices in the public interest. The key objective is therefore to identify the centrality of ethics in praxis. In this context, political liberal theory is empirically useful in exploring both the role of participants and the processes employed in strategic planning. A case st…
Response 1: Scientific Method in Social Policy Research Is Not a Lost Cause
In ‘Generalisation and phronesis’, Paul Spicker argues that the methodology of empirical research in social policy would be improved by drawing on Aristotle's concept of phronesis (φρόνησις) – which is generally translated as practical wisdom or prudence. He argues against versions of generalisation that rely on cause-and-effect, whether through deductive or inductive means. He maintains, however, that social policy research must still aim at mak…
Disability, partnership and parenting
Partnerships and parenthood can have important effects on economic, social and psychological well-being. We provide new long-term analysis of how disability affects both parental status and partnerships. Analysis of the new Life Opportunities Survey, which is based on social model approaches, demonstrates that disabled people are more likely than non-disabled people to face disadvantages in terms of family formation. Disabled people are more like…
Lone Parent Families: Gender, Class and State
Appropriate as supplemental reading for courses in Social Policy and Social Studies that examine the role of parenting in society. The subject of lone mothers is a controversial and highly topical social and political issue. This unique core text examines the key issues in the debate, and assesses their impact on the UK and other countries in a comprehensive and accessible way. Broad in scope, it covers a wide range of issues including gender rol…
Benefits, poverty and social justice
The ongoing austerity policies combined with increasingly negative public views about benefits are generating the current crisis of social security benefits. Whilst in previous years there might have been greater concerns about administrative issues and take-up, at present increasing proportions of the public are sceptical about the positive aspects to social security. Strategies to defend social security appear to have gained limited political t…
Is There a Subjective Well-Being Premium in Voluntary Sector Employment
Previous studies have found that employment in the voluntary sector offers a so-called ‘job satisfaction premium’: despite lower salaries, voluntary sector employees are more satisfied with their jobs than workers in other sectors. This paper examines whether voluntary sector employees also experience a subjective well-being premium. Using data from the UK Annual Population Survey 2012/2013, we find that voluntary sector employees do have higher …
The Marketisation of Charities in England and Wales
Much has been written about the reasons for and impact of marketisation on charities, their clients, and wider civil society. A central component of the marketisation thesis is that charities are substituting grants and donations with commercial revenue. However, there is no consensus in the existing literature as to whether the two sources of revenue are substitutes or complementary. This paper shows that between 2003 and 2007 there was a signif…
The Prevalence and Distribution of High Salaries in English and Welsh Charities
There has recently been public discussion of the rewards available to senior staff in English and Welsh charities. However, that discussion is usually based on examples of individual salaries, or on unrepresentative and small subsets of the charity population. To provide a robust and informed basis for debate, we have conducted analyses of evidence on the payment of high salaries (defined as the numbers of people paid above £60,000 p.a., a report…
Do UK MPs engage more with Select Committees since the Wright Reforms? An Interrupted Time Series Analysis, 1979–2016
The 2010 Wright Reforms are the most significant changes to the Select Committee system in the UK House of Commons since their inauguration in their modern form in 1979. We use interrupted time series techniques (ARIMA) to test the impact of the Wright Report on the level of parliamentarians’ engagement with those Select Committees covered by the Wright Reforms using proxy measures of membership attendance and turnover rates. We find little or no…
Illegal geographies and spatial planning: Developing a dialogue on drugs
Recent debates in this, and other, journals have focused ‘illegal geographies’, ‘geographies of the illicit’ and ‘planning and criminal powers’. This paper fuses these debates in geography and planning through an interrogation of the interface between illegal drugs and spatial planning. In unpacking and problematizing the drugs–planning nexus and developing a dialogue on drugs, it sets the context for a new research agenda concerning contemporary…
A Means to an End and an End in Itself: Select Committee Membership, Parliamentary Roles and Parliamentary Careers, 1979–Present
Committees are important vehicles for parliamentary careers both as means to a (ministerial) end and as an end in themselves. This article explores the relationship between select committee membership and parliamentary career by analysing committee membership and frontbench appointments for the 2130 Members of Parliament (MPs) first elected since 1979. We focus on two of Donald Searing’s four informal backbench roles—Policy Advocates and Parliame…
All aboard Belfast’s ‘brandwagon’: From ‘pariah city’ to ‘energised city’
The concept of brand personality is increasingly applied to the contemporary city. During the ‘Troubles’, Belfast – as a ‘pariah city’ – was contaminated with a sclerotic image. Recently it has been rebranded as a ‘post-conflict’ and ‘energised’ city. This paper reveals the significant image transformation in Belfast and its recent engagement with city brand personality. Despite significant progress on destination personality and brand identity, …
Religion, neoliberalism, planning: An analysis of Northern Ireland’s ‘superchurch’
This article adds to and develops extant work on the comparatively under-explored but important link between religion, neoliberalism, and planning. It is noticeable that mega/giga-churches are recalibrating the religious and physical landscapes of cities around the world; in so doing they raise important implications for professional planners. We focus on Green Pastures Church in Northern Ireland. The church has initiated a significant urban deve…
Women in the Profession: An Update on the Gendered Composition of the Discipline and Political Science Departments in the UK
We present data on the proportions and seniority of female and male political scientists working in the UK. Comparing the results with previous research from 2011, we find that progress has been made. However, progress has been incremental and we find no qualitative changes in the status of female political scientists: they continue to be outnumbered by their male counterparts; they are overrepresented in the least senior job groups and underrepr…
A ‘planning revolution’ or an ‘attack on planning’ in England: Digitization, digitalization, and democratization
This article focuses on the planning–technology nexus. Recent work explores the potential of digital technology in overcoming the longstanding limitations of a lack of public engagement and citizen empowerment in the planning process. In August 2020, the Government published a White Paper to democratize, digitize, and digitalize the planning system. We interrogate whether these radical reforms constitute a ‘planning revolution’ or an ‘attack on p…
Political science (23 works) · Sociology (20 works) · Law (17 works) · Economics (15 works) · Law (13 works) · Business (11 works) · Politics (10 works) · Psychology (9 works) · Public Administration (8 works) · Public Administration (7 works)