Politics and Administrative Justice: Postliberalism, Street-Level Bureaucracy and the Reawakening of Democratic Citizenship

In recent years, failures in health and social care, mental health services, public housing and education have dominated headlines and been the subject of much public debate. The means for addressing such concerns remain notably legalistic and subject to a particular brand of liberal legalism that stifles the possibility of transformational intervention.

This book argues that there is urgent need for a radical reassessment of the way the law mediates between citizens and the state. Drawing on historical and comparative research, literary, pictorial and cinematic treatments, and the insights of the disability rights movement, Nick O’Brien examines how the everyday regulation of street-level bureaucracy can play an integral part in reimagining postliberal politics and the role of the law.

Nick O’Brien was Legal Director at the Disability Rights Commission from 2000 to 2007 and Honorary Research Fellow in the School of Law and Social Justice at the University of Liverpool from 2007 to 2022.