For several decades, social work and child protection systems have been subject to accelerating cycles of crisis and reform, with each crisis involving intense media and political scrutiny. In understanding the nature and causes of this cycle, little attention has been paid to the importance of collective emotions.Using a range of cases from the UK, and also considering cases from the Netherlands, the US and New Zealand, this book introduces the concept of emotional politics. It sh...

Available open access under CC-BY-NC-ND licence.One of the most significant ways that social workers can engage with policy is by holding elected office. How and why do social workers transition into political roles? And what impact do they have on policy making once they get there?This book is the first systematic, comparative study of social workers in electoral politics across liberal democracies. Drawing on a common conceptual framework, leading scholars analyse the rec...