title: Partnerships: panacea or pretence?
abstract: This article seeks to explore the centrality and reality of partnerships or partnership working in current British social policy. The article will investigate the rhetoric and reality of partnerships using research based on the Early Years Development and Childcare Partnerships (EYDCPs) as an exemplar to critically question whether partnerships have become more pretence than panacea? In so doing the article will suggest that partnerships are deserving of greater critical analysis and research as their rhetorical force potentially represents another metaphor for social control.
authors.affiliation: School of Community Health Sciences and Social Care, University of Salford, Salford, UK. h.mclaughlin@salford.ac.uk
authors.forename: Hugh
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: McLaughlin
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D002654:Child Care / Q000458:organization & administration*; D002657:Child Development; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D004739:England; D006126:Group Processes; D006801:Humans; D033183:Interdisciplinary Communication; D007373:Interinstitutional Relations; D011364:Professional Practice / Q000458:organization & administration*; D016730:Program Development; D011640:Public Policy; D012947:Social Work / Q000458:organization & administration*