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Societal Wellbeing: Catalyst for Systems and Social Change in Northern Ireland?

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The Politics of Wellbeing

Part of the book series: Wellbeing in Politics and Policy ((WPP))

Abstract

The Programme for Government is the highest level strategic document of the Northern Ireland Executive. The draft Programme for the short-lived 2016–2021 Executive mandate placed ‘Improving wellbeing for all …’ at the heart of an outcomes-based approach with a view to promoting more collaborative policy delivery. The innovative approach to the design of the Programme for Government was influenced by a high-level Roundtable on Measuring Wellbeing. This chapter sets out the special post-conflict context of the wellbeing policy debate in Northern Ireland, reviews the role of the Roundtable, and critically assesses the prospects for the approach taken. The chapter raises questions about the prospects for wellbeing as a central policy narrative and organising principle in the wake of a decision by the Executive to embrace an Outcomes-Based Accountability (OBA) approach.

Improving wellbeing for all …

(Draft Northern Ireland Programme for Government, 2016).

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Correspondence to Peter Doran .

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Doran, P., Hodgett, S. (2018). Societal Wellbeing: Catalyst for Systems and Social Change in Northern Ireland?. In: Bache, I., Scott, K. (eds) The Politics of Wellbeing . Wellbeing in Politics and Policy. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-58394-5_8

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