Abstract

Examining children's rights from a global perspective, Mary John considers how children experience power, being powerful and the transformation of power relationships. She explores this issue objectively yet compassionately, comparing the situation of children to that of powerless minority groups and asking why children are rarely included in debates on social accountability, freedom and autonomy.

Examining children's rights in relation to current thinking about the nature of power, the role of competence within this, and how perception of power is determined by culture and economics, she presents discussion of issues and movements affecting children around the world uncovered in her research, including:
· the Children's Parliament in India
· the rise in violence among Japanese schoolchildren
· child soldiers in Africa
· democratic schooling in Albany, USA.

She argues that democracies are not only sought in the public sphere, they are created within the emotional intimacies of private social worlds, presenting the child with new challenges for the recognition and realization of their rightful autonomy and agency. With in-depth research and thought-provoking discussion, this book supplies a wealth of information for policy makers, social workers and academics, articulated in a compelling and lively style.

This book provides an opportunity to glimpse the worlds of others and in particular a focus on children within very different societies. We need to engage in our global society with these vital issues'.
Rostrum
The key theme running throughout and which forms the five parts of this book, is that of social justice. The author, a developmental psychologist who has significant track record of researching and empowering minority rights groups, writes with energy and compassion on how children can be labelled, deployed and denied by an adult world which often appears to have little grasp of their individual or collective needs... It is a book that should be required reading for any professional caring or working with children.
Journal of Social Welfare and Family Law
This book puts the child at the centre and challenges adult perceptions of children and young people. It is part of a series called Children in Charge, edited by Mary John, which examines the implications of the United Nations Conventions on the Rights of the Child fro Policy, practice and research. In Children's Rights and Power, Mary John examines children's rights from a global perspective, exploring their experience of power, autonomy and agency.
International Journal of Children's Sprituality
Her book addresses the issues of child participation without exploitation. It would benefit professionals and academics with a particular interest in promoting children's rights, giving them an opportunity to draw on the experiences of different countries and cultures.
Professional Social Work
The book touches on issues of growing importance for research, policy and practice in children's services... This is a stimulating book.
Social Policy
This book offers hope that the world can become one of risk, excitement, imagination and creativity (p. 267) by listening to children. In the ultra risk-managing, child-protecting contemporary UK society, children in hospital with severe disease or disability are among the few groups of children in Britain who still experience the kinds of danger and suffering that children in many parts of the world face everyday. Adults have much to learn from their courage and insight, and Mary John's book, grown from her own suffering in childhood, profoundly illustrates this point.
Youth and Policy
It is hoped that this year will see a commissioner for children in England. The post-holder's first task should be to read Mary John's book, for few authors have so poignantly and thoroughly charted the parallel between how children see and understand themselves and how others regard them. What makes the book so special is its international dimensions. The author explores children's rights and powers in the UK; in Europe, with references to Sweden's ban on smacking in 1979 and the German kindergarten system; and also across the globe.
Community Care
Approaching children's rights from a global perspective, the author discusses issues affecting children around the world, including child soldiers in Africa and rise in violence among Japanese schoolchildren. This book will be of interest to all those concerned with children's rights including policy makers, social workers and academics.
Child Right
Mary John is a developmental psychologist, widely recognised for her research on the transformation of power relationships. She has held a number of advisory positions with international agencies such as OECD and the EU. Prior to retirement she was Deputy Vice Chancellor at the University of Exeter, where she is now Professor Emeritus. Recently the Open University made her a Doctor of the university in recognition of 'services to the educationally underprivileged'.
Children's Right and Power: Charging up for a New Century is the latest book in a series that concentrates on the theme of children's rights and empowerment... The book engages with the issue of power and control, a subject which is often neglected, but which is fundamental to understanding children's capacity to realise and exercise their rights. To inform her analysis, John weaves children's own experiences as the central thread of her enquiry, and this provides us with a complex and fascinating array of social, economic and cultural insights, which illustrate the sheer diversity of children's lives.
Social Policy
This is a detailed book, rich in its thoughts and arguments. It is brought to life by many examples, ranging from childhood experiences of the author herself to the current experiences of children across the globe. It is a book I hope all practitioners, like myself, will read, as it invites the reader to consider children in new and meaningful ways.
Karen Winter Northern Ireland Guardian ad Litem Agency