Showing papers in "Critical Policy Studies in 2017"

‘People in this country have had enough of experts’: Brexit and the paradoxes of populism

Abstract: In June 2016, the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union, creating massive political turmoil and controversy. Our aim in this paper is to contribute to a discussion about how to analyze such critical moments in policy and politics. Rather than searching for one ‘real’ cause (whether the micro-politics of the Conservative Party or popular disaffection from neo-liberalism), we offer a form of conjunctural analysis that highlights issues of multiplicity and heterogeneity. We sketch this approach and then explore two puzzles that have particular pertinence for Critical Policy Studies. One is the puzzle of populism: how new imaginings and representations of the ‘British people’ were constructed. The second is the puzzle of expertise; how antipathy to ‘expert’ knowledge was shaped to challenge British and European ‘elites’. Conjunctural analysis, we argue, offers a vital means of engaging with such puzzles, and of grasping the heterogeneous and contradictory forces, tendencies, and pressures t...

Deconstructing the debate over evidence-based policy

Abstract: The renewed interest in evidence-based policy has been accompanied by a debate on the nature and desirability of the use of evidence in policy-making. At its core, this debate pits rationalist supporters of increased use of information for reasoned decision-making against constructivist critics who argue that policy-making is not based on evidence and that an appeal to evidence is the first step toward a dangerous elimination of human judgment in the policy process. Although this dialog is framed as a debate, it can be shown that opposing voices rarely engage with each other’s arguments. To improve the relevance of the discourse, scholars of public policy must recognize the positive and normative assumptions behind the most common arguments related to evidence-based policy and acknowledge that the ‘sides of the debate’ are, within limits, mostly intellectually compatible.

Performance of participatory forest management in Ethiopia: institutional arrangement versus local practices

Abstract: The field of community-based natural resource management has been receiving growing scientific attention over the past two decades. Most studies, however, focus on investigating institutional designs and outcomes and pay scant attention to how community-based natural resource management arrangements are carried out in practice. Through an in-depth ethnographic case study in one of the pioneer participatory forest management (PFM) arrangements in southwest Ethiopia, this article demonstrates a significant disparity between the PFM institutional principles and actual local forest management practices. Our study confirms the usefulness of a practice-based approach to understand and explain how a newly introduced institutional arrangement is acted upon by local actors situated in their social, political and historical context. Our findings also contribute to empirical knowledge useful to instigate dialog and to critically reflect on whether and what kind of intervention is actually needed to positively influence forest management practices on the ground.

Identity, politics, and public policy

Abstract: Although much has been written about ‘identity politics’ in the narrow sense of the term, students of politics and public policy can take a more systematic look at the connection between identity and politics, as related to public policy. This essay shows that, by putting identity at the center of their analysis of politics and public policy, scholars can gain powerful insight about both explanation and policy prescription. In other words, how actors understand themselves and are seen by others are key aspects of political and policy analysis and they each deserve a systematic and interdisciplinary treatment. The essay suggests this by drawing on recent social science literature, such as identity economics, to explore the relevance of the connection between identity and politics for policy research across different policy areas and regions of the world. Because several of these literatures are seldom discussed together, this essay offers a particularly broad and multi-faceted identity perspective ...

Frame ambiguity in policy controversies: critical frame analysis of migrant integration policies in Antwerp and Rotterdam

Abstract: Policy frames are understood as the outcome of a policy process in which multiple frames are contesting, but where one frame prevails and characterizes policies. Policy frames are therefore perceived and studied as coherent interpretations of a policy issue containing a problem definition and a matching strategy to solve it. This rather fixed understanding of policy frames contrasts with other interpretive approaches which recognize a more dynamic and sometimes ambiguous character of policy language. The aim of this article is to analyze whether policy frames may be ambiguous and if so, how this can be understood by the problem context and political context of the policy issue. This study conducts critical frame analysis of local migrant integration policies in Antwerp and Rotterdam over the past 15 years. The analysis demonstrates presence of frame ambiguity in this controversial policy domain in the form of incomplete frames, solely focusing on the policy strategy while leaving the problem defin...

Oscillating meanings of the Nordic model: ideas and the welfare state in Finland and Sweden

Abstract: The future of the Nordic model of welfare has been widely debated in the academic literature. Some argue that the Nordic model is not sustainable under the conditions of globalization, while others...

Reframing obesity: a critical discourse analysis of the UK’s first social marketing campaign

Abstract: This paper presents a critical discourse analysis of the UK government’s ‘Change4Life’ antiobesity social marketing campaign, which uses colorful cartoon characters and simplified messages to ‘reframe’ the issue of obesity, and encourage the public to take an active role in addressing this policy problem. It stems from a wider political context in which insights from behavioral economics (‘nudge’) are increasingly turned to for solutions to policy problems. The approach particularly emphasizes the importance of carefully crafted communication in securing public compliance with desired policy outcomes and has gained considerable attention in political science, economics, and health research. This paper contributes to that growing debate by offering a systematic textually oriented critical analysis of the discourse of nudge. It maps the public, private, and third sector practices comprising this campaign and critically examines the underlying balance of power and vested interests. Detailed analysis ...

How does scale mean? A critical approach to scale in the study of policy

Abstract: This article argues that a critical engagement with the categories and concepts of scale has been absent in policy studies. Integrating insights from post-structuralist human geography and policy analysis, the article reveals the multiple meanings actors assign to scales as they make sense of and construct their policy worlds, and also questions the implications of this for the practices and politics of policy. This analytical lens is applied to an empirical example of the policy work involved in implementing England’s academy schools policy in a local authority case study. Four scalar practices emerge from the analysis: dissolving boundaries of scale, shifting between scales, constructing boundaries between scales and emphasizing the interconnectedness of scales. Analysis reveals how critically engaging with how actors construct and mobilize scale can develop a new angle on the political logics shaping policy practices and thus enhance understandings of political struggles over meaning in policy-...

Structural-functionalism redux: adaptation to climate change and the challenge of a science-driven policy agenda

Abstract: Most efforts to develop a comprehensive, science-based approach to climate change adaptation have been written by natural scientists and resource managers and have adopted an underlying conception of policy-making as a functional process of mutual adjustment between elements of tightly linked natural and social systems. The influence of this framing is especially clear in the popularity of key metaphors such as ‘stress,’ ‘barriers,’ ‘vulnerability,’ and ‘resilience.’ There are obvious advantages to this way of proceeding, not least the possibility of using the systems concept as an overarching framework to integrate the multidisciplinary teams of researchers commonly employed in large-scale assessments of climate change impacts. Nonetheless, this underlying conception of linked natural and social systems presents significant challenges when it comes to moving the ideas found in these strategic documents forward into the world of policy and practice. As the case studies of North American, Australia...

Between migration and mobility discourses: the performative potential within ‘intra-European movement’

Abstract: This article displays how discourses around intra-European movement are constructed to reveal the performativity of discourses. Therefore, it mainly aims to deliver theoretical contributions to the field of discursive policy analysis by empirical case study material. The overall argument is that discursive policy analysis benefits from an analytical framework that deals with a refined operationalization including ‘storyline’ and ‘poetic’ elements. This framework is applied to intra-European movement in the cases of the European Commission and the Netherlands. These cases are particularly interesting, since both authorities have competing constructions of ‘intra-European movement’, highlighting ‘migration’ versus ‘mobility’. As such, the article displays the importance of ‘poetic elements’, opens up the discursive black box of discourse analysis and unravels the performative potential of certain discourses.

Arguing about smoking bans: the role of evidence in the social construction of conflicting policy ideas

Abstract: The theory of discursive institutionalism requires support from empirical work. This article analyzes how evidence is used in conflicting ideas about smoking bans and how social constructions are affected by this. The study is set in the context of 16 public debates that took place during Swiss direct-democratic campaigns on smoking bans between 2005 and 2012. A qualitative content analysis of campaign material revealed that the form of benefit allocated to target groups depends on the degree of contestation of evidence included in ideas. Powerful ideas are based on uncontested evidence allowing problems of target groups to be socially constructed as important for the public. By means of ideas, actors may have an effect on policies even when the actors themselves are not evident in the discourse. Observing discourse over ideas enables to track the agents that have the power to promote their ideas at the expense of others.

Bringing the political back in: reconstructing the debate over evidence-based policy. A response to Newman

Abstract: In his article, Newman aims at overcoming the binary rift between rationalists and constructivists, between supporters and opponents of evidence-based policy. Both positions, he argues, are not as incompatible as it seems. They could coexist by understanding that rationalists seek to reduce the influence of ideology on policy and that constructivists can show the difficulties of this task. The argumentative steps leading to his ‘deconstruction’ of the debate, however, do not reflect well the complexity of the subject. The response therefore aims at reconstructing the debate over evidence-based policy by focusing on three main points: first, the deficits of the distinction between rationalists and constructivists; second, the political dimension of evidence and the relationship between knowing and governing; third, the different uses of evidence in political and cultural contexts. Under the conditions of the postnational constellation, ignoring the political dimension of evidence and the cultural c...

A mashup of policy tools and CDA as a framework for educational policy inquiry

Abstract: This article uses an analytic approach that combines a classic educational policy framework with critical discourse analysis (CDA) to problematize power and meaning as expressed through educational legislation in the United States. This examination shows how state-level school desegregation policy documents construct particular understandings of how school districts should rectify contemporary problems of racial and ethnic inequalities that are rooted in historical discriminatory practices. Using an analytic perspective based on policy tools, and a conceptualization of CDA as an element of sociocultural research, I examine statutes designed to address school segregation and promote racial and ethnic integration in the state of Minnesota. In order for policies that shape social equity to succeed, they must address the social contexts in which inequalities have been constructed. Combining CDA approaches with traditional policy analysis frameworks offers one way to make the workings of political ideo...

When a government attempts to institutionalize and regulate deliberative democracy: the how and why from a process-tracing perspective

Abstract: Over the last few decades, public deliberation has spread in many countries, but this has occurred mostly through experiments and pilot projects. Recently, some countries have taken some steps forward by introducing participatory policies in order to institutionalize citizen involvement practices in the policy-making processes. Among these countries, France and Italy, and Tuscany in particular, have been recognized as clear examples of democratic governments that have initiated public programs to systematically apply deliberative processes to policy-making. These programs seem particularly challenging as far as the legitimacy of the democratic representative institutions and the role of politicians are concerned. Therefore, whatever leads a government to initiate such a policy deserves attention, and a theory on the particular model that can characterize the initiation of these policies is needed. The paper has the aim of proposing a hypothesis on the causal mechanism that can lead to the initiati...

Managing the crisis? Think-tanks and the British response to Global Financial Crisis and Great Recession

Abstract: Ideas matter – but how they do so, and what allows some ideas to become more influential than others is less clear. Certainly, the debate about policy ideas and the many people and organizations producing them continues to occupy researchers. This is also true, more specifically, with regards to the policy responses of British governments to Global Financial Crisis and subsequent Great Recession.The article presents an analysis of the role of one specific type of ‘ideas organization’, the think-tank, during the two crises and their aftermath between 2007 and 2015. The two central objectives are to understand better, first, if and how government-external policy experts from think-tanks contributed to British governments’ policy responses to ‘the crises’ and whether these actors have, second, contributed to the overall discourse about the nature, causes and origins of the crises and therefore to the environment in which policy responses were made. In that way, the article contributes to a better und...

As above, so below: narrative salience and side effects of national innovation systems

Abstract: This article furthers previous attempts at integrating narratology in policy analysis. Embracing an open-ended definition of narrative, it stresses the importance of maintaining distinct narrative levels and, more generally, of taking into account the pragmatic dimension of narration as an activity, including the often-implicit role and focalization of the policy analyst. Developing a conceptual analogy between storytelling and the exercise of power, it argues for a critical use of practical imagination in ‘cold’ situations of ‘narrative salience’, characterized by the absence of controversy or uncertainty, an uneven distribution of the power of scenarization. These propositions for a ‘revisited’ approach to policy narratives, equidistant from the positivist and post-positivist dichotomy, are tested on the case of ‘narrative salience’ where a particular storyline, national innovation systems, is so dominant that there appears to be no ‘counter-story’.

Struggles over human rights in local government – the case of access to education for undocumented youth in Malmö, Sweden

Abstract: The present article elaborates on struggles over the inclusion and exclusion of undocumented children and young people in the Swedish school system. Through conducting an in-depth case study on the issue of access to school in the city of Malmo in Sweden, our analysis demonstrates how the right to education for undocumented migrant children is subject to a process of struggle between divergent discourses on children’s human rights. Internal debates at the city level of governance are identified around, for example, whether the police could be denied access to schools or if contradictory messages from various authorities might lead to a legitimacy problem. Other questions are the registration of grades when the children concerned are reluctant to be put into a register due to the risks involved; and if fictitious names could be used on class lists that police officers can request. As the article shows, these local struggles are an expression of tensions between different levels of governance that a...

Performative policy : the case of Swedish healthcare reforms

Abstract: In this article we analyze public sector change as a profoundly constructed phenomenon – as performative reforms. Public sector reforms, of which policy processes are an integral part, are constitu...

Bounded deliberation in public committees: the case of experts

Abstract: In this article, the participation of academic experts on Norwegian public committees is investigated to explore how their interpretation of the expert role affects the wider deliberations on such settings. These committees are commonly perceived as venues for the integration of organized interest on public policymaking. This study demonstrate, however, how the participation of experts on committees may contribute to alienate the explorative style of negotiation that is elsewhere described as typical for Norwegian corporatist decision-making. Despite being independent members, experts outlined their role in accordance with the professional values of their discipline, and acted as representatives of their profession on committees. This contributed to experts’ bounded deliberation on these committees and the introduction of professional standards for judgment in the face of differences. The study is based on qualitative interviews with members of the past four committees advising on Norwegian climat...

Evidence-based policymaking and the politics of neoliberal reason: a response to Newman

Abstract: In his recent article, Newman argues that the different perspectives within the literature on evidence-based policymaking, broadly distinguished between rationalists and constructivists, have failed to produce a productive scholarly debate. A solution to overcome this often vitriolic impasse is for scholars to be more accepting of the different goals of each approach. This response challenges Newman’s argument on the basis of three weaknesses: a failure to properly understand the incommensurability of different ontological and epistemological positions; a narrow conceptualization of ‘evidence’; and the absence of a historical context for his argument.While undoubtedly well intentioned, in practice, the article serves to blunt the critical tools necessary to constructivist approaches, perhaps at a time when they are needed most – when we are observing the growth in what is termed ‘post-truth politics’.

Doing policy: enacting a policy assemblage about domestic violence

Abstract: This article explores how public policies regarding domestic violence aim at assembling a fragmented domain of views, attitudes and practices in a coherent manner. We propose to approach policy from an object-oriented anthropology, which makes it necessary to understand how objects come into being and to explore their ontology. We argue that policy objects, such as domestic violence, become real and multiply in practice when they associate in an assemblage: their ontology is relational. This implies an emphasis on motion, non-coherence and multiplicity in the study of how policy objects are enacted. We illustrate this approach by sharing a narrative of the development of a policy instrument, the reporting code on domestic violence and child abuse in Rotterdam (the Netherlands). The case study is focused on the interaction between the reporting code and its normative inscription, which is contested by a number of professionals. In order to demonstrate that policy instruments aim at constructing a n...

The Rousseff impeachment and the crisis of democracy in Brazil

Abstract: This is an article about the impeachment in Brazil. I argue that it was the result of the political crisis that takes place in the country since 2013. T his political crisis has at least two major ...

Public administration and the logic of resolution

Abstract: Through a critical reading of Wilson’s 1887 article, I propose a political logic of public administration, what I call the logic of resolution. A central but neglected aspect of Wilson’s article is the focus and importance of closure and creation, both of which underscore how public administration emerged not only as an area of study, but also as a political project. I discuss three central considerations of the logic of resolution: problem framing, solutionism, and optics. This logic conditions how problems can be viewed and, consequently, limits available actions. By developing the logic of resolution, I make explicit the hegemonic discourse of public administration.

The failure of the developmentalist experiment in three acts

Abstract: Act I. On the evening of 30 April 2012, President Dilma Rousseff dedicated her May Day address to attacking the banks. ‘It is inadmissible that Brazil, which has one of the most solid and profitabl...

J. Maybin, Producing health policy: knowledge and knowing in government policy work

Abstract: The first lines of Maybin’s book clarify that her focus is on ‘how public administrators do their job: what it is they actually do in their daily work which produces a thing called policy’ (1). She...

The politics of numbers. Framing intra-EU migrants in the Netherlands

Abstract: Numbers and data collection play a key role in political framing. To explore how this works, this article provides a case-study analysis of European mobile workers in the Netherlands. Following the increase of intra-European mobility, European mobile workers have emerged as an important but contested policy target group for receiving countries. This article examines how numbers contributed to the framing process of this topic. This study reveals how frames legitimize the strategic usage of numbers and the indication of issues as problems. This contributes to our understanding of the importance of numbers in the framing process of target groups.

The politics of fear, by Ruth Wodak

Abstract: Ruth Wodak is one of the foremost scholars in the field of linguistics and politics, a prolific writer whose scholarship has gained her an international reputation in academic circles and beyond. M...

Looking through a glass, darkly: the unsolved problem of Brazilian democracy

Abstract: Although recent interpretations of Brazil’s current political crisis are not wrong in bringing out the institutional problems related to presidencialismo de coalisao and with the judicialization of...

A new republic of lawyers? Legal careers, state power, and political change in contemporary Brazil

Abstract: The literature on political science and public policy offers many explanations for why legal professionals can come to the forefront of political processes, as it has remarkably happened in the cur...