Policy and Society最新文献

Exploring cultures of evidence in energy policymaking in the UK, Germany, and the Netherlands 探索英国、德国和荷兰能源决策中的证据文化

IF 9.3 1区社会学

Policy and Society Pub Date : 2024-11-19 DOI: 10.1093/polsoc/puae035

Will McDowall

{"title":"Exploring cultures of evidence in energy policymaking in the UK, Germany, and the Netherlands","authors":"Will McDowall","doi":"10.1093/polsoc/puae035","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/polsoc/puae035","url":null,"abstract":"This paper explores different “cultures of evidence” in energy policymaking in the UK, Germany, and the Netherlands. The urgent energy system transformation needed to respond to the climate crisis depends on policies informed by technical and engineering expertise, and particularly energy modeling. Such expertise had traditionally been poorly represented in the energy ministries of the Dutch, German, and UK governments. There is limited understanding of how policy advisory systems have evolved to respond to these emerging evidence needs. This paper presents a framework for describing how cultures of evidence differ, and applies this to a comparative study of energy policymaking in the UK, Netherlands, and Germany. I show clear differences in how evidence is understood and used. The Dutch and German governments have sought technical and modeling evidence from consultants or independent agencies. In doing so, the Dutch and German ministries appear to place stronger value on the “independence” of such evidence, while the UK system builds credibility through adherence to formal procedures. A second clear difference in the cultures of evidence relates to different beliefs about the extent to which expert knowledge can be impartial and value-free. The cases suggest that different cultures of evidence have coevolved with each country’s institutional history and shaped the energy policy advisory system.","PeriodicalId":47383,"journal":{"name":"Policy and Society","volume":"55 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":9.3,"publicationDate":"2024-11-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142672950","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Variation in evidence use across policy sectors: the case of Brazil 各政策部门在使用证据方面的差异：巴西的案例

IF 9.3 1区社会学

Policy and Society Pub Date : 2024-11-14 DOI: 10.1093/polsoc/puae031

Kidjie Saguin, João V Guedes-Neto, Pedro Lucas Moura Palotti, Natália Massaco Koga, Flavio Lyrio Carneiro

引用次数: 0

A world of evidence: the global spread and silent politics of evidence cultures 证据的世界：证据文化的全球传播与无声政治

IF 9.3 1区社会学

Policy and Society Pub Date : 2024-10-18 DOI: 10.1093/polsoc/puae029

Holger Straßheim

引用次数: 0

Understanding policy integration through an integrative capacity framework 通过综合能力框架理解政策整合

IF 9.3 1区社会学

Policy and Society Pub Date : 2024-08-10 DOI: 10.1093/polsoc/puae027

Joanna Vince, Maree Fudge, Liam Fullbrook, Marcus Haward

引用次数: 0

Words not deeds: the weak culture of evidence in the Canadian policy style 言行不一：加拿大政策风格中薄弱的实证文化

IF 9.3 1区社会学

Policy and Society Pub Date : 2024-08-09 DOI: 10.1093/polsoc/puae026

Andrea Migone, Michael Howlett, Alexander Howlett

{"title":"Words not deeds: the weak culture of evidence in the Canadian policy style","authors":"Andrea Migone, Michael Howlett, Alexander Howlett","doi":"10.1093/polsoc/puae026","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/polsoc/puae026","url":null,"abstract":"The Canadian policy style has been described as one of overpromising and underdelivering, where heightened expectations are often met by underwhelming outcomes. Here, we examine the evidentiary style of Canadian policy-making which undergirds and reflects this policy style, particularly the nature of the policy advisory system that contributes to this pattern of policy-making. We do so by assessing how the different components of the advice system, which include academics, consultants, and policy professionals within the public service, are structured and relate to each other within the overall dynamics of information management and policy formulation in the governments of Canada. Using examples from recent efforts to revitalize Canadian government, the paper argues that the federal government in particular shows a pattern of the predominance of non-innovative academic “super-users,” distributed policy shops, and process-oriented analysts and consultants who combine with attributes of federalism and partisan budgetary politics to drive a distinctively fragmented and procedurally-oriented federal policy-making process. In these processes, evidence is often secondary to political posturing and short-term electioneering in program creation and execution, contributing greatly to the national policy style set out above.","PeriodicalId":47383,"journal":{"name":"Policy and Society","volume":"14 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":9.3,"publicationDate":"2024-08-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141910443","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Understanding street-level managers’ compliance: a comparative study of policy implementation in Switzerland, Italy, Germany, and Israel 了解街道管理人员的遵纪守法情况：瑞士、意大利、德国和以色列政策执行情况比较研究

IF 9.3 1区社会学

Policy and Society Pub Date : 2024-07-02 DOI: 10.1093/polsoc/puae024

Jörn Ege, Anat Gofen, Susanne Hadorn, Inbal Hakman, Anna Malandrino, Leroy Ramseier, Fritz Sager

{"title":"Understanding street-level managers’ compliance: a comparative study of policy implementation in Switzerland, Italy, Germany, and Israel","authors":"Jörn Ege, Anat Gofen, Susanne Hadorn, Inbal Hakman, Anna Malandrino, Leroy Ramseier, Fritz Sager","doi":"10.1093/polsoc/puae024","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/polsoc/puae024","url":null,"abstract":"This study focuses on street-level managers’ (SLMs) compliance with COVID-19 measures in Switzerland, Germany, Italy, and Israel, in order to better understand their role during policy implementation. Responsible for the direct delivery of public services, street-level organizations serve as the operational arm of the state in general and as the frontline of government policy in times of crisis. SLMs who occupy the top managerial tier within their organization are understudied, although they exert a significant influence on everyday public life. The data comprise 399 “compliance stories” based on interviews with managers in nurseries, schools, health care and welfare offices, police stations, and care homes. Using “codebook thematic analysis,” we identify various levels of (non)compliance and several prominent explanatory factors that shape (non)compliance. Data show that even when asked about particularly challenging measures, managers reported that their organization had been noncompliant (either full or partial) in only about a quarter of the stories. Three influences emerge as primary barriers to compliance—a lack of resources, managers’ relationships with clients, and the perception of the measure’s effectiveness. Emphasizing that SLMs often act as local policy entrepreneurs using their discretion to solve problems and serve the public, our findings further demonstrate the crucial role they play in shaping the face of the government for the people.","PeriodicalId":47383,"journal":{"name":"Policy and Society","volume":"126 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":9.3,"publicationDate":"2024-07-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141495654","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Meeting expectations? Response of policy innovation labs to sustainable development goals 满足期望？政策创新实验室对可持续发展目标的回应

IF 9.3 1区社会学

Policy and Society Pub Date : 2024-07-02 DOI: 10.1093/polsoc/puae023

Esti Hoss-Golan, Anat Gofen, Adam M Wellstead

{"title":"Meeting expectations? Response of policy innovation labs to sustainable development goals","authors":"Esti Hoss-Golan, Anat Gofen, Adam M Wellstead","doi":"10.1093/polsoc/puae023","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/polsoc/puae023","url":null,"abstract":"Introduced by the United Nations, Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) aim at facilitating inclusive sustainable development. Responsiveness to SDGs is considered a key to addressing pressing development problems. The current literature focuses on the responsiveness of varied public organizations to SDGs, whereas SDGs’ responsiveness of policy innovation labs (PILs) is understudied. Aiming to address both persistent and emerging social and environmental problems, PILs are aligned with SDGs. On the other hand, PILs seek innovative ways to generate policy solutions in collaboration with citizens through experimental methods and thus are more committed to the local public rather than international organizations. This paper investigates to what extent and in what way PILs respond to SDGs during policy formulation processes, both implicitly and explicitly. Data draws on a database the authors developed, identifying 211 European PILs. Thematic coding of PILs’ websites reveals that 62.1% of the PILs implicitly promote at least one SDG. Additionally, sustainable cities and communities (SDG11) and good health and well-being (SDG3) are the two SDGs with the highest implicit-response rates, respectively. We apply grounded theory analysis from semi-structured interviews with senior PIL employees of 31 PILs to gauge their explicit views of SDGs. This inductive approach reveals three dimensions to SDGs: levels of responsiveness, different practices, and considerations that guide PILs on whether to comply with SDGs. A better understanding of PILs’ response to SDGs provides a more nuanced portrayal of PILs as organizations aiming to craft innovative policy solutions that align with international frameworks.","PeriodicalId":47383,"journal":{"name":"Policy and Society","volume":"93 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":9.3,"publicationDate":"2024-07-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141495674","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Governance fix? Power and politics in controversies about governing generative AI 治理修复？关于管理人工智能生成器的争议中的权力与政治

IF 9.3 1区社会学

Policy and Society Pub Date : 2024-07-02 DOI: 10.1093/polsoc/puae022

Inga Ulnicane

{"title":"Governance fix? Power and politics in controversies about governing generative AI","authors":"Inga Ulnicane","doi":"10.1093/polsoc/puae022","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/polsoc/puae022","url":null,"abstract":"The launch of ChatGPT in late 2022 led to major controversies about the governance of generative artificial intelligence (AI). This article examines the first international governance and policy initiatives dedicated specifically to generative AI: the G7 Hiroshima process, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development reports, and the UK AI Safety Summit. This analysis is informed by policy framing and governance literature, in particular by the work on technology governance and Responsible Innovation. Emerging governance of generative AI exhibits characteristics of polycentric governance, where multiple and overlapping centers of decision-making are in collaborative relationships. However, it is dominated by a limited number of developed countries. The governance of generative AI is mostly framed in terms of the risk management, largely neglecting issues of purpose and direction of innovation, and assigning rather limited roles to the public. We can see a “paradox of generative AI governance” emerging, namely, that while this technology is being widely used by the public, its governance is rather narrow. This article coins the term “governance fix” to capture this rather narrow and technocratic approach to governing generative AI. As an alternative, it suggests embracing the politics of polycentric governance and Responsible Innovation that highlight democratic and participatory co-shaping of technology for social benefit. In the context of the highly unequal distribution of power in generative AI characterized by a high concentration of power in a small number of large tech companies, the government has a special role in reshaping the power imbalances by enabling wide-ranging public participation in the governance of generative AI.","PeriodicalId":47383,"journal":{"name":"Policy and Society","volume":"19 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":9.3,"publicationDate":"2024-07-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141495526","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

How “baked in” ideas hinder ideational robustness: the International Monetary Fund and “fiscal space” "固有 "观念如何阻碍意识形态的稳健性：国际货币基金组织与 "财政空间"

IF 9.3 1区社会学

Policy and Society Pub Date : 2024-06-27 DOI: 10.1093/polsoc/puae021

Ben Clift

{"title":"How “baked in” ideas hinder ideational robustness: the International Monetary Fund and “fiscal space”","authors":"Ben Clift","doi":"10.1093/polsoc/puae021","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/polsoc/puae021","url":null,"abstract":"This paper brings insights into ideational robustness to bear on the International Monetary Fund (IMF) fiscal policy thinking. It advances understanding of both the IMF and the concept of ideational robustness by focusing on economic ideas as they are put into practice by expert economic institutions. The IMF has traditionally enjoyed a reputation as a hawkish enforcer of neoliberal doctrine and conservative fiscal discipline, foregrounding deficit bias and fiscal sustainability concerns. Capitalist crises, notably the 2008 crash and COVID, have seen public debt increase while rendering growth and stability increasingly elusive. This turbulence has spurred some rethinking of Fund fiscal ideas. The IMF has added the new concept of fiscal space to its policy commentary and advocacy. Fiscal space seeks to reconcile economic stabilization and supporting growth to the Fund’s overarching concern to maintain fiscal discipline and sustainability. A focus on how ideas are put into practice shows that long-standing Fund fiscal priorities are hardwired into operational frameworks, curtailing the new emphasis and adaptions. Thus, key to the institutional conditions of IMF fiscal policy actions are “baked in” economic ideas. These are operationalized through economic models, analytical tools, fiscal evaluation frameworks, and standard operating procedures. The “politics of economic method,” in the form of deliberation and contestation over different normative ideas that can underpin alternative constructions of such policy frameworks, plays an important role in shaping which economic ideas come to matter, and how, for the IMF. The Fund’s “fiscal space” episode can be interpreted as a quest for ideational robustness (through increased flexibility), which thus far remains unrealized due to the crucial role of these mechanisms, institutional conditions, and ideational path dependencies.","PeriodicalId":47383,"journal":{"name":"Policy and Society","volume":"336 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":9.3,"publicationDate":"2024-06-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141462213","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Policy design for biodiversity: How problem conception drift undermines “fit-for-purpose” Peatland conservation 生物多样性的政策设计：问题概念的偏离如何破坏 "适合目的 "的泥炭地保护

IF 9.3 1区社会学

Policy and Society Pub Date : 2024-06-14 DOI: 10.1093/polsoc/puae019

Benjamin Cashore, Ishani Mukherjee, Altaf Virani, Lahiru S Wijedasa

{"title":"Policy design for biodiversity: How problem conception drift undermines “fit-for-purpose” Peatland conservation","authors":"Benjamin Cashore, Ishani Mukherjee, Altaf Virani, Lahiru S Wijedasa","doi":"10.1093/polsoc/puae019","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/polsoc/puae019","url":null,"abstract":"For over two decades, scientists have documented the alarming decline of global Peatland ecosystems, regarded as the planet’s most crucial carbon sinks. The deterioration of these unique wetlands alongside their policy attention presents a puzzle for policy scientists and for students of anticipatory policy design. Two contrasting explanations have emerged. Some argue that pressures from economic globalization compel governments to relax environmental standards, while others point to deficiencies in policy design and implementation. Our paper applies Cashore’s Four Problem Types framework to assess a more nuanced explanation: that failure of global and local policies to curb ecosystem degradation is owing to a misalignment between how the problem is currently conceived of, and what conception is required for, effective environmental management. We find overwhelming evidence that reversing Peatland degradation necessitates a fundamental shift in applied policy analysis—from treating the crisis as a Type 3 (Compromise), Type 2 (Optimization), or even Type 1 (Commons) problem, to conceiving it as a Type 4 (Prioritization) challenge. Achieving this requires undertaking four essential policy design tasks: engaging sequentialist/lexical ordering processes; identifying key features of the problem that any solution would need to incorporate to effectively overcome; applying path dependency analysis to uncover policy mix innovations capable of “locking-in” sustainability trajectories that can fend off pressures for policy conception drift; and organizing multistakeholder “policy design learning” exercises that integrate complex sources of knowledge produced within, and across, the ecological and policy sciences.","PeriodicalId":47383,"journal":{"name":"Policy and Society","volume":"25 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":9.3,"publicationDate":"2024-06-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141333591","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0