The political rationalities of regionalism: APEC and the EU in comparative perspective

Abstract

The essay is a comparative analysis of APEC and the EU, which looks at the particular sorts of economic orders these institutions are helping to create. It is argued that the two regions display some noteworthy differences that result from different approaches to the problem of economic governance. These differences reflect much more than the relative degree and level of regional institutionalization; they flow from different ‘political rationalities’ that are themselves a function of the very different liberal and illiberal polities in Europe and East Asia. Our key theoretical innovation is to use the framework of political rationality to explain different regional approaches to economic governance; more specifically we argue that the EU and the East Asian members of APEC may be understood as respectively subscribing to broadly conceived liberal and cameralist approaches to economic governance which are in turn reflected in the design of regional institutions.     

Evidence‐Based Policy‐Making: The Elusive Search for Rational Public Administration

Evidence‐based policy making has been criticised as a revival of the ‘rationality project’ in which democratic politics is regarded as rent‐seeking and a deadweight loss to society. In response, the evidence‐based policy movement has failed to articulate a defence in which the rationality animating the policy process is situational and contextual rather than unique and authoritative. This article traces the movement's motto –‘what works?’– to the American pragmatist movement, whose influence on Harold Lasswell and New Labour in the UK was substantial. This article argues that the ambition for evidence‐based policy‐making should be seen in terms of the transition from a single, unique and universal rationality toward multiple rationalities that vary according to different policy making contexts. Interpreted in such terms, evidence‐based policy making can avoid several of the main criticisms, and offer strong potential to contribute to solving policy problems.     

Rationalities and Levels of Analysis in Complex Social Issues: The Examples of School Overcrowding and Poverty

This paper presents a 5 × n table for charting complex social issues, particularly those characterized by oppression and injustice. Its five columns are Paul Diesing’s rationalities: technical, economic, social, legal, and political. Its n rows are levels of analysis from individuals, groups, organizations, communities, regions, and nations to international and global perspectives. Utilizing school overcrowding and poverty as examples of local and global social issues, the paper describes the relevance of this analytic framework for social action and research. The framework contributes a complex view of social issues that avoids oversimplifying them and suggests how they are experienced by people living with social injustice. The framework proposes cross-disciplinary projects among scholars and collaborative projects among scholars, practitioners, and advocates.