Interpretive policy inquiry: A response to the limitations of the received view

This paper seeks to contribute to the growing body of literature on interpretive policy inquiry. As such, its specific focus is the presentation of the interpretive approach as a corrective for the shortcomings inherent in the standard view. Following an outline of the problems facing the received view, a systematic, philosophically grounded, statement of the interpretive position is developed. Thereafter, the tangible positive consequences for policy making of this approach are further discussed. The paper concludes with some reflections on the relationship between the positivistic and interpretive paradigms.     

The mobilization of counter-expertise: Using Fischer's model of policy inquiry

Conclusion In this case, Fischer's model of critical policy inquiry provided crucial support in the mobilization of counter-expertise to contest the arguments advanced by the government agencies. The outcome in this case depended not only upon the use of the model, but also upon a context of complex social and political factors. Nonetheless, the success of the residents of Heijplaat in saving their neighborhood shows that a model such as Fischer's helps to focus attention on questions that are inconvenient for the interests of official experts — and thus need to be raised.     

Citizen participation and the democratization of policy expertise: From theoretical inquiry to practical cases

This article examines the case for a participatory policy analysis. An idea advanced mainly by democratic and postpositivist theorists is increasingly becoming a practical concern. Criticizing conventional conceptions of science and expertise, theorists advocating participatory democracy argue that the conventional model of professionalism based on a practitioner-client hierarchy must give way to a more collaborative method of inquiry. While such arguments have largely remained in the domain of utopian speculation, recent experiences with a number of wicked policy problems have begun to suggest the viability, if not the necessity, of participatory research methods. Through two case illustrations of a wicked problem, the so-called Nimby Syndrome, the essay seek to demonstrate that collaborative citizen-expert inquiry may well hold the key to solving a specific category of contemporary policy problems. The article concludes with some observations on the possibilities of bringing participatory research more fully into mainstream policy science.     

Implicit theories in policy discourse: An inquiry into the interpretations of reality in German technology policy

Interpretations of reality are an important, sometimes even decisive, dimension of the policy process. This essay seeks to demonstrate this point in the field of technology policy. Empirical research shows that government support for technology transfer in Germany is based on a concept of technology that is shared by neither companies nor academic researchers. These different concepts become reified interpretations of what technology means. They are referred to here as implicit theories. Interviews with academic researchers and business people demonstrate how inquiries into the realm of policy theories can be carried out.     

Priest and jester in the policy sciences: Developing the focus of inquiry

Conclusion Once the tension between priest and jester has been recognized, it becomes possible not only to keep it alive in developing the focus of inquiry, but also to seek a better balance (or imbalance) between the two. Yet, as Ron Brunner has pointed out (1984), an editor is rightly constrained by others - contributors, reviewers, colleagues. Helping to develop the focus of inquiry means not only taking initiative and staking out directions, but also responding to the spontaneous initiatives of others and encouraging them in their directions. That policy of a journal points to a desirable condition of inquiry and anticipates a desirable, even if hardly imaginable, condition of public life (cf. Schön, 1983, ch. 10).The most renowned of jesters, Lear's Fool, inhabits the margins of a world marked by delusion, disguise, deception, and betrayal; he would fain learn to lie, (I. iv. 173) but his wit, through riddle and paradox, instead persistently conveys an unwanted truth. The jester becomes not just a source of amusement to his master, but a pestilent gall (I. iv. 110). As an apparently ordered and rational world turns to chaos and excess, however, the Fool paradoxically remains constant (II. iv. 75–84). Those who will abandon and betray the old King are those who appear most coldly rational; indeed, it is the jester who is the most reliable of counsellors, enigmatically offering wisdom. The jester brings vitality and wit to make us laugh. Yet the comic mood of the jester's clowning only sets in sharper relief something else we know.The jester has a serious side and allows us - if we will but look and listen - to laugh at ourselves, to see ourselves as others see us, to take that crucial step in developing the focus of inquiry whereby we expose ourselves to ourselves. Douglas Torgerson

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A pragmatic inquiry

His research on political conflict among planning practitioners has appeared in the Journal of Planning Education and Research.His forthcoming book, New Homeless and Old,coauthored with Robert Slayton, traces the emergence of the new homeless to the destruction of skid row housing and community.     

Expert judgements of party policy positions: Uses and limitations in political research

European Journal of Political Research -     

A transaction-based approach to policy intervention

A transaction-based approach to policy intervention is presented. The approach overcomes a number of weaknesses in current approaches to policy intervention. The approach involves three main conceptual elements: transactions, transaction governance mechanisms, and governance principles. The transaction is taken to be the basic unit of analysis. Profiles of transactions vary along a number of transaction dimensions. Transaction governance mechanisms - such as, for example, government service, regulation, contracts, vouchers, markets, taxes, and self-service - are each suitable for governing transactions having particular profiles. A mechanism will fail when used to govern transactions not fitting the profile. Governance principles are criteria or expectations - for example, efficiency, justice and liberty - used to judge how well a mechanism fulfills or achieves important societal goals. Specific choices of governance mechanisms (from the set that are technically feasible) therefore should be made according to how well they satisfy these governance principles. Public high school education is used as an example to illustrate the approach. A number of conclusions are offered.This is a revised version of a paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Society for Public Administration Portland, Oregon, April, 1988.     

On studying world order: A plea for systematic inquiry

Conclusion The creation of improved systems of world order requires great care. Alternative configurations may or may not prove more suitable, and each must be painstakingly examined on its own merits. For those of us who are actively concerned with studying about world order, this means the application of a far more rigorous conception of inquiry to our subject. So long as we cannot accept the Leibnizian claim that this is certainly the best of all possible worlds, our search for better ones must certainly be the best of all possible searches. This means that models of world order must be derived from appropriate hypotheses and subjected to the strictures of systematic analysis. World order studies must be treated in accordance with the strict canons of inquiry outlined in this essay. Only then can they begin to develop the highly generalized system of theory that characterizes any science.     

Swedish development aid policy: A discussion with reference to Ethiopia

Formal Ethio-Swedish development co-operation began in 1945 with the signing of a technical assistance treaty in vocational and technical education. Since then Swedish aid has been extended to health, nutrition and agriculture, with agricultural aid constituting the largest share since 1967. Swedish agricultural aid could be classified broadly into the comprehensive and the minimum package programmes. This paper discusses the changes in Swedish rural development assistance from the project to the country programming approach as reflected in the comprehensive and minimum package programme. This paper shows that the country programming approach to international development assistance is an important contribution to the strategies of delivering foreign assistance. Since the approach utilizes existing government programmes as the starting point for development assistance, and attempts to integrate aid into the national resource base, it can build confidence and mutual working relationships among donors and aid recipients. Moreover, the approach as utilized by Sweden has a three-year time-frame, allowing the transfer of funds within Swedish sponsored programmes. The overall strategy objective supports and broadens existing programmes directed to improving the welfare of the rural poor.     

Opposition party policy shifts in response to no‐confidence motions

No‐confidence motions (NCMs) are attempts by opposition parties to publicise the government's failings in a salient policy arena, and previous research has shown that they often negatively affect citizens' evaluations of governing parties' competence and damage their electoral prospects. Yet currently there is a lack of understanding of how opposition parties respond ideologically to these NCMs. It is argued in this article that opposition parties should distance themselves from the government challenged by NCMs to show that they are different from the incompetent government and to compete for the votes that the government is likely to lose. Using a sample of 19 advanced democracies from 1970–2007, empirical evidence is presented that NCMs encourage political parties to move their positions away from the government's position, especially in the presence of reinforcing negative signals about government performance. These results have important implications for our understanding of opposition party policy change, for the economic voting literature, and for the spatial and valence models of party competition.