Politics Of Policymaking Research Articles

Deliberative Democracy and Pragma-Dialectics Related

AbstractThis paper adopts a pragma-dialectic approach to explore inclusion in real-world argumentation. Having outlined theories of deliberative democracy—focussing on Habermas’s discourse model—and pragma-dialectic methods for analysing argumentative exchanges in the real world, we then relate them. From this we identify the potential for using the enhanced detail of pragma-dialectic analysis to constructively understand dynamics of inclusion in the political decision processes of central concern to deliberative democratic theories.In the remainder of the article we illustrate this potential with our own pragma-dialectic analysis of an instance of real-world argumentation in a political policymaking process—a deliberative forum in the contentious field of mental health. The detail afforded by the pragma-dialectic method allows us to more clearly identify the complex layers and dynamics of argument involved in these policy deliberations, allowing insights into mechanisms for inclusion in deliberations, relative to the parties to such deliberations, their roles and competing interests and perspectives.By relating the two fields of deliberative democratic theory and pragma-dialectics this article aims to develop their complementary potential—in particular by suggesting, and briefly illustrating—how pragma-dialectic methods might enhance analysis of the dynamics of argumentation in political policymaking processes, in particular as an aid to constructive reflection on those processes by theorists and participants together.

The politics of policymaking in Rwanda: adaptation and reform in agriculture, energy, and education

ABSTRACT The article links policy adaptation in Rwanda to the wider phenomenon of authoritarian persistence. We analyse political decision-making and implementation in a variety of policy domains (agriculture, energy, and education) to argue that the reality of governance in Rwanda requires more nuance than what is commonly portrayed in the literature. Hovering through the past decade, we first reflect upon how the Rwandan government’s ambitions have been translated into concrete policies, and how these policies have evolved throughout time as policymakers have had to deal with evidence on negative policy impact. Finally, we discuss the conditions for policy adaptation, analysing whether, when, how, and from whom criticism is taken on board. We show how policy adaptation is frequent in Rwanda, despite the context of a tightly managed political space. And yet responding to policy problems is not institutionalised and is inherently fragile in an authoritarian regime, leading to the question of how sustainable the country’s trajectory can be over the longer term.

Speaking Truth to Power and Power to Truth: Reflections from the Pandemic

The complex relationship between science and politics has been a perennial issue in public administration. In this debate it is important to distinguish between ‘good’ and ‘bad’ politics, and between ‘good’ and ‘bad’ science. The Covid-19 pandemic has valorised the importance of science in shaping governmental responses, and has tended to contrast politics negatively with science. However, technocratic approaches to policymaking downplay the importance of politics in policymaking. Two case studies, of countries where there have been markedly different pandemic outcomes are used to illustrate the relationship between science and politics during this public health crisis – New Zealand and Brazil. In New Zealand there has been a positive and effective, if technocratic, relationship between science and politics, while in Brazil the relationship between the two domains has been fraught.

Social Model—Innovation and Behavioural Intervention as a Public Policy of Action within an Oncology and Loneliness Scope

The article presents concepts and the Public Health Policy University of Lisbon Lab project to answer questions about the macro-environment of cancer and loneliness. Although the biomedical model has considered the disease’s general symptoms, it takes a holistic approach to incorporate several other circumstances that influence health. Emotional, social, psychological, and economic factors mirror influencing layers that affect wellness. Portugal follows Europe’s tendency and simultaneously reflects its reality. Governmental internal policies, amplified by regulations, improve disease prevention and treatment. Nevertheless, it focuses on the general population instead of on the individual. Once cancer, one of the leading causes of global death, is perceived as an isolated incident, we believe macro-environmental circumstances, and not only biological ones, must be considered. Furthermore, cancer in the elderly intensifies solicitude, and expanded policies and actions demand individual health determinants. In the Portuguese Public Health Policy, we started a collaborative Oncology, Human Kinetics, and Public Health Policy project. This is the first project of the Public Health Policy Lab from the Institute of Social and Political Sciences of the University of Lisbon. Based on a brief review of two research projects on improving cancer patients’ health, we promote micro-organisational projects to deal with the social phenomena of loneliness, physical activity, and lifestyle. As a sequence of the well-known social determinants, we endorse political determinants as the basis for public health. The latest worldwide governmental trend is to create public labs as an innovation of political policymaking. Throughout this reflection, the need for a new rational approach specially designed for a social model is considered.

‘Intervening early’: agendas and rationalisations for children’s developmental health

Background:Despite broad scientific consensus about the importance of the early years in the lifelong health and wellbeing of children, there is debate about whether and how healthcare professionals can optimise early child development through monitoring or screening. The evidence in support of a systematic population-level intervention is disputed, which is reflected in the diversity of approaches to developmental screening internationally. Methods:Using a case-study design, and interpretive qualitative methods, we explored how Canadian experts in child health (n=39): a) rationalise why they do, or would, pursue population-level developmental screening; b) articulate the policy goals of such an intervention, and; c) justify the practice with reference to evidence. Findings:Respondents identified three distinct framings, or policy agendas, for what developmental screening can and should seek to achieve, specifically: 1) as medical intervention, facilitating the early identification of health risk or disorder; 2) as social intervention, providing an opportunity for communication and connection with parents for all children; and 3) as political intervention, staking a claim for early child health on the broader political agenda. Discussion and conclusions:Each agenda is justified by distinct types of evidence, posing a challenge to simplistic models of evidence-based policymaking, and demonstrating that evidence is not just an input, but a contested part of a dynamic and political policymaking process.

When design meets power: design thinking, public sector innovation and the politics of policymaking

Responding to the need for innovation, governments have begun experimenting with ‘design thinking’ approaches to reframe policy issues and generate and test new policy solutions. This paper examines what is new about design thinking and compares this to rational and participatory approaches to policymaking, highlighting the difference between their logics, foundations and the basis on which they ‘speak truth to power’. It then examines the impact of design thinking on policymaking in practice, using the example of public sector innovation (PSI) labs. The paper concludes that design thinking, when it comes in contact with power and politics, faces significant challenges, but that there are opportunities for design thinking and policymaking to work better together.

The politics of policymaking: policy co-creation in Singapore’s financial sector

ABSTRACT Faced with an increasingly complex policy environment, policymakers have sought to leverage upon non-state resources and expertise to supplement their policy efforts. What have emerged are collaborative efforts at policymaking, founded upon close relations between public and private actors. This paper focuses on policy co-creation in Singapore’s financial sector, differentiating between formal and informal processes of policy co-creation. In doing so, it aims to provide a policy-oriented approach to understanding government-business relations that can both expand on and contribute to existing corporatist studies of economic development in Asia.

The politics of evidence-based policy in Europe’s ‘migration crisis’

ABSTRACTIncreased migration across the Mediterranean to Europe during 2015 was associated with growing interest in generating new research evidence to assist policymakers in understanding the complexities of migration and improve policy responses. In the UK, this was reflected in funding by the Economic and Social Research Council for a Mediterranean Migration Research Programme. Drawing on evidence from the programme, this volume explores the nature of Europe’s ‘migration crisis’ and the extent to which the development of new migration management policies was grounded in evidence about the causes, drivers and consequences of migration to Europe. The authors conclude that there is a substantial ‘gap’ between the now significant body of evidence examining migration processes and European Union policy responses. This gap is attributed to three main factors: the long-standing ‘paradigm war’ in social research between positivist, interpretivist and critical approaches which means that what counts as ‘evidence’ is contested; competing knowledge claims associated with research and other forms of evidence used to construct and/or support policy narratives; and, perhaps most importantly, the politics of policymaking, which has resulted in policies based on underlying assumptions and vested interests rather than research evidence, even where this evidence is funded directly by European governments.

Policy deliberation and voter persuasion: estimating intrinsic causal effects of town hall meetings

ABSTRACTInstitutions are a vital part of the way we make decisions about policies and implement them, but most randomised experiments only focus on the policy itself. In this lecture, I call for more rigorous evaluations of political institutions and policymaking and discuss how this can work in practice with reference to work my colleagues and I did in Benin and the Philippines. We randomly assigned districts in both countries to use either standard, clientilistic campaign messaging or broad-based, policy-oriented campaign messaging with deliberation at town hall meetings. In the both countries, we see a greater vote share for the party that participated in policy-focused deliberation. In Benin, deliberation also increased voter turnout. People demand better politics, and if politicians change their behaviour, they are rewarded. I hope to see more experiments like these, which separate institutional effects from policy effects and help overcome issues like clientelism that plague politics in the developing world.

Communicating Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in the Coffee Industry: An Examination of Indicators Disclosed

Corporations operating in the coffee industry are no strangers to the challenges of sustainable business. Unstable downward price pressure encourages coffee producers to engage in environmentally detrimental practices, whilst the social fabric of coffee producing communities has been disrupted and livelihoods have suffered. Sustainability indicators are used by corporations to disclose and measure Corporate Social Performance (CSP) in an attempt to address sustainability challenges. Indicators must be practical and appropriate as they create values that inform social and political policy-making. As the selection of indicators is discretionary, there is a chance that they may not suitably represent sustainability challenges, rather what the corporation perceives to be of salience. There is a need therefore to identify the indicators used and examine their suitability for representing the sustainability challenges faced by the industry by drawing on themes identified in a literature review. By conducting a latitudinal (cross-sectional) content analysis of the latest available sustainability report and/or webpages of ten British Coffee Association corporate members (Bewley’s, Cafedirect Plc, Caffe Nero, Costa Ltd, Finlay Beverages Ltd, Jacobs Douwe Egberts, Lavazza Coffee UK Ltd, Matthew Algie, Nestle UK & Ireland and Taylors of Harrogate), a total of 94 (44 environmental, 30 social and 20 economic) indicators are identified. It is found that for the most part the indicators used suit the sustainability challenges identified in the literature review. Several observations are drawn: the variety of indicators disclosed highlights the discretionary nature of sustainability reporting as well as crucial differences in organisation characteristics (degree of vertical integration). While the extant literature focusses on sustainability challenges related to coffee production, indicators are used to disclose performance throughout the global value chain, demonstrating that companies account for sustainability from bean to cup. Single-use indicators denote unique sustainability challenges that corporations lend salience to, suggesting that indicators may be tailored to territorial realities. Comments are made towards the degree of standardisation found between indicators with reference to the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), where the cases following GRI guidelines tended to be those disclosing the greatest quantity of indicators. Despite operating in the context of neoliberal globalisation where corporations are increasingly expected to assume the responsibility of tackling sustainability challenges, this study underlines the voluntary nature of sustainability indicator selection, finding substantial similarities as well as differences in the quality and quantity of indicators disclosed.

Mission Groups and the New Politics of British Higher Education

This article explores the emergence and impact of the mission groups in British higher education. The central argument is that given the development of a mass and diversified model of higher education it was inevitable that the higher education institutions would form pressure groups, while increased marketisation and growing inter-institutional competition have helped to sustain their presence. With particular reference to their input into the policy making process, it analyses how they contribute to a new politics of policy-making and concludes by considering the future of the mission groups in the light of the recent demise of the 1994 Group.

Exploring the Politics of Differential Resource Allocation: Implications for Policy Design and Leadership Practice

This qualitative case study explores the political and leadership challenges imbedded within the implementation of a district-wide resource reallocation policy. Based on a two-year study of a medium-sized district’s efforts to address changing demographics of families in the district and a widening achievement gap, we draw upon concepts from education finance and the politics of policymaking to better understand the strategies used to introduce and implement a differential resource-allocation formula. Leadership strategies are explored, with a focus on anticipated areas of both internal and external “pushback,” and a discussion of the cycle of political support for equity-focused policy initiatives.

SY09-4 * TRANSLATING, HARM REDUCTION INTO POLICIES, THE SWISS EXPERIENCE

Aims. The aim of this presentation is to illustrate how Switzerland was able to play such a pioneering role in the field of addiction treatment, by creating a drug policy integrating the medical prescription of diacetylmorphine (heroin) in the therapeutic arsenal of addiction treatments. Discussion. The medical prescription of diacetylmorphine, introduced initially as a harm reduction measure, has been the exotic element of the Swiss drug policy of 1991 and probably still is one of the most controversial practices in clinical medicine despite its documented effectiveness. Coalitions of change actors, across stakeholder groups from many professions and politicians on various levels, succeeded in formulating and starting initiatives for a new drug policy and its innovations. Conclusion. In the case of Switzerland, the Swiss Confederation took a leading role by facilitating communication, encouraging scientific knowledge and bringing the various stakeholders on a platform to deliver a consensual political policymaking basis. This was facilitated by the Swiss direct democracy system. Sustained, dialogue between researchers and the users, of research enhances the likelihood of research affecting policy.

Civic Paternalism in Political Policymaking: The Justification for No-Vote Stadium Subsidies

Direct democracy practices such as initiatives and referenda are increasingly ignored or circumvented by political leaders who allocate subsidies toward new professional sport stadium developments. In a democracy, such a means of governing may be problematic if the outcome is unreflective of the public will. The existing literature makes several theoretical connections for this line of political decision-making, including urban growth machines and trustee–delegate representation. In this paper, these concepts are integrated with empirical evidence to support the conceptualization of civic paternalism, a term that provides partial description of the political decision-making process. Civic paternalists justify their decisions by arguing that a city’s continued vibrancy and growth optimize community benefit while remaining acutely aware of their decisions’ political consequences. We illustrate the concept of civic paternalism by drawing from interviews with political leaders associated with one of the most recent cases of the no-vote subsidy.

Ingredients for good health policy-making: incorporating power and politics into the mix

*Correspondence to: Yusra Shawar, Department of Public Administration and Public Policy, American University, Washington, USA Email: yusra.shawar@american.edu Copyright: © 2014 by Kerman University of Medical Sciences Citaion: Shawar Y. Ingredients for good health policy-making: incorporating power and politics into the mix. Int J Health Policy Manag 2014; 2: 203–204. doi: 10.15171/ ijhpm.2014.45 Received: 18 April 2014, Accepted: 6 May 2014, ePublished: 9 May 2014 Eggs, flour, sugar, butter, baking soda, milk, and vanilla extract—all ingredients necessary to make a delicious cake. Similarly, good health policy-making can only be successfully pursued and understood by accounting for all of its basic ingredients, including the role of politics and power. Otherwise, the result is simply not good. In the second edition of Making Health Policy, respected health policy experts Buse, Mays, and Walt have crafted the ultimate health-policy-making “cookbook”—an essential read for any individual seeking to better understand how a health policy emerges and which factors contribute to its success or failure. However, rather than predominately focusing on examining the content of policy—an approach typical of other health policy books—the authors provide the analytical framework needed to consider and bring politics and power, two essential ingredients, to the forefront of any health policy examination. As illustrated by the authors, the role of politics is overwhelmingly pervasive in the emergence, design, execution, and evaluation of health policy. Their work thoroughly explores the role of politics and power in determining, among many other processes in health governance, which health issues receive attention on national agendas (p. 66), how networks of interest groups and government actors form around a health issue (p. 108), the manner in which front-line health workers perceive and chose to implement proposed policies (p. 133), and which health program evaluation findings are utilized and translated to policy (p.176). In addition, each chapter, with its own collection of related theoretical constructs and examples, provides a critical foundation to begin answering important questions that have historically not received adequate attention by the public health community: Why do some health issues receive priority over others? How can we understand and study power in a health system? Which sorts of interest groups are most influential? Why is evidence-based policy-making so challenging? While the role of politics in policy-making is widely acknowledged among the public health community, little effort has been devoted to exploring and integrating this important area of study in university-level curriculum, scholarly research, and practical policy design. Furthermore, remarkably little guidance has been made available to students and practitioners as to how these political dynamics can be managed. Recognizing this gap, the authors draw on the most up-todate research in order to illustrate precisely how politics shape processes in health governance like agenda setting (chapter 4), policy implementation (chapter 7), as well as research and evaluation (chapter 9). Furthermore, they show how power is distributed among and exercised by key-players in the health policy-making process, including: the private, for-profit sector (chapter 3), different institutions of government (chapter 5), various types of interest groups in the health sector (chapter 6), and those actors working at the global level (chapter 8). Perhaps most importantly, their work provides valuable insight on how the complexities posed by politics, which are inherent and unavoidable, can be navigated while making health policy (chapter 10). Making Health Policy’s underlying framework of organization builds on the idea of the “policy triangle” first proposed by Walt et al. (1). The triangle presents four factors that should be taken into consideration in the process of health policymaking: content, actors, processes, and context (p. 8). Although policy content is recognized as an important component, the book gives special attention to the place of politics in the complex interactions that occur among the other three components: the actors (the individuals, organizations, and nation state that make and implement policy), processes (how policies are initiated, developed, negotiated, communicated, implemented, and evaluated), and context (which includes the political, social, and economic environment in which actors work). While the policy triangle is a useful way to organize and think systematically about the different factors that might affect policy, the authors find that as is, it is too simplistic, only representing “a map that shows the main roads but that has yet to have contours, rivers, forests, paths, and dwellings added to it” Making Health Policy (understanding public health)

Power Politics In Policymaking: The Anti-Money Laundering Act Of The Philippines

The Anti-Money laundering law (AMLA) is a financial regulation enacted mainly because of external demand, as the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) called on the Philippine Government to comply with the Anti-Money Laundering (AML) regime. The FATF not only summoned the Philippine Government, but also determined the shape and content of the AMLA by requiring the institutional policy actors to conform to the global standards. Thus, the FATF exercised direct powers — agenda setting and decision making — in persuading the Philippine Government to enact the law. The institutional policy actors were impelled to prioritize the consideration and deliberation of the financial regulation (agenda setting) and compelled to enact and rework the content of the policy to conform to the FATF standard within a time frame (decision-making). The FATF’s use of direct powers was made possible and reinforced by the context-shaping power of the prevailing financial structure, specifically, the establishment of the AML regime. Context-shaping bound the institutional actors to enact the policy because of the prevailing AML regime established by the FATF. As the context-shaping power underscored the exercise of the agenda-setting and decision-making powers, the lawmaking experience that created the AMLA highlights the employment of the different dimensions of power as well as the contemporary dynamics in the global financial structure vis-a-vis the policymaking process.

The Heritage Policy Group: Policy Development and Community Engagement at the UCL Institute of Archaeology

The Institute of Archaeology has a long history of involvement in policy and community engagement, dating back to the work of the Institute’s founding director, Mortimer Wheeler, and continuing since that time through the work of all subsequent directors and numerous staff and students. One needs only to consider the key role of W.F. Grimes in the rescue of much important archaeology in the City of London during the 1950s and 1960s for example, or of Peter Ucko’s political work surrounding the World Archaeological Congress in the 1980s and 1990s, to appreciate the consistent commitment to a sense of wider social responsibility that its directors have brought to the Institute. This includes engagement with a diverse crosssection of communities both far and wide from the physical location of the Institute and, in a broader sense, an ongoing role by the Institute in influencing and informing political policy-making in partnership with other London based organisations, such as the Society of Antiquaries of London and the British Academy. In mid-2011, as part of the planning for the Institute’s 75th anniversary celebrations, reported on elsewhere in this volume (pp. xx–x), this commitment to engage in and influence policy and community work was formalised through the creation of an Institute sub-committee, the Heritage Policy

THE SINGAPORE CONSTITUTION AND ITS CRITICS

The latest book about governance in Singapore takes a different tack from recent works in the area; Professor Ho Khai Leong’s The Politics of Policy-Making in Singapore and, more recently, Professor Mauzy’s and Professor Milne’s impressive Singapore Politics under the People’s Action Party. Even should the scholars themselves have rather different views, these latter scholarly works describe the workings of Government in Singapore through a keen and informed engagement with Singapore’s current policies and institutional aspirations. Despite claiming close knowledge of the inner workings of Government,

Women's Movements as Agents of Change: The Politics of Policymaking and the Reform of Domestic Violence Laws in Croatia and Slovenia, 1991–2004

This article examines women's movements as agents of change in postcommunist Croatia and Slovenia: whether, and in what ways, they may have succeeded in politicizing and institutionalizing the issue of domestic violence in the two countries. Theoretically, this article aims to contribute to the ongoing discussion of the effectiveness of different forms of women's policy agency. Using a policy process analysis, the study demonstrates the key role women's movements have played in putting the issue of domestic violence on the political agenda and pressuring governments to enact new legislation. The findings challenge the common assumption that Central and Eastern European women's movements have remained weak, antifeminist, and apolitical, exerting only marginal influence on the gender policy processes in the region.

An assessment of the role of government health related policies in improving the oral health status of Nigerians

Achieving good oral health is now considered an important component of good health for any population and the inclusion of an oral health component in national health policies is a good strategy for promoting oral health. This paper sought to examine the existing health-related policies of the Nigerian government in order to determine the position accorded oral health within the policy framework and to determine the role of these policies in improving the oral health status of Nigerians. A detailed search of electronic sources and Nigerian government documents to identify the major health related policies of the government in the last decade was conducted. The policies identified and analysed were the Millennium Development Goals (MDG’s), Vision 20:2020, National Economic Empowerment and Development strategy (NEEDS), the seven point agenda and the primary health care policy. The analysis from this report indicates an exclusion of oral health from the framework of most of the policies designed by the Nigerian government. The most important barrier identified for excluding oral health is the inability of the oral health workforce to influence the policy process in Nigeria since policymaking is largely a political issue. Oral healthcare professionals in Nigeria need to be actively engaged in the politics of policymaking in order to promote the inclusion of oral health in the health related policies of government. This should stimulate positive action concerning oral health in the Nigerian polity.