Program of the Symposium on Theory, Policy & Society
(Note: both presentations and discussions comments are limited to 15 each.).
9.00
9.15 - 10. 45
Doug Torgerson Democracy through Policy Discourse
Wim van der Donk Digital Adjustments – Computers and the democratic Character of Redistributive Policy Making
Frank Hendriks & Pieter Tops Making Sense of Interactive Policy Making: Experiences from the Netherlands
Discussant: Michiel Herweijer
General Discussion
Frank Fischer Participatory Policy Analysis: Citizen’s Science and the "People's Plan" in Kerala, India.
Anne Loeber What will do will be done? The contribution of interactively organised policy analysis to ‘governing’ sustainable development/P>
Patsy Healey Institutional Capacity-buillding, Urban Planning and Urban regeneration Projects
Discussant Wayne Parsons
General Discussion
Analysing stories and discourses: new approaches
Herbert Gottweiss Theoretical Strategies of Post-structuralist Policy Analysis
Frank Nullmeier The Micropolitics of Representative Politics: Concepts and Methods of an Interpretative Political Science
Henk van de Graaf & John Grin Policy Analysis and the ‘Reinvention of Politics’: The Question of Closure
Discussant: Martin Rein
General Discussion
Hendrik Wagenaar & Rogier HartendorpBureaucratic Order and Personal Order: The Narrative Analysis of Administrative Practice
Mathilde Meijers The Possible Uses of Narrative Analysis in Empirical Studies of Policy Implementation
Sandra Kensen & Peter BogasonTwo approaches of Narrative Policy Evaluation compared: Evaluating a Danish Neighbourhood Council Twice
Discussant: Doug Torgerson
General discussion
20.00
Michel van Eeten Recasting the Hard Issues through Discourse Analysis: the Case of Transport Policy in the Netherlands
Martin Rein &Reframing of Public Controversies
David Law
Discussant: Dvora Yanow
General Discussion
Michiel Herweijer Social Theory and Policy Analysis
Wayne Parsons Critical Realism and Economics: Implications for the Postpositivist Project in Public Policy
Discussant: Martin Rein
General Discussion
12.00 - 13.00
Cultural approaches to policy analysis
13.00 - 15.30Dvora Yanow Accessing Local Knowledge: Interpretive Policy Analysis as Cultural Analysis
Maarten Hajer Culture and Identity in Environmental Politics: Some Reflections on ‘Interactive’ Policy Making Practices
Robert Hoppe Cultural Theory and Policy Design Theories
Discussant: Frank Nullmeier
General Discussion
The Institutional Future of TPS
Frank Fischer Introductory Remarks
Liesbet Heyse Starting a New Journal?
Hendrik Wagenaar The publication of the conference papers
Maarten Hajer
Conclusions to the Workshop
Frank Fischer
Maarten Hajer
Hendrik Wagenaar
This theme would focus on the implications of recent social and political theory for the debate on new institutional arrangements in the sphere of policy making. New experimental practices such as ‘co-decision making’, ‘interactive decision making’ or ‘stakeholder planning’, are examples of an observable trend to experiment with new ways of organizing policy making. Yet should we understand these new policy practices? Do they facilitate the knowledge base of government and thereby strengthen the institutional capacity of government? Do these new practices also speak to a commitment to make policy making more democratic? What empirical evidence do we have? What sort of criteria do we have to assess these new practices? What should our agenda be in this field?
Many of us have been experimenting with ways in which to analyse ‘practice stories’, frames, metaphors, stanza’s, narratives, story lines and discourses. What can we say about the strengths and weaknesses of the methodologies that we have developed in the course of this work? Which next steps should be taken?
Culture has re-emerged as an interest in policy studies over the last years. Initially many scholars seemed pre-occupied with the recognition of various cultural stereotypes, often drawing on the typology of Mary Douglas and others. Yet now scholarship seems to move beyond that conceptual frame - that was at least as contraining as it was enabling. Yet how can we broaden the investigation of culture avoiding the many pitfalls that have accompanied the usage of the concept of culture in the past? We need to appreciate the various forms of knowledge that participants bring to the policy process and we must enhance the dynamics of ‘identity’ in the policy process, if only to be able to better understand the ways in which different cultural backgrounds influence the ‘institutional capacity’ of various political practices. Is this a useful track to explore? What are the do’s and don’ts? Where do we need the concept of culture, where does it add to our existing concepts of interpretive policy science? How does it influence our thinking about democratic political governance?
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