Preliminary program Symposium: Theory, Policy & Society. Leiden, Holland, June 24-25, 1999

 

Thursday, 24 June

9.00 hour Welcome & Introduction to the workshop

 

Policy Analysis and New Democratic Governance

9.15 – 10. 45

Doug Torgerson Democracy through Policy Discourse

Wim van der Donk Informatization and the democratic nature of public policymaking

Discussant Michiel Herweijer

General Discussion

10.45 – 11.15 Coffee

 

11.15 – 12.45

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

Discussant Patsy Healey

General Discussion

 

12.45 – 14.00 Lunch

 

Analysing stories and discourses: new approaches

14.00 – 15.30

Herbert Gottweiss The Epistemological Politics of Discourse Analysis

Dvora Yanow Title to be confirmed

Henk van de Graaf &

John Grin Policy Advice and the Repercussions of the ‘Diffusion’ of Politics

Discussant Martin Rein

General Discussion

 

15.30 – 16.00 Tea

 

16.00 – 18.00

Frank Nullmeier The Micropolitics of Representative Politics:

Concepts and Methods of an Interpretative Political Science

Hendrik Wagenaar Bureaucratic Order and Personal Order:

Analyzing administrative ‘work’.

Mathilde Meijers A Narrative Approach to Policy Implementation: collaboration in preventing juvenile delinquency.

Discussant Doug Torgerson

General discussion

 

19.00 – 20.00 Reception

20.00 Conference dinner

Friday, 25 June

 

9.00 – 10.30

Michel van Eeten Recasting the Hard Issues through Discourse Analysis:

the Case of Transport Policy in the Netherlands

Martin Rein &

David Law Reframing of Public Controversies

Discussant Dvora Yanow

 

General Discussion

 

10.30 – 11.00 Coffee

 

11.30 – 12.00

Michiel Herweijer Social Theory and Policy Analysis

Wayne Parsons Critical Realism and the Discourse of Economics

Discussant Doug Torgerson

General Discussion

12.00 – 13..00 lunch

 

Cultural approaches to policy analysis

13.00 – 15.30

Robert Hoppe Cultural Theory and Policy Design Theories

Frank Hendriks &

Pieter Tops Cultural Analysis of Policy Discourse:

Douglasian Cultural Theory and Beyond.

Maarten Hajer Respatialisation of Politics and Cultural Democracy

Discussant Frank Nullmeier

 

15.30 – 16.00 Tea

 

 

Institutional matters

16.00 – 17.00

Arjen Boin On Starting a New Journal and Using the Website: http://www.cddc.vt.edu/tps

Plenary The publication of the conference papers

 

Conclusions to the Workshop

17.00 – 18.00

Frank Fischer, Maarten Hajer, Hendrik Wagenaar: wrapping up plus general discussion.

 

19.00 Drinks and Dinner

 

 

 

 

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 emerged as a new 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 (sic). 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? How does it influence our thinking about democratic political governance?

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