Abstract:In public policy scholarship on policy design, emotions are still treated as opposed to goals, and their presence is assumed to signal that things have gone wrong. We argue, however, that understanding how and for whom emotions matter is vital to the dynamics of policy designs because emotions are central to the capacity-building of policy intermediaries and, with that, to the success of public policies. We examine the case of Czech single mothers in their role as intermediaries in "alimony policy". Our interpretive survey provided single mothers an opportunity to express the way they experience the policy emotionally. The analysis reveals that the policy goal of the child's well-being is produced at the cost of the mother's emotional tensions and that policy designs defuse these emotional tensions, implicitly. These contradictory emotions expressed by mothers show us a gateway to problematizing policy designs in a novel way, which reconsiders construing policy design as a technical, solution-oriented enterprise to one in which emotional tensions intervene in policy design and are essential for succeeding.http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/PPA Public Policy and Administration In public policy scholarship on policy design, emotions are still treated as opposed to goals, and their presence is assumed to signal that things have gone wrong. We argue, however, that understanding how and for whom emotions matter is vital to the dynamics of policy designs because emotions are central to the capacity-building of policy intermediaries and, with that, to the success of public policies. We examine the case of Czech single mothers in their role as intermediaries in "alimony policy". Our interpretive survey provided single mothers an opportunity to express the way they experience the policy emotionally. The analysis reveals that the policy goal of the child's well-being is produced at the cost of the mother's emotional tensions and that policy designs defuse these emotional tensions, implicitly. These contradictory emotions expressed by mothers show us a gateway to problematizing policy designs in a novel way, which reconsiders construing policy design as a technical, solution-oriented enterprise to one in which emotional tensions intervene in policy design and are essential for succeeding.

Cílem článku, který je situován na pomezí veřejné politiky a sociologie, je najít teoretickou a metodologickou oporu pro formulování postojů tzv. „neviditelných“ aktérů. Tento pojem je zaváděn pro účely článku ve snaze popsat fenomén aktérů, kteří nejsou ve veřejném prostoru vidět a slyšet a obtížně se s nimi v rámci policy analysis pracuje. Nejprve je pozornost věnována vymezení pojmu, poté je představena teoretická a metodologická opora, která čerpá z policy analysis a příbuzných oborů, a nakonec je přiblížen proces formulace zájmu „neviditelného“ aktéra na příkladu českých samoživitelek s tím, že jsou podrobně popsána rizika různých cest a způsoby, jak se s nimi vypořádat. Závěry dokládají, že koncept „neviditelného“ aktéra znamená mnohé přínosy – od stimulace teoretických a metodologických úvah přes obohacení informační základny pro tvorbu politik až po sebeuvědomění „neviditelných“ aktérů.

While the focus on emotions has been associated with the rise of psychosocial welfare and has promised a gateway to accommodate individually diversified needs of citizens in policies, the article shows that the role of emotions needs to be better understood. Highlighting emotions can serve both to empower and to patronize those who experience them. Referring to emotions can thus strengthen hierarchies and downplay individual requests to initiate a change. The analysis of professional discourses on birth care in Czechia shows the value of contextualising emotions. While midwifery discourses apply the emotional context of birth to support women in their specific birth choices, medical discourses use the emotional context to patronize them and to limit their requirements. As a result, policy demands are seen as illegitimate when coming from midwives, who want to see women’s choices more respected in care. We analyse this dynamic through intimacy. As a conceptual framework used in sociology of care, ‘intimacy’ ties individual emotional experiences to collective discourses on care, the body and related feelings. Viewing professional discourses on birth care through intimacy reveals the role of emotions in the collective recognition of the personal struggle for the right to give birth in conditions that respect bodily and emotional integrity, which informs how we think of the role of emotions in policies in general.

Until now, the process of adaptation in the education system has been researched by Czech scholars exclusively in connection to the adaptation of children. This empirical study examines the adaptation of parents in relation to the formation of the relationship between them and their child’s school. The theoretical framework of the study is based on literature conceptualizing adaptation, relationships between parents and schools, including the matter of partnership, and different roles of parents in school environments. Fourteen parents were instructed to write diary entries during the first twelve weeks of their eldest child’s attendance at a public kindergarten in the Czech Republic. Analysis of the data shows that the parents’ perspectives are not sufficiently considered in the process of adaptation in kindergarten. Still, the development of the child’s adaptation, as well as the requirements, expectations and support received from the kindergarten, have a fundamental influence on the establishment of the parent’s role in relation to their child’s school. The parent’s role in the course of the adaptation period is characterized by their interest in their child, their limited willingness to address their problems or their doubts regarding the school, minimization of their initiatives, their reliability in fulfilling operational and material requirements and their basic appreciation and acknowledgment of the school and its limitations.

Although textbooks, conference papers, scientific journals and monographs deal with the research aspects of public policy, only little attention is paid to the way it is taught at universities. In this article we aim to explore academic public policy in the Czech Republic -specifically in terms of teaching outputs -using a unique method: an analysis of diploma theses. In the sample there were diploma theses defended within all the full-time Master's study programmes having "public policy" in their names in the Czech Republic between 1995 and 2013. We conclude that there are two traditions of academic public policy in the Czech Republic, which enriches previous findings in the area and makes them more accurate. The research design and thoroughly described methodology invite other researchers to conduct international comparison of the features of academic public policy. The findings may also illustrate the trajectory made by the newly established discipline of public policy in the past twenty years in the Czech Republic, which may be of great interest to the newly formed international public policy community.