Assimilative Potentials in Planning and Public Policy Analysis

Abstract

This chapter builds on the argument that assimilative formulas to policy analysis are essential to mending the debate between the technocratic paradigms and the critical approaches to policy analysis. In real-world policy practice at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, addressing public problems demands an innovative direction to advance policy initiatives that are both inclusive and transformative. The chapter's discussion reimagined the characteristics and role of the assimilative practitioner spanning across issues on social injustices, high inequalities, professionalization, and micropolitics. Critical insight from Chiang Mai City, Thailand suggests that a sound policy analysis goes beyond the hectic technical systems or a messy deliberative process. Lessons direct us to go beyond these boundaries and limitations and seek a creative reimagination of policy analysis that is both assimilative and critically pragmatic.