Coping with intractable controversies: The case for problem structuring in policy design and analysis

Hisschemöller, M.; Hoppe, Robertus

doi:10.1007/bf02832229

Cited by 297 publications

(293 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…Accordingly, we can see that, in line with Turnbull (2013:124), all actor groups identified a well-known solution and a policy style following their own practice and strategic goals. For the senior administrators and the HTAC core group, the HTAC represented, in line with Hisschemöller and Hoppe (1996), ''the only one'' solution that seemed doable as it was related to their institutionalised norms of how to handle this kind of problematic situation. Though it is salient that the problem, as framed by all actor groups, was not solely a matter of evidence.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…From this account of approaching policy problems, policy is a process of ''collective puzzling'' (Heclo 1974(Heclo /2010 to understand what the problem is and to find feasible courses of action related to practice in times of uncertainty and disagreement; a situation most common to policy making. Thereare of course mixed forms of problems with greater or lesser uncertainties (Hisschemöller and Hoppe 1996;Hoppe 2010;Wesselink and Hoppe 2011;Bijker et al 2009). The puzzling process can be related both to uncertainty of knowledge, i.e.…”

Section: Theorising Health Technology As a Policy Problemmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…According to Hisschemo¨ ller and Hoppe (1996), policy makers at senior levels often prefer to see problems as a jigsaw puzzle where there is only one solution, i.e. each piece has its given place, as this minimises their uncertainty and restricts the solutions to already existing practices.…”

Section: Theorising Health Technology As a Policy Problemmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Puzzling about problems: the ambiguous search for an evidence-based strategy for handling influx of health technology

Nedlund

Garpenby

2014

Policy Sci

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Theorising Health Technology As a Policy Problemmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Puzzling about problems: the ambiguous search for an evidence-based strategy for handling influx of health technology

Nedlund

Garpenby

2014

Policy Sci

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“…In this paper, we examine the promises and pitfalls of this movement, drawing on insights at the interface of science and technology studies (STS), political theory and the policy sciences on the role of scientific evidence and expertise in policymaking (Brown 2009;Guston 2001;Hisschemöller and Hoppe 1995;Hoppe 2005;Jasanoff 2003aJasanoff , b, 2012Miller 2008;Wesselink and Hoppe 2011;Wynne 2010). This extensive literature has been reviewed and synthesised elsewhere (e.g., Hoppe 2005;Hoppe et al 2013), so here we focus on key normative principles for the problem of 'epistemic governance' (Raman 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The new randomised controlled trials (RCT) movement in public policy: challenges of epistemic governance

Pearce

Raman

2014

Policy Sci

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Since 2012, a new movement of government departments, think tanks and highprofile individuals within the UK has sought to promote the increased usage of randomised controlled trials (RCTs) in public policy. They promote RCTs as an evidence-based corrective for the inappropriate certainties of experts. Recent government reports and public debate around this initiative are reviewed and analysed within a framework for epistemic governance: normative insights into how knowledge for policymaking should be understood and governed drawn from science and technology studies and the policy sciences. The legitimacy of RCT evidence within policymaking is found to rest on the recognition of three key features: (1) how multiple meanings of evidence limit generalisability, (2) ensuring a plurality of evidence inputs, including those from other forms of research and expertise, and (3) building institutions for governing the use of RCTs in the public interest. Producing evidence for policymaking is a hybrid activity that necessarily spans both science and politics. Presenting RCTs as naively neutral evidence of what policy interventions work is misleading. The paper concludes by calling for more work on how the new RCT movement might engage with its own history in social and policy research on the value of experiments for policymaking.

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“…Policy makers are also required to mobilise support and attend to opposition in order to realise their plans [2]. In this regard, the process of organizing and managing coalitions cannot be divorced from questions of meaning making and power [41][42][43][44][45].…”

Section: The Future and Policy Makingmentioning

confidence: 99%

An examination of independent fiscal councils and their orientation to the future and policy making

Connor

2017

Eur J Futures Res

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The aim of this paper is to review the rationale, nature and operation of independent fiscal councils (IFCs) in order to gain insights into how futures are being configured at executive levels of government and to examine how futures could be incorporated in policy making. The emphasis IFCs have placed on non-partisanship, transparency and forecasting is viewed as reflecting a particular understanding of the problem of public debt and a limited understanding of the future and policy making. Located within the context of increasing technocratic tendencies, it is argued that IFCs can be seen as part of efforts to secure the depoliticisation of policy making. Attempts to secure the de-politicisation of policy making may at best, be considered laudable, but naïve, and at worst, represents an ideological sleight of hand in attempts to colonise the future. Moving forward, it is argued that strategic foresight can make a vital contribution to an open form of policy making that deepens and extends an understanding of what the future could be -the necessary ficta of policy making.

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Coping with intractable controversies: The case for problem structuring in policy design and analysis

Cited by 297 publications

References 9 publications

Puzzling about problems: the ambiguous search for an evidence-based strategy for handling influx of health technology

Puzzling about problems: the ambiguous search for an evidence-based strategy for handling influx of health technology

The new randomised controlled trials (RCT) movement in public policy: challenges of epistemic governance

An examination of independent fiscal councils and their orientation to the future and policy making

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