Ideas and power: four intersections and how to show them

Parsons, Craig

doi:10.1080/13501763.2015.1115538

Cited by 57 publications

(45 citation statements)

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“…However, the literature still leaves a number of questions not fully answered. First, while scholars have established the importance of ideas, there is still work to be done in showing exactly how they matter in relation to other key variables (Shpaizman ; Carstensen and Schmidt ; Parsons ). Second, while the ‘new politics’ scholarship has been criticized for its stability‐centric nature, its claim that welfare state reform is often difficult and risky is largely accepted (Starke ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It is now well accepted in the literature that ideas have ‘influence of their own, but not completely by themselves’ (Biernacki 1995, p. 35; in Parsons ). This article largely agrees with Vis and Van Kersbergen's assertion that scholars should make a greater effort to describe a material policy context that exists independently of cognitive beliefs.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Rethinking the ‘open functional’ approach: Ideas, problem pressure and reform in the contemporary welfare state

Hannah

2018

Public Administration

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Recognition that welfare states continue to change has fostered debate about the relationship between ideas and policy problems in driving governments towards reform. To move the debate forward, this article proposes a modification of Barbara Vis and Kees van Kersbergen's ‘open functional approach’. It first argues that while policy problems may provide ‘functional pressure’ to reform, this pressure is significant only in so far as inaction would risk electoral punishment. Reform pressure is hence best evaluated with reference to contemporaneous expert advice, public opinion data and the timing of elite and media attention. Second, it suggests that ideas may also lead parties to act as reform seekers, using policy problems as justification for cherished solutions or long‐held programmatic goals. The modified approach is demonstrated through comparative application to two case studies, attempts at pension reform in Sweden and the United States.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rethinking the ‘open functional’ approach: Ideas, problem pressure and reform in the contemporary welfare state

Hannah

2018

Public Administration

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“…I adopt a conceptualisation of governance that sees it as the 'complex process through which a plurality of social and political actors with diverging interests interact in order to formulate, promote, and achieve common objectives by means of mobilizing, exchanging, and deploying a range of ideas, rules, and resources' (Torfing et al 2012: 14). In the individual case studies, I examine the ideational processes that shape institutional arrangements and the assumptions that affect the construction of policy problems and the content of policy proposals, as well as influencing the political agenda of present policies and reform imperatives (Béland 2009;Parsons 2015;Béland 2016). …”

Section: Governancementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Thus, ideas provide coalition-building resources, empower agents to contest existing institutions, can attract resources to build new ones and are important in coordinating agents' expectations (Blyth 2015). The study of ideas is essential to the comprehension (rather than explanation) of developments in public policy (Parsons 2015;Béland 2016). New ideas conveyed through discourse can facilitate public policy as solutions to policy problems, as well as institutional change by changing actors' definitions of policy problems, policy legacies and 'fit', thus having an impact on self-interest (Schmidt and Radaelli 2004: 188).…”

Section: Conceptualising Changementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Even though policy-makers accept that ideas affect policy outcomes, there is a need to show how in order to enhance our comprehension of policy-making and policy change (Parsons 2015). Customarily political science and international relations theory prefer explanations that consider material factors or selfinterests to be the principal causes of political outcomes.…”

Section: Ideational Turn In the Institutional Analysis Of Public Policymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Governing Transformation towards Low-carbon Societies: An Ideational Perspective from Developing Countries

Henrysson¹

2018

Preprint

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Securing a low-carbon future will require a multitude of ‘low-carbon transformations’. The issues are how such transformations are imagined and framed, along which pathways and who steers them, including the very basic question of what decisions are made to transform the present challenges to climate change governance. Understanding of the politics of these governance challenges is important in explaining which pathways are supported or delegitimised and which are ignored and fail to get off the ground. This dissertation focuses on the role of institutions and ideas in the multilevel, multi-actor and multi-factor governance of climate-compatible development. It aims to improve our understanding of potential endogenous sources of transformation by asking how ideas of sustainability influence the governance of a low-carbon society. It investigates the construction of policy problems, the content of policy proposals and the political agenda of present policies and reform imperatives around climate change mitigation and lowcarbon development. The question is addressed using a combination of perspectives, including governance theory and the constructivist institutional approach. Empirically, this dissertation is based on four separate case studies presented in individual articles. Overall, this dissertation contributes to on-going debates over domestic politics and policy-making regarding ‘green transformations’ and adds to the emerging policy field in developing countries contexts. It argues that there is a need to stimulate critical reflection on the existing assumptions regarding mitigation actions. It argues that governance choices, for example, in electricity infrastructure development or energy efficiency in buildings, or a broader range of mitigation actions, are not only defined by technological lockins. Equally important is the persistence of ideas that are used to justify and legitimise reforms by mobilising discourses on energy supply and security and framing energy transitions as part of wider goals to maintain socio-economic stability and pursue green growth development strategies. This dissertation shows that low-carbon development should not only be technically, institutionally and economically feasible, but also politically and ideationally feasible, to translate into action. Measures for institutionalising long-term transformation are unlikely to be effective if ideas about transformation cannot be developed within the parameters set by governance regimes. The key argument of this dissertation is that, for the governance of low-carbon societies, it is crucial to recognise that climate change mitigation actions are more than economic or technological challenges – they are politically charged. Paying attention to problem framings and to the diversity of multi-actor perspectives could facilitate novel responses to climate change and enable more inclusive forms of governance, as well as throwing light on the x fundamental incompatibility between and limited reach of generalised policy solutions and technological fixes.

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Conceptualising Ideational Convergence of China and OECD Donors: Coalition Magnets in Development Cooperation

Janus

Tang

2020

The Palgrave Handbook of Development Cooperation for Achieving the 2030 Agenda

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This chapter analyses the development discourse on foreign aid to explore areas of convergence between the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)’s Development Assistance Committee (DAC) donors and Chinese development cooperation. We apply the concept of “coalition magnets”—the capacity of an idea to appeal to a diverse set of individuals and groups, and to be used strategically by policy entrepreneurs to frame interests, mobilise support, and build coalitions. Three coalition magnets are identified: mutual benefit, development results, and the 2030 Agenda. The chapter finds that coalition magnets can be used to influence political change and concludes that applying a discursive approach provides a new conceptual opportunity for fostering closer engagement between OECD-DAC and Chinese development cooperation actors.

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Ideas and power: four intersections and how to show them

Cited by 57 publications

References 44 publications

Rethinking the ‘open functional’ approach: Ideas, problem pressure and reform in the contemporary welfare state

Rethinking the ‘open functional’ approach: Ideas, problem pressure and reform in the contemporary welfare state

Governing Transformation towards Low-carbon Societies: An Ideational Perspective from Developing Countries

Conceptualising Ideational Convergence of China and OECD Donors: Coalition Magnets in Development Cooperation

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