Local Sensemaking of Policy Paradoxes – Implementing Local Crime Prevention in Sweden

Persson, Monika

doi:10.1007/s11115-012-0181-z

Cited by 8 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…Sense‐making phenomena have been evident in some public policy research. Examples include studies of rural planning (Hulme, ), discourse of “globalization” (Fiss & Hirsch, ), policy influence (Weible et al, ), local crime prevention (Persson, ), and emergency management systems (Lu & Xue, ). However, studies explicitly employing a sense‐making perspective to explain policy processes are non‐existent.…”

Section: Theoretical Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sense making of policy processes in the transition economy of Vietnam

Nguyen

Cuong

et al. 2018

Public Admin & Development

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Summary This paper addresses the question of how reform policies come into existence in transition economies, in which democratic market institutions are in nascent stages. Data from two case studies in Vietnam suggest that the evolution of reform policies in transition economies involves significant sense‐making processes, rather than problem solving, and that sense making alters stakeholders' foundations for learning and power influence in policymaking. In the end, stakeholders' acceptance of identity changes is needed for a reform policy to be realized. This study offers important research and policy implications, and such issues as identity redefinition in the policy process warrant further study.

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Section: Theoretical Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sense making of policy processes in the transition economy of Vietnam

Nguyen

Cuong

et al. 2018

Public Admin & Development

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“…The politicization of crime-related fear was spurred by the fact that fear of crime and recorded exposure to crime did not correlate; hence, the presumption that fear of crime is in part a separate phenomenon, with separate causes. Though separate, they are connected in a common storyline that has fostered policy in a wide range of countries (Gilling 2001;Crawford 2009;Lidskog and Persson 2012;Persson 2013;Garland 2001), though with divergent institutional expressions in different countries and localities (see e.g. Edwards and Hughes 2005a;Crawford 2009;Gilling et al 2013).…”

Section: Aiming For a Changed Understanding Of (Feelings Of) Unsafetymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Crawford 2009), including Sweden (Lidskog and Persson 2012;Persson 2013). However, policy development in different countries and localities is not uniform (Crawford 2009;Gilling et al 2013), nor should these core assumptions be considered static.…”

Section: Aiming For a Changed Understanding Of (Feelings Of) Unsafetymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Several municipalities include (feelings of) unsafety as a performance indicator, and it is included in SALAR's yearly benchmarking of all municipalities. As 'the problem' has received attention, and its quantification has affected the municipalities, local interpretations of the situation and reactions to it have developed in relation to local contexts (Persson 2013). However, local actors are generally dependent on economic resources, as well as knowledge (such as good practice examples) from national authorities.…”

Section: Aiming For a Changed Understanding Of (Feelings Of) Unsafetymentioning

confidence: 99%

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A policy problem that cannot escape its past – constraints on the reformation of safety policy

Persson

2015

Critical Policy Studies

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PostprintThis is the accepted version of a paper published in Critical Policy Studies. This paper has been peerreviewed but does not include the final publisher proof-corrections or journal pagination.Citation for the original published paper (version of record):Persson, M. (2015) A policy problem that cannot escape its past: constraints on the reformation of safety policy.Critical Policy Studies, 9(2): 158-176 https://doi.org/10. 1080/19460171.2014.971038 Access to the published version may require subscription. AbstractWithin many current policy theories there is a tendency to first identify change and then explain it. A retrospective analysis of policy changes risks missing continuous processes and struggles for change as well as mechanisms of resistance to change. Taking this as a point of departure, this paper develops an understanding of the policy process as a struggle over meaning, as a way to allow for a more nuanced understanding of the dynamics of policy change and continuity. This approach is illustrated by an analysis of the formation of public safety policy in Sweden. Alternative storylines giving 'new' meanings to the policy problem were strategically incorporated into the policy discourse. However, it is found that an ideational path-dependency of the policy constrains the possibility for problem reformulation and thereby also the possibility for policy change. The discourses that instantiated the policy problem not only affect the ways in which the problem is rendered thinkable for the purposes of its government, but also for policy analysts as well as the public. The analysis shows that it is crucial to understand the interrelations between different discourses (within policy, politics and research) to understand the mechanisms of policy change and continuity.

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“…Still, numerous public surveys have measured feelings of unsafety as fear of specific crimes or fear of being out late at night (Björkemarken, 2009), and many local authorities in Sweden have adopted this general measure as a performance indicator. In the policy debate feelings of unsafety are not primarily associated with rising crime rates, but with general anxieties in society, anxieties which are generally argued to be unfounded and fed by the media (Persson, 2012). However, feelings of unsafety, as a political concept, is positioned within the policy field of community safety and local crime prevention.…”

Section: A Developed Conceptualization Of Feelings Of Unsafetymentioning

confidence: 99%

The Relative Importance of Institutional Trust in Countering Feelings of Unsafety in Disadvantaged Neighbourhoods

Persson

2013

ESR&P

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The segregated nature of urban areas reflects an uneven exposure to risk and unsafety. This article analyzes the relevance of place to people’s feelings of unsafety by comparing questionnaire responses from people living in a segregated, disadvantaged neighbourhood to a random sample of people living in the same city. The results suggest that the central factors explaining the individual’s feelings of unsafety differ in this particular neighbourhood compared to the broader population. The article shows that place has a moderating effect on feelings of unsafety. Trust in public institutions is argued to be particularly important in segregated, disadvantaged neighbourhoods because of its potential to prevent feelings of unsafety.

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Local Sensemaking of Policy Paradoxes – Implementing Local Crime Prevention in Sweden

Cited by 8 publications

References 39 publications

Sense making of policy processes in the transition economy of Vietnam

Sense making of policy processes in the transition economy of Vietnam

A policy problem that cannot escape its past – constraints on the reformation of safety policy

The Relative Importance of Institutional Trust in Countering Feelings of Unsafety in Disadvantaged Neighbourhoods

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