Performative policy studies: realizing “transition management”

Abstract

The paper analyses the relations between policy studies and public policy. It traces how they are constitutively entangled. Conceptually, this builds on a notion of performativity that has been developed in science studies. The performativity of policy studies is explored in a case study of the innovation journey of 'transition management' as a model for governing sociotechnical change. The paper shows how practices of knowledge production and policy-making take shape in interaction with the model and how a specialised research field co-evolves with political alliances and policy programmes. They interact in the process of realising transition management, both by establishing the model as collective knowledge and by materially enacting it. In this interweaving with public policy policy studies contribute to creating the reality that they describe. The conclusions discuss 'realising' as a mode of governance.

Unpacking the social innovation ecosystem: an empirically grounded typology of empowering network constellations

“…SI initiatives, and especially the new social relations that they promote, can also be empowered through wider processes of discursive resonance (Luhmann 1989). Beyond the many individuals, local initiatives and transnational networks who seek to develop persuasive discourses and narratives of change (Wittmayer et al 2019), this discursive resonance is a collective process that involves the whole communicative sphere through which socially innovative concepts gain political and scientific authority (Voß 2014). This includes the communication infrastructures through which SI concepts are mediated and spread Innovation: The European Journal of Social Science Research (Cf.…”

Humanistic Management Performativity ‘in the Wild’: The Role of Performative Bundles of Practices

“…The idea of bundles of performative practices creating protected environments where practices can survive and thrive in spite of their contradictions with the accepted and taken-for-granted business reality closely resembles the idea of niches in the sustainability transitions discussion that are protected from the 'regime' (Geels, 2002;Geels, 2005;Voß, 2014 practices 'grow legs' to spread further and to possibly even lead to transition processes in the larger economic system. Finally, all of these insights of the performativity of practices that contradict taken-forgranted assumptions about managerial reality may lead to further research in the variety of lenses that promote management at odds with the current reality.…”

Policy Transfer and Instrument Constituency: Explaining the Adoption of Conditional Cash Transfer in the Philippines

“…Instrument constituencies actively develop comprehensive knowledge about specific policy instruments and advocate for its adoption. Cases of instrument constituencies include emissions trading schemes (Voß & Simons, ), experimental sustainability management (Voß, ), public participation (Amelung & Grabner, ; Voß & Amelung, ) and social policies (Béland & Howlett, ) including conditional cash transfers (Foli, Béland, & Fenwick, ; Howlett, Ramesh, & Saguin, ). They are found to mobilize resources with the intention of deploying these tools in developing and developed countries alike, regardless of policy context.…”