Policy Analysis/Policy Studies

The paper examines reasons why government may find it hard to conduct evaluations. The paper argues that despite the much-touted evidence based policy making which signals traditional notions of rationality in policy making and 'implies a central role for social research and evaluation in policy-making processes', government generally finds it difficult to conduct evaluation. The reasons for this, the paper identified to include-the political system which is not structured for rational decision making, interference form political officials and bureaucrats, the symbolic nature and character of some policies and programmes, pressure on policy makers to develop, obtain parliamentary approval for and implement policies, challenges with determining the goals of policies/programmes, lack of an evaluation culture amongst policymakers and decision takers in the public service, lack of opportunity for sharing good practice experience and lessons learned, inadequate budget provisions for evaluation of policies, programmes and projects as well as lack of effective feedback loops from street level bureaucrats.

The massive increase of pesticide use in transgenic agriculture has sparked conflicts in the heartland of Argentinean agriculture. These political conflicts have led to an extension of pesticide regulation from the national and provincial to the municipal scale, and – simultaneously – to an extension from agrarian policy to environmental and health policy, and later to urban and regional planning. These intertwined territorial and sectoral changes to pesticide regulation cannot be explained by the existing literature about advocacy strategies which separates territorial and sectoral analyses. Based on the concepts of boundary control, politics of scale, and venue shopping, I elaborate three advocacy strategies: closing, opening, and change of territorial and sectoral decision arenas. I conducted a single case study of the conflict about pesticide use near the urban area of San Francisco (province of Córdoba) based on qualitative data collected during research trips to Argentina. The success and failure of the advocacy strategies applied by the pro-pesticide and the anti-pesticide coalitions explain the adoption of a strict municipal pesticide law in the town San Francisco dominated by agriculture, the subsequent failure of the implementation of a (unanimously adopted) law, and the later reform attempt to water down the municipal pesticide law. The empirical case shows that the advocacy strategies are not only selected based on the position of an advocacy group in the power relations, as stated in the literature, but that they are also based on the accordance of the beliefs and interests of an advocacy group to the valid policy definition.

Discussing Foucault's and Deleuze's work on meaning-making, the article argues that we might make better use of the in-tersubjectivity of a meaning when interpreting emotions. Interpreting emotions in texts remains complicated because discussion on the ontological character of emotions sustains an opposition of emotion to meaning structures. Both Foucault and Deleuze conceive meaning-making through permanent oscillation between the subjective accounts of a meaning and its collective interpretation. These two dimensions are not in conflict but create meaning through their interdependence. On the basis of this interdependence, we can conceive of an interpretive analysis of emotions as a way to study language means that label particular emotions as relevant, legitimized, or useful. This shift of the debate on emotions away from what emotions are and toward what they mean enhances the critical shape of interpretive analysis of emotions because it uncovers conflicts hidden behind the veil of allegedly neutral policy instruments.

This thesis wishes to answer the question ‘which are the goals of criminal record, related to migration restrictions in the U.S. and Greece since the ‘90s, and how can they be understood in the light of securitization migration?’. To achieve this, three main sub-questions are to be answered: 1. Which migration restrictions are in place in the U.S. and Greece, covering which migrants? 2. What are the goals of migration restrictions in the ‘90s in both countries? 3. How have migration restrictions and their goals in the U.S. and Greece evolved since then? To answer the above, a policy analysis is carried out by closely investigating in a chronological order the appropriate documents, reports, legislations and practices in these countries. In sum, what is being understood from this analysis is that both countries are poles of attraction for migrants; the U.S. due to its future prospects and Greece because of its geographical position. Nevertheless, aliens holding a criminal record are inadmissible to enter these countries. The goals of migration restrictions in both countries in the ‘90s were to securitize the countries from non-nationals with criminal records and to reduce unhampered migration fluxes. However, it can be argued, that both countries failed to securitize the nation without breaching individual fundamental rights and responsibilities. After the ‘90s and especially after the 9/11 events, a shift from anti-criminal to counterterrorism logic is observed in policies. The role of criminal records became greater than in the past, while the war in Syria and the refugee crisis of 2015, seemed to trigger the securitization of migration by using crime and risk of terrorism as a pretext for the implementation of the precautionary policies of unreasonable stop and search tactics, profiling, unlawful detention, and deportation. Understandably, discrimination can become an indirect effect of these policies since they are being used to scapegoat those posing a risk of terrorism and crime through racial profiling and prejudice by framing foreigners of certain ethnicities. Finally, this policy analysis exposes the dilemma between security vs. liberty. Simply put, how to balance the protection of public security and safety and the protection of migrants’ rights. Understandably, this can lead in some future recommendations for research and for policy, in order to shed light on the rationale behind the migration-security nexus, and hence to the avoidance of human rights violations of the migrants. For instance, a closer examination at the historical and institutional arrangements from accountable people who aim to find the roots of the dysfunctional policies can be advantageous for future research, since an integrated further review may deter governments from repeating the mistakes of the past. Additionally, interviews with policymakers, can contribute to the diagnosis of the reasoning behind securitization which can lead accordingly to the establishment of righteous migration policies away from securitization’s negative effects, such as violations of migrants’ human rights.

Alman-Azərbaycan Cəmiyyəti, Qərb Universiteti və “Nur” ədəbi əlaqələr assosiasiyası tərəfindən təşkil olunan “Almaniya-Azərbaycan ədəbi-mədəni və tarixi əlaqələri” mövzusuna həsr olunan elmi konfransın məqalələr toplusu (20 may 2006-cı il) Bakı, 74 səh.

A partire dal 2011, il dipanarsi della cosiddetta quarta rivoluzione industriale - un processo di trasformazione delle strutture produttive basato sulla diffusione capillare delle tecnologie di digitalizzazione e automazione dei processi industriali è stato accompagnato in numerosi paesi da un'intensa attività di policy-making, volta a facilitare la transizione tecnologica delle imprese e a promuovere lo sviluppo economico delle diverse nazioni. Alla luce di questo scenario, l'elaborato ricostruisce l'evoluzione storica del dibattito accademico intorno alle giustificazioni e alle tipologie di politiche industriale e d'innovazione, considerando infine quattro casi di studio (Italia, Germania, Francia, Regno Unito) per indagare il rapporto tra quarta rivoluzione industriale, politiche pubbliche e sistemi sociali di innovazione e produzione. Obiettivo della ricerca - un'analisi comparata condotta attraverso il metodo della industrial policy matrix - è quello di evidenziare analogie e differenze tra le diverse strategie nazionali, in modo tale da determinare l'esistenza o meno di un policy paradigm comune ai quattro casi a prescindere dalle rispettive eterogeneità socio-economiche, strutturali e istituzionali. Al netto delle (pur rilevanti) peculiarità nazionali, i risultati mostrano una convergenza dei quattro paesi verso l'implementazione di politiche industriali e d'innovazione soft, spesso in bilico - a seconda dello specifico contesto politico-economico nazionale - tra l'adozione di un approccio system-oriented e uno mission-oriented.
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The cybersphere constitutes a global disagreement space. There, the contested, ongoing ties that link states and the internet come into being. A critique of sovereignty and political economy is offered to evaluate contemporary controversies concerning authority, independence, regulation, and access to communications as matters of relationality, materiality, and disagreement. We review China's promotion of cyber sovereignty as a complicating episode that expresses development stresses of the sphere. China wishes to establish guardrails for the practices of multipolar global digital capitalism; yet, it has ushered in an Internet keyed variety of global issues-security, privacy, material well-being, developmental justice, and planetary futures. These complex aims invite and expand the dialectical spaces animating the cybersphere.

Purpose-The purpose of this paper is to examine the dominant conceptualisation of quality in Afghanistan's higher education strategic planning and policies, and consider the implications a broader conceptualisation of quality might have within Afghanistan's conflict-affected context. Design/methodology/approach-Drawing on data from document analysis and semi-structured interviews, the author identifies the dominant policy conceptualisation of quality. Findings-The dominant conceptualisation of quality in Afghanistan's higher education policy documents aligns with the sector's primary policy purpose of promoting economic growth. However, quality assurance processes were developed with significant input from international actors, and replicate global norms for quality assurance. Whilst this is important for validity and legitimacy, at the same time it can be delegitimising for local stakeholders, and can limit opportunities for conceptualisations of quality which genuinely engage with the particularities of Afghanistan's broader conflict-affected social context. Research limitations/implications-Introducing conceptualisations of quality in Afghanistan's higher education policy which de-centre economic growth, and rather re-position social goals of cohesion and political sustainability as a central understanding of quality higher education, opens possibilities for the sector's contribution towards national development. Originality/value-There is limited published research into conceptualisations of quality within low-income and conflict-affected higher education contexts in general, and Afghanistan in particular. This paper intends to extend a critical conversation about the non-economic dividends a quality higher education sector can offer in such contexts.

Shared workspaces and hubs for independent workers and start-ups are increasingly becoming a subject of local and regional economic development policies as they are considered crucial intermediaries in facilitating entrepreneurial growth and local innovation agendas. However, so far policy-makers do little to address two transformations in recent shared workspace development: the growing commercialization and diversification of shared workspaces and the spread of coworking beyond big agglomerations towards medium-sized and smaller cities and even rural areas. The paper argues for new policy principles that acknowledge the social values as much as the economic values that shared workspaces generate and promote.

Influenced by heterodox approaches to unpack the institutions and interests marking media policy, this chapter proposes the notion of "considered silence", besides that of strategic aims, in shaping the personality of the TV business in India.

The paper includes the abstract and introduction for the MA thesis on trans-specific healthcare in Denmark by Josephine M. A. Pagani.

The political development of transgender rights in Denmark is being investigated through performing a policy analysis of the Danish Health Authority's (SST) newest guidelines on healthcare related to gender identity (conceptualized as trans-specific healthcare, in this context), following Denmark becoming the first country to formally depathologize being transgender in 2017.

The SST's guidelines on healthcare related to gender identity is analyzed through the "What's the problem represented to be?" (WPR) approach to policy analysis, introduced by Carol Bacchi (2009).

The theoretical framework is inspired by Dean Spade's (2015) approach to critical trans politics, including his and Ida Linander's (2018) conceptualization of Foucault's (1991) approach to analyzing power dynamics and governmentality.

International regimes can play a key role on the international environmental governance addressing important issues such as deforestation and biodiversity. Moreover, regional environmental regimes are gaining attention in both political practice and academia due to the increasing frustration with the global environmental regimes caused by their failure to successfully address main international issues such as climate change among others. On this path, based on qualitative data from key regime policy documents developed between 1978 and 2018, the aim of this study is to evaluate the influence of the international environmental agenda on the regional governance of the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization (ACTO), a regional regime formally focused on promoting sustainable development in the Amazon region. On this path, the research seeks to answer the following empirical questions: 1) What is the institutional design of ACTO? and How the environmental agenda influenced on its evolution? 2) Which policy goals, policy instruments and the precise settings of these instruments can be identified within the regime? and How these were influenced by the international environmental agenda since the last forest policy was adopted? The results showed that: i) ACTO's institutional design evolution occurred due to three main impulses due to the influence of main international environmental events, such as UNCHE, Montreal protocol, Kyoto protocol and CBD, that established the priorities of the international environmental agenda; ii) ACTO's institutional design features evolved through the lifetime of the treaty increasing the degree of formalization of the regime every time; and iii) ACTO's forest policy of the regime is characterized by a large number of issues covered, coherent and non-conflicting policy goals, short term and very limited quantity of donor projects as the only instruments; and an extreme lack of regulatory, (des)incentive, and informational instruments developed by the regime itself. Finally, we conclude that ACTO is a highly formalized regional regime whose main informal objective is to attract funds from external sources, through the legitimacy provided by the member states, and therefore it has developed a weak forest policy that depends almost completely on projects financed by external actors to achieve their objectives.

Citizenship education in Japan, as in many democracies, has attracted much attention. Lowering the voting age in 2015 has presented questions on citizen capability, for instance, what knowledge and skills are needed for political participation. A recent political movement referred to as counter-democracy, on the other hand, has implied serious social conflicts that might endanger the existing system of representative democracy ; citizens are now strongly expected to resolve conflicts democratically. These changes in political institutions and contexts have created a surge of interest in citizenship education. Particular focus has been placed on citizenship education at school. How to offer citizenship education, however, is a question that is extremely difficult to answer. Many theories on democracy, for instance, emphasize deliberation on social and policy issues, whereas deliberation in classrooms is hardly regarded as a viable approach to citizenship education, especially in Japan, largely due to resource constraints on teachers and schools. Thus, the question of how to provide citizenship education at school is deductively explored in this paper. Specifically given the Lasswellian view that policy analysis should contribute to improving the practices of democracy , this study theoretically tackles how policy analysts could be involved in citizenship education in Japan.

Because of changing social and economic circumstances, all OECD countries reviewed in this monograph have placed increasing emphasis in their S & T policies upon priority assessment. Community goals are being more carefully formulated especially in so far as they relate to S & T policy and goals are being more carefully ordered and balanced against one another. There is apparently increased determination to get maximum benefit for society or the community from public funds spent on R & D and on S & T effort and representatives and members of the community are intervening more than ever to make their wants known and influence the allocation of public R & D funds.

Having considered the science policies of some of the larger economies, let us now look at the policies of a sample of industrialized countries with smaller economies. On the whole, these economies are more dependent on foreign trade and technology than are the larger economies. For example a comparison of imports as a percentage of GDP (compare Tables 5.2 and 4.2) show that on average these are higher for the small economies under consideration. The review will help answer the following questions: Are S & T policies different in the small economies from those in the large? Are the priorities of the small economies different? Is there a tendency to be more explicit about S & T priorities in small economies? Do the small economies tend to adopt different mechanisms for co-ordinating and directing their S & T policy? For example, do they take advantage of their small size to more often co-ordinate or centrally direct their science policy? Do these countries use their smaller size to increase public participation in the setting of goals for S & T policy given their highly dependent status in the world? To what extent do their priorities reflect common worldwide trends?

Scientific effort is frequently seen to be justified on the grounds that it results in 'improved' techniques of production. What indeed are the links between science and technological change? Are they as direct and certain as is sometimes supposed? Can government support for scientific effort be justified on the grounds that scientific advance is a catalyst in technological progress? In looking at some of the choices involved in government technology policy, this chapter deals with these and other questions. It also examines, in the following order, the possible role and dangers involved in government policy designed to foster or modify steps in the technology sequences of invention, innovation, diffusion of new technology and the replacement of existing equipment. Mechanisms for the transfer of technology within countries and between countries are discussed along with some of their policy implications. Furthermore, environmental overspills from new technology and the impact of new technology on employment, on the structure of society and on working conditions are also dealt with since these raise questions for government policy.

In its widest application science policy is concerned with education, the stock of knowledge, its availability and use, and research and development. Technology policy is concerned with the adoption and use of techniques – innovation, diffusion of techniques and their replacement. As is indicated in Table 2.1, however, the borderline between the two policy types is not clear-cut.
Division between the areas and variables of science policy and technology policy are not watertight. Education and the stock of knowledge, for instance, play an important role in influencing the rate of innovation and diffusion of new technology. Again, all elements in the left-hand column of Table 2.1 influence those in the right-hand column and there is interdependence between variables in the left-hand column.
This chapter concentrates on the areas of science policy listed in the first column of Table 2.1 and the next chapter on technology policy reviews those areas listed in the second column. The aim is to cover these areas broadly.