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Policy Discourse (policy + discourse)
Selected AbstractsA Secondary School Career Education Program for ESL StudentsCURRICULUM INQUIRY, Issue 4 2001June Wyatt-Beynon Using Bourdieu's theory of different types of capital and social "fields," this paper analyzes one curriculum model, the ESL Co-op program, which is designed to meet the needs of immigrant adolescents who are primarily dependent on their first language. The program couples instruction in English as a second language (ESL) with work experience. ESL Co-op is offered in two secondary schools in a suburban Vancouver school district that is the most rapidly growing district in British Columbia. More than 30 percent of the approximately 50,000 students enrolled in the district speak a language other than, or in addition to, English in the home. A collaborative team of university researchers and district curriculum consultants inquired into the program's success in helping recent immigrant students become aware of possible future career and job opportunities and any other aspects of the program's operation deemed salient by the interviewees. We wondered if the folk theory of success embedded in federal, provincial, and district policy discourse, which emphasizes work experience, was in fact setting the stage for educational and occupational success of these young people. Interviews with 44 parents, 43 students, and six staff members from a total of 10 different language backgrounds revealed that staff perceive the program as a unique opportunity for students to gain exposure to Canadian work environments and to develop survival, language, and job-related skills or, in Bourdieu's terms, embodied capital. Students' and parents' overriding concern is that the program precludes the possibility of graduation with the grade-12 diploma (institutional capital) available from the mainstream program. [source] The Space of Local Control in the Devolution of us Public Housing PolicyGEOGRAFISKA ANNALER SERIES B: HUMAN GEOGRAPHY, Issue 4 2000Janet L. Smith Sweeping changes in national policy aim to radically transform public housing in the United States. The goal is to reduce social isolation and increase opportunities for low income tenants by demolishing ,worst case' housing, most of which is modern, high-rise buildings with high vacancy and crime rates, and replacing it with ,mixed-income' developments and tenant based assistance to disperse current public housing families. Transformation relies on the national government devolving more decision-making power to local government and public housing authorities. The assumption here is that decentralizing the responsibility for public housing will yield more effective results and be more efficient. This paper explores the problematic nature of decentralization as it has been conceptualized in policy discourse, focusing on the underlying assumptions about the benefits of increasing local control in the implementation of national policy. As this paper describes, this conceived space of local control does not take into account the spatial features that have historically shaped where and how low income families live in the US, including racism and classism and a general aversion by the market to produce affordable rental units and mixed-income developments. As a result, this conceived space of local control places the burden on low income residents to make transformation a success. To make this case, Wittgenstein's (1958) post-structural view of language is combined with Lefebvre's view of space to provide a framework in which to examine US housing policy discourse as a ,space producing' activity. The Chicago Housing Authority's Plan for Transformation is used to illustrate how local efforts to transform public housing reproduce a functional space for local control that is incapable of generating many of the proposed benefits of decentralization for public housing tenants. [source] Planning and the Technological Society: Discussing the London PlanINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF URBAN AND REGIONAL RESEARCH, Issue 2 2010YVONNE RYDIN Abstract The sustainable development agenda has influenced the focus of urban planning policy in many countries and localities; this article argues that its influence has been much more widespread, affecting not just the content of planning but also its discourses and practices. This reflects more profound shifts within society , shifts that put the governance of technology firmly centre-place. Using a case study of the London Plan (the spatial development strategy for London), the discussion considers how recent debates on the Plan are being shaped by the need to focus on technological issues. Using Barry's and Feenberg's explorations of the technological society, the analysis identifies key features such as the contestation of evidence and expertise, the focus on technical details and the resultant reframing of policy discourse. The article concludes with suggestions as to the ways in which planning may change in the future. Résumé Les préoccupations liées au développement durable ont influé sur le c,ur des politiques d'urbanisme dans de nombreux pays et localités. Leur influence s'est révélée beaucoup plus vaste, affectant non seulement le contenu, mais aussi les discours et pratiques en matière d'aménagement. Cette situation traduit des mutations plus profondes de la société, mutations qui donnent à la gouvernance de la technologie une solide prééminence. À partir d'une étude de cas sur le London Plan (stratégie d'aménagement spatial de Londres), est examinée la façon dont les récents débats sur le Plan sont modelés par la nécessité de s'attacher aux aspects technologiques. S'appuyant sur les explorations de la société technologique menées par Barry et par Feenberg, l'analyse identifie des caractéristiques dominantes telles que la contestation des éléments factuels et de l'expertise, la focalisation sur des détails techniques et, donc, le recadrage du discours de l'action publique. La conclusion présente les possibles évolutions futures de l'aménagement du territoire. [source] The Concept of Social Exclusion in the European Union: Context, Development and PossibilitiesJCMS: JOURNAL OF COMMON MARKET STUDIES, Issue 3 2000Rob Atkinson In recent years the term ,social exclusion' has come to occupy a central place in the discussion of social policy and inequality in Europe. While the notion has acquired important strategic connotations, by stressing structural and cultural/social processes, the precise meaning of the term remains somewhat elusive. This article focuses on the reason for and the manner in which the notion of social exclusion has developed within the EU social policy discourse, aiming to provide a clearer understanding of its origins, functions and multiple dimensions. Whilst adopting a critical approach to the notion of social exclusion, the article suggests that the concept has played a positive role in keeping issues such as inequality and poverty on the policy agenda. The article also suggests possible ways in which social exclusion might be developed in a climate which has become less conducive, if not hostile, to an autonomous, activist EU social policy. [source] Reflexive Interdisciplinary Research: The Making of a Research Programme on the Rural Economy and Land UseJOURNAL OF AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS, Issue 2 2006Philip Lowe Abstract This paper provides an account of the origins and formation of the UK Research Councils' Rural Economy and Land Use (RELU) programme and its approach to promoting interdisciplinary working between social and natural scientists. The programme is set in the context of broader developments in science policy, including a policy discourse centred upon sustainable development and the knowledge economy and associated demands for greater accountability in science. Interdisciplinarity promises research that will be more relevant and responsive to public needs and concerns. In describing the provenance of the RELU programme, therefore, the paper seeks to lay out the different stages in its initiation and design to show how, to varying degrees, these were open to external scrutiny and influence. The process of developing the programme illustrates that it is not straightforward to make research agendas and funding more transparent and accountable. It also provides insights into the challenges that interdisciplinarity and accountability present to established science institutions. [source] The Importance of Being Thorough: On Systematic Accumulations of ,What Works' in Education ResearchJOURNAL OF PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION, Issue 2008ALIS OANCEA This article outlines and appraises the considerable criticism of educational research, both in the United Kingdom and in North America, and shows how it has pointed to a narrowing of what counts as good or worthwhile research in the policy discourse. In particular, this involved prioritising research that purports to show clearly and unmistakably ,what works', and institutionalising this view of research in a range of centres that receive official approval. The article, though recognising the fruit of such centres, challenges the epistemological basis of such a narrowing of what counts as research, and, in doing so, analyses what is meant by evidence, the different kinds and strengths of evidence and the consequent need to democratise the search and appraisal of evidence in the constant refinement and criticism of the evidence. [source] WICKED WATER PROBLEMS: SOCIOLOGY AND LOCAL WATER ORGANIZATIONS IN ADDRESSING WATER RESOURCES POLICY,JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN WATER RESOURCES ASSOCIATION, Issue 3 2000David M. Freeman ABSTRACT: Water policy problems are wicked, not in an ethically deplorable sense, but in the sense that they present us with especially difficult challenges of becoming more effective in our interdisciplinary collaboration, of integrating two very different types of knowledge, of working across several socio-political units of analysis simultaneously, and of better organizing water as a common property resource. Sociology, as a discipline, does not have a particularly rich history of successful interdisciplinary collaboration on water resources research and teaching, but it potentially has a most useful contribution to make by focusing on the analysis of local common property resource organizations that operate in the interface between individual resource users and State-Federal entities. These organizations (e.g., water user associations, mutual companies, irrigation districts, acequias, conservancy districts) have been the orphans of water policy discourse but their operations are critical to undertaking more effective 21st century social analysis, research work, and action programs. Sociologists who work to better comprehend the operations of, and constraints upon, these organizations build a sociology that can better collaborate with other water-related disciplines in addressing the challenges posed by the wickedness of our water problems. [source] More Than Weighting Cognitive Importance: A Dual-Process Model of Issue Framing EffectsPOLITICAL PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 1 2008Rune Slothuus Issue frames in policy discourse and news reporting regularly influence citizens' political opinions. Yet, we only have a limited understanding of how and among whom these framing effects occur. I propose a dual-process model of issue framing effects arguing that we must understand mediators of framing (the how question) in connection with individual-level moderators of framing (the whom question). Experimental results show that issue framing affects opinion through different psychological processes depending on who the receiver of the frame is. Among the moderately politically aware or those having weak political values, framing effects were mediated through processes of changing importance of considerations as well as changing content of considerations. Among the highly aware, only the importance change process mediated framing effects, while there were no framing effects among those least aware or those having strong values. [source] The Challenge of Sustainability in the Politics of Climate Change: A Finnish Perspective on the Clean Development MechanismPOLITICS, Issue 3 2009Tuula Teräväinen This article addresses an international dimension in the politics of climate change by scrutinising the objective of sustainable development in the Kyoto Protocol's Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). Through the example of Finland, which has been one of the world's pioneering countries in utilising the CDM, this article analyses the degree to which the current mainstream eco-modernist policy discourse is reflected in national policy documents and what kinds of implications this has for the CDM's objective of sustainable development. The results point to ambiguities in Finnish policies, especially in terms of balancing national interests and broader developmental objectives. [source] The hybrid economy and anthropological engagements with policy discourse: A brief reflection1THE AUSTRALIAN JOURNAL OF ANTHROPOLOGY, Issue 3 2009Jon Altman This article advocates a crucial role for economic anthropology in the twenty-first century. The use of anthropological techniques for primary data collection is essential for understanding the complexity of diverse local economies. This is demonstrated with reference to a remote Aboriginal economy in Arnhem Land, Northern Australia, using a ,hybrid economy' model that includes the customary sector as well as market and state sectors. This empirically grounded model is contrasted with a very different theoretical construct: the ,real' economy that is dominating Indigenous affairs policy discourse. Although the hybrid economy model is currently subordinated, mainly for ideological reasons, examples are provided to demonstrate its policy and legal influences. [source] The Referral of Juvenile Offenders to the Adult Court in Belgium: Theory and PracticeTHE HOWARD JOURNAL OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE, Issue 2 2005Catherine Van Dijk As in the UK and the USA, this transfer mechanism is increasingly pushed forward as a preferential solution for serious juvenile offenders. With this, a more classic penal angle and an increased repressive tenor seem to have entered the juvenile justice system and are replacing the individualised justice and rehabilitative ideal. That this new culture of control with facilitated waiver conditions and ,populist' policy discourse does not necessarily result in more repressive judicial practices can be illustrated with Belgian transfer statistics and interviews with magistrates. [source] Global Health Governance: Commission on Social Determinants of Health and the Imperative for ChangeTHE JOURNAL OF LAW, MEDICINE & ETHICS, Issue 3 2010Ruth Bell In May 2009 the World Health Assembly passed a resolution on reducing health inequities through action on the social determinants of health, based on the work of the global Commission on Social Determinants of Health, 2005,2008. The Commission's genesis and findings raise some important questions for global health governance. We draw out some of the essential elements, themes, and mechanisms that shaped the Commission. We start by examining the evolving nature of global health and the Commission's foundational inspiration , the universal pattern of health inequity and the imperative, driven by a sense of social justice, to make better and more equal health a global goal. We look at how the Commission was established, how it was structured internally, and how it developed external relationships , with the World Health Organization, with global networks of academics and practitioners, with country governments eager to spearhead action on health equity, and with civil society. We outline the Commission's recommendations as they relate to the architecture of global health governance. Finally, we look at how the Commission is catalyzing a movement to bring social determinants of health to the forefront of international and national policy discourse. [source] Indonesia's Crisis: Implications for the RegionASIAN-PACIFIC ECONOMIC LITERATURE, Issue 1 2000Hadi Soesastro What began as a currency crisis in Indonesia in the third quarter of 1997 rapidly turned into a deep financial crisis with wide-ranging economic and social impacts, and finally became a serious political crisis that exploded in May 1998, forcing President Soeharto to resign. Soeharto's departure, however, did not resolve the crisis. He left behind an economy in shambles, a serious political vacuum and a highly polarised society. The issues to be dealt with are wide-ranging, including the loss of Indonesia's position in the international system, the domination of industry by foreign capital and the imposition by the IMF of a certain model of economic development. Regional and international aspects of the crisis have not become an issue in the public debate and policy discourse in Indonesia. This article looks at these implications. [source] The "Middle Power" Concept in Australian Foreign PolicyAUSTRALIAN JOURNAL OF POLITICS AND HISTORY, Issue 4 2007Carl Ungerer During the early 1990s, the Hawke and Keating Labor governments promoted Australia's diplomatic credentials as an activist and independent middle power. Labor claimed that by acting as a middle power Australia was constructing a novel diplomatic response to the challenges of the post-Cold War world. But a closer reading of the official foreign policy record since 1945 reveals that previous conservative governments have also taken a similar view of Australia's place and position on the international stage. This essay traces the historical evolution of the middle power concept in Australian foreign policy and concludes with an assessment of the Howard government's more recent reluctance to use this label and its implications for Australia's future middle power credentials. Although its use has waxed and waned in official policy discourse and it is more commonly associated with Labor governments, the middle power concept itself and the general diplomatic style it conveys have been one of the most durable and consistent elements of Australia's diplomatic practice. [source] Multiple Discourses on Crisis: Farm, Agricultural, and Rural Policy ImplicationsCANADIAN JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS, Issue 4 2007Kenneth C. Bessant The terms farm crisis, agricultural crisis, and rural crisis have been invoked in political and policy discourse to characterize significant disruptions in or threats to rural,farm livelihoods. Although these expressions reflect a general sense of concern over the state of agriculture and rural existence, they lack clear and concise meaning. Academic research and policy development are obfuscated by the lack of definitional consensus or, at minimum, some shared understanding of the core aspects of farm-related crisis. Much of the debate revolves around four main themes: farm financial difficulties (low or unstable incomes, indebtedness, and increasing reliance on nonfarm revenue), structural changes in agriculture (increasing scale, concentration, and consolidation), rural livelihoods (dwindling communities, institutions, and services), and international dimensions (market fluctuations, trade regulations, and disputes). The examination of these interrelated levels of analysis offers a valuable framework for interpreting the multifold contexts, meanings, and responses to crisis. This paper explores varied representations of farm,agricultural crisis, with particular emphasis on the presumed causes (or precipitating factors), conditions, and related policies and programs. Les expressions , crise agricole , et , crise rurale , sont évoquées dans le discours politique pour caractériser des perturbations ou des menaces importantes aux moyens de subsistance en milieu rural et agricole. Bien que ces expressions traduisent certaines inquiétudes concernant la situation des secteurs agricole et rural, leur signification manque de clarté et de concision. Les chercheurs universitaires et les élaborateurs de politiques sont déconcertés par le manque de consensus définitionnel ou, du moins, par le manque de vision commune des aspects fondamentaux de la crise agricole. Une grande partie du débat tourne autour de quatre thèmes principaux: les difficultés financières de l'exploitation agricole (revenu faible ou instable, endettement et dépendance accrue aux revenus non agricoles); les changements structurels dans le secteur agricole (augmentation de l'échelle de production, concentration et regroupement); les moyens de subsistance en milieu rural (diminution du nombre de collectivités, d'institutions et de services); les dimensions internationales (fluctuations du marché, règlements concernant les échanges commerciaux, différends). L'examen de ces niveaux d'analyse interreliés offre un outil précieux pour interpréter les multiples contextes, significations et réactions aux crises. Le présent article analyse les diverses représentations de la crise dans le secteur agricole et se penche particulièrement sur les causes présumées (ou facteurs déclenchants), les conditions ainsi que les politiques et programmes connexes. [source] Jumping off Arnstein's ladder: social learning as a new policy paradigm for climate change adaptationENVIRONMENTAL POLICY AND GOVERNANCE, Issue 6 2009Kevin Collins Abstract Participation of citizens, groups, organizations and businesses is now an essential element to tackle climate change effectively at international, European Union, national and local levels. However, beyond the general imperative to participate, major policy bodies offer little guidance on what this entails. We suggest that the dominance of Arnstein's ladder of citizen participation in policy discourses constrains the ways we think about, and critically the purposes we ascribe to, participation in a climate change context. We suggest an alternative framing of climate change, where no single group has clear access to understanding the issue and its resolution. Thus adaptation is fundamentally dependent on new forms of learning. Drawing on experiences of social learning approaches to natural resource managing, we explore how a commitment to social learning more accurately embodies the new kinds of role, relationship, practice and sense of purpose required to progress adaptive climate change agendas and practices. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [source] Regional Devolution and Regional Economic Success: Myths and Illusions about PowerGEOGRAFISKA ANNALER SERIES B: HUMAN GEOGRAPHY, Issue 2 2006Ray Hudson Abstract The proposition that regional devolution in and of itself will lead to economic success has become deeply embedded in beliefs and policy discourses about the determinants of regional prosperity, and in turn has led to political demands for such devolution. In this paper I seek critically to examine such claims, using the case of the north-east of England as the setting for this examination. The paper begins with some introductory comments on concepts of power, regions, the reorganization of the state and of multi-level governance, and governmentality, which help in understanding the issues surrounding regional devolution. I then examine the ways in which north-east England was politically and socially constructed as a particular type of region, with specific problems, in the 1930s , a move that has had lasting significance up until the present day. Moving on some six decades, I then examine contemporary claims about the relationship between regional devolution and regional economic success, which find fertile ground in the north-east precisely due to its long history of representation as a region with a unified regional interest. I then reflect on the processes of regional planning, regional strategies and regional devolution, and their relationship to regional economic regeneration. A brief conclusion follows, emphasizing that questions remain about the efficacy of the new governmentality and about who would be its main beneficiaries in the region. The extent to which devolution would actually involve transferring power to the region and the capacity of networked forms of power within the region to counter the structural power of capital and shape central state policies remains unclear. [source] The Exclusion of (Failed) Asylum Seekers from Housing and Home: Towards an Oppositional DiscourseJOURNAL OF LAW AND SOCIETY, Issue 2 2010Lorna Fox O'Mahony ,Housing', the practical provision of a roof over one's head , is experienced by users as ,home', broadly described as housing plus the experiential elements of dwelling. Conversely, being without housing, commonly described as ,homelessness', is experienced not only as an absence of shelter but in the philosophical sense of ,ontological homelessness' and alienation from the conditions for well-being. For asylum seekers, these experiences are deliberately and explicitly excluded from official law and policy discourses. This article demonstrates how law and policy is propelled by an ,official discourse' based on the denial of housing and the avoidance of ,home' attachments, which effectively keeps the asylum seeker in a state of ontological homelessness and alienation. We reflect on this exclusion and consider how a new ,oppositional discourse' of housing and home , taking these considerations into account , might impact on the balancing exercise inherent to laws and policies concerning asylum seekers. [source] Globalisation and New Zealand: Anchoring the Leviathan in a Regional ContextNEW ZEALAND GEOGRAPHER, Issue 2 2003LUCY BARAGWANATH ABSTRACT Despite its ambiguity and contentiousness, the term globalisation is widely used in New Zealand, as it is elsewhere, in analyses of contemporary times. Yet the concept of globalisation is frequently invoked at a high level of generality with little consideration of the specificities of the particular contexts to which it is applied; and in the case of New Zealand, the notion seems incongruous in many respects. We therefore seek to anchor the notion in the regional context of Canterbury, where our historical and ethnographic research leads us to suggest that globalisation is a misleading and contentious description of contemporary New Zealand. As a set of discourses, however, globalisation is pervasive and powerful. The contemporary policy climate strongly reflects the hegemonic discourse of hyperglobalism, which emphasises generic globality, novelty and change at the expense of continuity and the particularity of place, limiting the possibilities for action. Thus while empirically, many parallels with the past persist, nevertheless, contemporary policy-makers understand New Zealand's options as determined by globalisation as an external force. This contrasts with past policy discourses which emphasised the scope for domestic decision-making, within the context of inextricable connections with the outside world. Our emphasis on the discursive construction of the globalisation imperative draws attention to possible alternative interpretations of New Zealand's contemporary options. [source] Why an anthropology of public policy?ANTHROPOLOGY TODAY, Issue 1 2005Janine R. Wedel 1We have co-founded the Interest Group for the Anthropology of Public Policy (IGAPP), which is affiliated with the American Anthropological Association, to provide an institutional framework to identify and foster the work of anthropologists studying policy. IGAPP's initial projects include compiling existing anthropological studies of policy discourses, processes and impacts, and developing curricula and syllabuses. We welcome the input of readers in these efforts, which we believe are a crucial first step toward strengthening the contributions of the anthropology of public policy to the discipline and to interdisciplinary theory on policy. Please send ideas and bibliographic references to: gfel@interchange.ubc.ca and jwedel@gmu.edu 2See van Velsen (1967). [source] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||