How ideas matter in public policy: a review of concepts, mechanisms, and methods
The recent ideational turn in political science and public administration implies that ideas matter. Ideas are an essential explanatory concept for understanding policy changes and decision-making processes. The aim of the paper is to specify how ideas matter as a variable in public policy research,...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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OpenEdition
2020-12-01
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| Series: | International Review of Public Policy |
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| Online Access: | https://journals.openedition.org/irpp/1343 |
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| _version_ | 1841551169572306944 |
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| author | Marij Swinkels |
| author_facet | Marij Swinkels |
| author_sort | Marij Swinkels |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The recent ideational turn in political science and public administration implies that ideas matter. Ideas are an essential explanatory concept for understanding policy changes and decision-making processes. The aim of the paper is to specify how ideas matter as a variable in public policy research, providing students and scholars of public policy with a stock take of the current state-of-the-art literature on ideas in political science and public administration. The paper first identifies three approaches to ideas as a variable in the policy process. It then discusses where ideas come from and the dynamics and drivers of ideational change to shed light on the ideational mechanisms underpinning policy processes. Furthermore, it taps into different research methods that can be used to study ideas. Finally, the paper concludes with five lessons for future research endeavours on the study of ideas in public policy. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-0524b7871a5340f5a5d774ae1cce9ef7 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2679-3873 2706-6274 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2020-12-01 |
| publisher | OpenEdition |
| record_format | Article |
| series | International Review of Public Policy |
| spelling | doaj-art-0524b7871a5340f5a5d774ae1cce9ef72025-01-09T16:25:57ZengOpenEditionInternational Review of Public Policy2679-38732706-62742020-12-01228131610.4000/irpp.1343How ideas matter in public policy: a review of concepts, mechanisms, and methodsMarij SwinkelsThe recent ideational turn in political science and public administration implies that ideas matter. Ideas are an essential explanatory concept for understanding policy changes and decision-making processes. The aim of the paper is to specify how ideas matter as a variable in public policy research, providing students and scholars of public policy with a stock take of the current state-of-the-art literature on ideas in political science and public administration. The paper first identifies three approaches to ideas as a variable in the policy process. It then discusses where ideas come from and the dynamics and drivers of ideational change to shed light on the ideational mechanisms underpinning policy processes. Furthermore, it taps into different research methods that can be used to study ideas. Finally, the paper concludes with five lessons for future research endeavours on the study of ideas in public policy.https://journals.openedition.org/irpp/1343public policybeliefschangeideational changeliterature reviewideas |
| spellingShingle | Marij Swinkels How ideas matter in public policy: a review of concepts, mechanisms, and methods International Review of Public Policy public policy beliefs change ideational change literature review ideas |
| title | How ideas matter in public policy: a review of concepts, mechanisms, and methods |
| title_full | How ideas matter in public policy: a review of concepts, mechanisms, and methods |
| title_fullStr | How ideas matter in public policy: a review of concepts, mechanisms, and methods |
| title_full_unstemmed | How ideas matter in public policy: a review of concepts, mechanisms, and methods |
| title_short | How ideas matter in public policy: a review of concepts, mechanisms, and methods |
| title_sort | how ideas matter in public policy a review of concepts mechanisms and methods |
| topic | public policy beliefs change ideational change literature review ideas |
| url | https://journals.openedition.org/irpp/1343 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT marijswinkels howideasmatterinpublicpolicyareviewofconceptsmechanismsandmethods |