Suchergebnisse

ABSTRACTMultiple knowledges are available for utilisation in policy choice. The rank ordering of knowledges for use in decisionmaking is thus a fundamental predecision. This article shows how this predecision necessarily constrains the processes associated with a politics of ideas, using cases from American international commodity policy. Even when the supposed preconditions of this sort of politics are present, policy change did not occur when the proposed ideas arose from a knowledge accorded secondary status in policymaking circles. Several implications are discussed for the influence and the study of ideational politics. Ultimately, the politics of ideas, so often portrayed through cases of innovation, may be quite conservative, contained by knowledge hierarchies which reflect prior politicaxl circumstances.

ABSTRACTOne of the emerging areas in the public policy literature concerns new modes of thought about the construction and analysis of public policy. This article extends notions about politics within the 'policy design' literature by considering the implications of different political environments for policy design and implementation. Two different political environments – policies with and without publics – that form ends of a continuum of policy publics are discussed. A contrast is drawn between these two polar political environments with respect to differing policy design and implementation challenges, as well as with respect to differing opportunities for policy learning.

The design of federal earthquake policy is examined to illustrate the difficulties of addressing public risks when public indifference, despite general awareness of risks, is the norm. Federal earthquake policy attempts to overcome indifference through strategies aimed at building local governmental commitment to risk reduction & improving nonfederal capacity to implement risk reduction programs. Because of the fundamental difficulties in influencing actions among less capable & willing jurisdictions, federal efforts have resulted in disjunctive impacts among seismic prone regions. The preferred approach for overcoming these gaps entails a mix of federally backed earthquake insurance coupled with development of local regularity standards. More generally, strategies for addressing public risks entail modification of the policy tools for addressing such private risks as crime & job-related accidents. The changes involve mechanisms that shift the task of addressing the risks from individual to shared responsibility. 2 Tables, 50 References. Adapted from the source document.

Difficulties and strategies in overcoming public indifference and influencing actions among local jurisdictions; US.