Thank you to all Policy & Politics reviewers in 2019!

January 6, 2020News, Policy & Politics, Politicsimpact factor, peer review, policy, political science, politics, public administrationpolicypressblog

Thank you to all our reviewers in 2019

On behalf of the authors and readers of Policy & Politics, the Co-Editors wish to wholeheartedly thank those who reviewed manuscripts for us in 2019.

With a high 2 year impact factor of 2.028, and a 50 year tradition of publishing high quality research that connects macro level politics with micro level policy issues, the journal could not exist without your investment of time and effort, lending your expertise to ensure that the papers published in this journal meet the standards that the research community expects for it. We sincerely appreciate the time spent reading and commenting on manuscripts, and we are very grateful for your willingness and readiness to serve in this role.

We look forward to a 2020 of exciting advances in the field and to our part in communicating those advances to our community and to the broader public.

Policy & Politics Co-Editors: Sarah Ayres, Steve Martin & Felicity Matthews

p&p editors

If you enjoyed this blog post, you may also be interested to read:

Narratives as tools for influencing policy change [Open Access]

Three habits of successful policy entrepreneurs [Open Access]

Can experience be evidence? Craft knowledge and evidence-based policing [Free]

Can you make a difference when you sign an e-petition?

December 11, 2019News, Politics, Public Policydemocracy, e-petition, policy change, Public participationpolicypressblog

Cristina Leston-Bandeira

E-petitions have become extremely popular over the last decade. They circulate freely and quickly, with most people at some point having signed one. But there is a perennial question associated with them: what’s the point of e-petitions, do they achieve anything? In my recent Policy & Politics article, I approach this issue by exploring the different roles petitions can play, focusing on petitions to parliament. I show that petitions systems perform roles beyond enabling participation and policy change, depending on the types of processes in place to evaluate them. I demonstrate that the processes through which petitions are considered are crucial in shaping the role(s) they perform. Continue reading Can you make a difference when you sign an e-petition? →

Design in public administration: a typology of approaches

December 4, 2019Public Policydesign approaches, design typologies, evidence-driven design, user-oriented designpolicypressblog

Margot Hermus, Arwin van Buuren & Victor Bekkers

The idea that public policies and services are in need of improvement or even innovation is widespread: they need to be more efficient and effective, because of financial pressures, but we also want them to be more responsive and tailor-made to citizens’ needs. One proposed solution is the introduction of design in public administration practice. This means that policies and services are seen as objects that are designed consciously to meet certain goals and/or requirements, rather than changed incrementally or negotiated politically. Thus far, the discussion surrounding design centres on its potential benefit and desirability in a public sector context. However, in our recent article in Policy & Politics, we focused on the unanswered questions regarding the way design is currently used. In what ways is design applied? With what goals? And what types of artefacts are being devised? With these questions in mind, we conducted a systematic literature review looking at applications of design in journal articles published in public administration journals between 1989 and 2016. Continue reading Design in public administration: a typology of approaches →

Design science in public policy and administration research: how to actually apply it?

November 27, 2019Public Policydesign science framework, organisational change, policy design, policy experimentationpolicypressblog

Georges Romme and Albert Meijer

Local, regional and national governments are struggling to find solutions for complex problems such as sustainability, quality of life, and poverty. Public policy researchers are therefore increasingly called upon to help in crafting solutions to these complex challenges. Accordingly, scholars in the field of public policy and administration need to rethink their usual ‘bystander’ approach to designing policy and, instead, engage more in experimentation and interventions that can help change and improve governance systems. Continue reading Design science in public policy and administration research: how to actually apply it? →

What happens when design meets power?

November 20, 2019Public Policydesign thinking, human-centered design, policy design, politics of the policy process, powerpolicypressblog

Jenny M Lewis

Article title: ‘When design meets power: Design thinking, public sector innovation and the politics of policymaking’ (by Jenny M Lewis, Michael McGann and Emma Blomkamp) in the special issue: ‘Improving public policy and administration: exploring the potential of design’.

Governments around the world have been experimenting with ‘design thinking’ approaches to test new policy solutions. In our recent article in Policy & Politics, we argue that policymakers need to learn how to incorporate the insights and practices from design thinking into policy. But designers also need to learn how to deal with the politics of the policy process. If both of these things happen, there should be significant benefits for policy design and all those affected by it. Continue reading What happens when design meets power? →

Introduction to the Special Issue on the potential of design to improve public policy and administration

November 13, 2019Policy & Politics, Public Policy, Public sector managementco-design, co-production, design approaches, evidence-based policymaking, wicked policy problemspolicypressblog

special issue p&P editors.png

Arwin Van Buuren, Jenny Lewis, Guy Peters, William Voorberg

In recent years, policy makers and administrators have shown increasing interest in design approaches to address policy problems. Design methods offer innovative perspectives on persistent policy problems (e.g. climate change; ageing population; urbanization etc.). Given the enormous influx of design toolboxes, design approaches and design steps, there is a search for an ‘ultimate’ design approach for public sector problems. But there are different approaches that can be used and which have different strengths.

In our introduction to the special issue on design and public policy we distinguish three rather different design approaches in public sector design. Continue reading Introduction to the Special Issue on the potential of design to improve public policy and administration →

Policy & Politics Winter Highlights collection free to access from 6 November 2019– 31st January 2020.

November 6, 2019Evidence-based policy, Policy & PoliticsEBP, epistemology, evidence-based policy making, experience, expertise, knowledge, What workspolicypressblog

Sarah Brown,
Journal Manager of Policy & Politics

In celebration of this year’s APPAM research conference theme on diverse perspectives on issues and evidence, we bring you our latest research on that topic. To read the original research, download the articles below which are free to access until 31st January 2020. Happy reading! Continue reading Policy & Politics Winter Highlights collection free to access from 6 November 2019– 31st January 2020. →

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