Events and Opportunities

Call for papers:

Critical Policy Studies group invites proposals for the 119th APSA Annual Meeting & Exhibition, August 31 – September 3, 2023, held in Los Angeles, California, on the theme of:

Critical Policy Studies in an Age of Mis- and Disinformation

Misinformation, disinformation, conspiracy theories, and other distortions of public information are not new, yet they continue to create challenges for policymakers and public policy scholars. Misinformation challenges application of rationalistic tools of public policy (like cost-benefit analysis, evidence-based policy or others). It can also challenge the implementation of selected policies, due to skepticism or disbelief on the side of the affected publics. In the age of mis- and disinformation critical, interpretative and ethnographic methodologies are particularly relevant. They rely on rebuilding the trust between policymakers, professionals and broader publics as well as demonstrate the role of values in policy-making. They can be used by scholars to demonstrate the contradictory, and sometimes exclusionary, consequences arising from apparently neutral decisions and policies. However, prevalence of mis- and disinformation also raises questions about the role and responsibilities of critical scholars in countering such distortions.

Critical Policy APSA related group welcomes individual papers and panel submissions that respond to the Annual Meeting 2023 theme and that focus on questions of rights and responsibilities in an age of mass- and disinformation. The topics may include the role of critical and interpretative methodologies in countering/or analysing distortions of information, responsibilities of critical policy scholars, critical analysis of policies and strategies to address distortion of information in the public sphere, and others.

The submission deadline is Wednesday, January 18, 2023, at 11:59 p.m. Pacific.

Submit your proposal here and join us in sunny Los Angeles!

Past Events:

Our group held a panel at the American Political Science Association’s Annual Meeting & Exhibition, September 15-18, 2022 in beautiful Montreal, Québec, Canada! Our theme for 2022 was ‘Critical Policy Analysis in and for Tumultuous Times

The last decade has been a period of radical disruption in politics and policymaking. This sense of disruption has culminated most spectacularly in the COVID pandemic but includes also upheaval associated with rising nativism and populism across the globe, accelerating inequality in many advanced capitalist societies, the looming climate emergency facing the world, and beyond. This panel offers an opportunity to reflect on what critical policy analysis has to offer in tumultuous times. The most influential works in this tradition have typically focused on unsettling taken-for-granted norms in politics and policy, and revealing hidden struggles beneath seemingly routine practices. But what insight do these traditions and approaches have in a context of rapidly changing norms and growing public contestation and polarisation? The classics in critical policy analysis have also used interpretive and ethnographic methods that generally rely on a stable foundation of trust and rapport with policymakers, professionals and practitioners, and everyday service users and citizens. But how do these tools and techniques translate to a context of unpredictable disruption and upheaval, isolation and fragmentation?

The panel included presentations by:

  • Sarah Marie Wiebe, University of Victoria
  • Megan Aiken, University of Alberta
  • William Sisk, SUNY Albany
  • Adrian Bua, De Montfort University

The panel was chaired by Crystal H. Brown from the Worcester Polytechnic Institute.

In June 2022, our group held the ‘Book writing workshop’ held at King’s College London, UK which was co-organised by Sadiya Akram (Manchester Metropolitan University) and John Boswell (University of Southampton) as the co-editors of the Routledge Studies in Democratic Crisis book series.

This workshop aimed to demystify the book proposal-writing process, offering practical guidance about how to manage the process.

Specifically, this workshop has shed light on the following areas:

• How to develop an initial manuscript idea into a book proposal.
• How to identify the right publisher and/or book series that best suits your book project?
• An introduction to the various stages of the book proposal.
• How to approach writing a sample chapter.
• Researching the market into which your book makes a contribution.
• Identifying reviewers for the proposal.
• What to expect and do following the proposal writing stage in cases of the issuing of a contract or otherwise.

Critical Policy Studies related group hosted a panel on ‘Critical approaches to the study of the crisis in politics and policymaking’ during APSA 2021 Annual Meeting.

Contemporary politics and public policy seem to be moving from one crisis to another. In policy terms, better-studied crises, like the climate emergency or increasing economic inequality, have recently been joined by sudden challenges to public health and economic security brought by the COVID-19 pandemic. In procedural terms, a long-present crisis of depoliticisation and exclusion in democratic politics has been overshadowed by the crisis presented by radical right-wing populism and an increasingly toxic public sphere. Papers in this panel consider how critical policy studies can aid our understandings of crisis in contemporary politics and public policy. Among other possibilities, we welcome submissions that draw on the diverse conceptual and methodological tools of critical policy analysis to understand how powerful actors construct crises; that illustrate how marginalised groups are mobilising in the face of surfacing crises; or that analyse how to promote tools of dialogue, inclusion and reflection to address the multi-faceted challenges contemporary democracies face.

The panel featured papers by:

  • Rikki Dean, Goethe University Frankfurt
  • Oscar Leonard Larsson, Swedish Defence University
  • Alexandria Innes, City University of London

Comments were provided a member of our Leadership Collective, Genevieve Fuji Johnson.

On the 19th of May 2021, we held a small, closed workshop in which early career scholars from all over the world shared, read and reviewed feedback on their work in progress.

Participants received feedback and suggestions on how develop their work from:

  • John Parkinson, Professor of Social & Political Philosophy in the Department of Philosophy, Maastricht University
  • Hendrik Wagenaar, Senior Academic Advisor at the International School for Government at King’s College London, and Adjunct Professor at the Institute for Governance and Policy Analysis at the University of Canberra, and a member of our Advisory Board
  • Michael Orsini, Professor at the Institute of Feminist and Gender Studies, University of Ottawa. Also a member of our Advisory Board

The event has been chaired by John Boswell (Southampton). Similar events will follow!

 

Critical Policy Studies APSA group and Theoretical Perspectives in Policy Analysis ECPR section held a roundtable with journal editors on publishing critical and interpretive policy research on 25th November 2020. The discussion focused on essential steps and tips on how to effectively publish interpretive and critical policy research in leading academic outlets.

Confirmed speakers included:

  • Jennifer Dodge, Associate Professor at the Department of Public Administration and Policy at University at Albany, SUNY and Co-Editor of Critical Policy Studies
  • Peter H. Feindt, Professor of Agricultural and Food Policy at the Albrecht Daniel Thaer Institute for Agricultural and Horticultural Sciences at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and Co-Editor of the Journal of Environmental Policy and Planning
  • Chris Weible, Professor at University of Colorado Denver School of Public Affairs, former Editor of Policy Studies Journal, and Co-Editor of Policy and Politics from 2021

The event has been chaired by John Boswell (Southampton) and Marta Wojciechowska (King’s College London).