T05P05 - Dealing with wicked problems: Policy capacity and Policy Formulation in an Era of Diminished Certainties
Topic : POLICY FORMULATION, ADMINISTRATION AND POLICYMAKERS
Chair 1 : Andrea Lippi , University of Florence- lippi@unifi.it
Chair 2: Theodore Tsekos, University of Peloponnese & National Center for Social Research, Greece - tsekosipe@gmail.com
Deadline 29th January 2021
General Objectives, Research Questions and Scientific Relevance
The panel aims at discussing (a) the conditions under which policy makers are called upon to make urgent decisions on complex and insufficiently defined problems which cause disagreements among shareholders both in terms of how they are perceived and in terms of the desired solutions, and (b) the appropriate policy design permitting decision makers to deal timely and effectively with such problems.
According to Rittel and Webber (1973, p. 160) ‘wicked problems’ , are complex issues characterized by value discrepancies and perception divergences of the relevant stakeholders , multiple interests, little or no agreement on problem definition, scientific uncertainty on complicated technical aspects, no easily identified causes, institutional complexity without a well-defined division of responsibilities between public agencies, and , finally, no clear solutions. Wicked issues typically encompass many topics at the same time and compel policy makers to reach multiple goals in parallel, such as migration, climate change, security, public health and, more precisely, tackling the pandemic, fall into the category of wicked problem.
Conventional approaches to policy making, comprising a top-down approach based on prediction, planning and control and focusing either on inputs and processes or on outcomes, and performance, seem inappropriate for dealing with wicked problems (Andersson & Törnberg, 2018,118, Head & Alford, 2015, 716).
On the contrary, wicked problems call for innovative solutions, creative policy instruments, effective and capable design able to cope with the ‘wicked nature’, the multiple definition and the latent conflict under the surface. It is not only a problem of decision making and ability to mediate among different stakeholders and their points of view. It is also a matter of capacity to be innovative and flexible in formulation and coordination.
Wicked problems raise up a matter of policy capacity in formulating effective policy design and selecting suitable tools to solve them. It concerns cognitive, organizational, consensus and authority resources. According to Wu, Howlett and Ramesh (2018, 3), it can be scrutinized looking at the three dimensions of policy capacity as “the set of skills and resources—or competences and capabilities—necessary to perform policy functions”.
The panel will welcome papers dealing with three different streams of debate:
1. The first one focuses on the policy capacity to cope with wicked problems at different level of government, by state or local authorities, with a special regard to the different resources and the strategy to set up design and strategies, including forms of collaborative or networked management and facilitated dialogue as a process of mutual adjustment of involved actors (Head & Alford , 2015, 727).
2. The second one concerns the geographical dimension of wicked problems, especially looking at the divide between states with high and low policy capacity around the world and the need to solve problems facing to diminished resources or poor backgrounds.
3. The third one relates to the connections between different policy issues and sectors composing the wicked problems and the approaches that policy makers are adopting in order to identify interdependencies, design interventions and select appropriate tools.
Call for papers
The panel aims at bringing together scholars and practitioners in order to discuss the kind of policy capacity necessary when policy makers have to cope with wicked problems. The focus is both on the analysis of the policy capacities at different level of government in terms of cognitive, economic, organizational and political resources and the specific skills to be combined in effective (or, in case of failure , detrimental) design. Analogously, policy capacity depends also on structural, cultural and institutional factors that in different parts of the world enhance (or depress) the capability to manage wicked problems and to solve them in an integrated, coordinated and successful way. The formulation under uncertainty is a matter that influences the probability to be able to make successful policy makers.
The focus of the panel is consequently on the capacity of politico–administrative systems to cope with wicked problems in an era where they are increasing while social, economic and environmental certainties are decreasing. The goal of the panel is to empower debate on policy capacity and more precisely to encourage scientific discussion on the policy capacity to tackle wicked problems.
A matter of different stock of capacity is also included in this reasoning. It concerns the institutional frame, the cultural legacy and the scarcity of resources afflicting those countries that cope with wicked problems without ‘strong policy backgrounds’. The comparative analysis between strong and weak capacities on one hand, and among countries with poor resources, on the other, is also a topic to be discusses in search for experiences and recipes to be debated and scrutinized.
As a consequence, the panel welcomes papers that at theoretical and empirical level, through case studies or comparative approaches, look at transnational wicked issues at social, economic, environmental and health policy areas.
The panel aims at offering the opportunity to share contributions on the above mentioned topic with respect to three sets of scientific questions:
1. The first concerns how policy makers combine resources to plan and coordinate interventions, as well as the overall policy capacity showed by governments at central and local levels to cope with similar wicked problems occurring at the same time in different countries. This specifically affects the problem of the capability to design effective and successful strategies as well as detrimental experience and big failures emerging in different parts of the world.
2. The second focuses on actors and dynamics by which wicked problems are collectively debated and defined, through confrontation and the synthesis of alternatives under the influence of important stakeholders, like experts, academics, agencies and advisors.
3. The third regards the geography of wicked problems, their different relevance in the agenda and the following weight on policy making under pressure of the public opinion, with a special regard to those contexts where resources are limited and certainties diminished by economic, financial, institutional and cultural boundaries jeopardizing the real and the potential of problem solving for rich and poor policy making systems globally.
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