CALL FOR PAPERS
 

INTERPRETATION IN POLICY ANALYSIS: RESEARCH & PRACTICE

www.fsw.vu.nl/ipa

31 May - 2 JUNE 2007

Amsterdam, THE NETHERLANDS

co-organizers: Maarten Hajer (University of Amsterdam) and Dvora Yanow (Free
University, Amsterdam)

Although new labels come and go, the interpretive tradition has by now
established itself in such a way as to inform a broad and growing community of
scholars in fields such as public policy, organizational studies, political
science, conflict resolution, and public administration. Influenced by
the “interpretive turn” in the social sciences during the latter half of the
20th century, interpretive policy analytic approaches draw on a broad spectrum
of philosophical and analytic inquiries, among them phenomenology,
hermeneutics, critical theory, symbolic interactionism, pragmatism, and
ethnomethodology, plus methods analyzing discourse, rhetoric, frames, the fact-
value distinction, categories, metaphors, and so on. They offer an
alternative to more positivistically-informed analytic tools such as survey
research, regression and cost-benefit analyses.
 

Interestingly, we have recently seen many successful ‘crossovers’ in which
scholars from different fields have collaborated in searching for a new
agenda. ‘Deliberative democracy’ has met ‘Dispute resolution,’ for example,
and many public policy scholars have also become acquainted with the work of
the STS (Science, Technology, and Society) and Science Studies communities.
These cross-epistemic community interactions are further evidence of the
solidity of interpretive approaches within the practice-oriented social
sciences, and they raise possibilities for new research agendas.


Yet a word of caution is needed. Our creativity in finding new concepts
(narrative, discourse, more recently ‘performance’ and ‘performativity’) could
also lead to a proliferation of ‘fresh starts.’ We might thereby run the
risky of forgetting, first, that the various concepts and approaches under the
broad interpretive umbrella share a set of underlying ontological and
epistemological assumptions, and, second, that the ‘added value’ of new
concepts needs to be rigorously interrogated. Arguing from a position of
confidence, these risks can be avoided; we can, and should, be precise about
how new sets of questions emerge and also about how this builds upon
established scholarship(s). Of course, new questions are often informed by
new societal developments that raise our awareness of new ways of thinking;
but this is something that needs to be addressed explicitly. Work in
interpretive policy analysis has drawn explicit attention to the ways in which
ontological and epistemological presuppositions, particularly those of a
positivist hue, have shaped public policy research, public administration, and
management without this influence itself being addressed explicitly in the
research agenda. Reflexivity on ways of knowing and analyzing is central to
interpretive approaches, which also call on all researchers and practitioners
to be more reflective in their theorizing and analytic practices.

 
What might all of this mean for our work nowadays? Is there, or can we
create, a stable set of assumptions that informs our work? How do public
policy scholars deal with their role in society? How do we relate to the
political, and what analysis of the context of our research should we keep in
mind while striving for superior scholarship?

 
In the 2007 Amsterdam Conference on Interpretation in Policy Analysis, we take
the solid existence of interpretive scholarship as our foundational ‘given,’
and from that starting point we wish to explore the advances that have been
made in that scholarship and the possibilities for a research agenda for the
years to come. This might include, for example, a consideration of the way in
which interpretation in policy analysis now impacts on social and political
developments, the role of the analyst, and emerging relationships between
scholarly and practitioner communities. Building on the first conference held
in Birmingham, UK in June 2006, the Amsterdam conference is intended to
further establish the parameters of interpretive policy analysis and its
practice, as well as the community of researchers and practitioners engaged in
such analysis.


Conference papers might engage one or more of the following:


$ the contribution of a particular theoretical or philosophical
approach to policy analysis (e.g., pragmatism)
 

$ clarification of approaches in use (e.g., varieties of discourse
analysis or narrative analyses)


$ case studies from particular policy issue arenas (e.g., local
governance; asylum or immigration policy; food policy)

 
$ methodological issues in doing interpretive policy analysis (e.g.,
reflexivity in policy analytic practices; getting, and using, feedback
from ‘informants’; issues in using new recording technologies; evaluating
software programs)

 
$ the relationship between policy analytic practices and deliberative
democracy and/or other theories of governance

 
$ interpretive perspectives on key topics (e.g., community conflict
resolution practices; policy evaluation; leadership; network organizations;
other public management questions)

 
(Papers from the conference may be considered for a special issue of Critical
Public Policy: Analysis and Practice, General Editor - Steven Griggs
([log in to unmask]); Reviews Editor - Pauline Jas ([log in to unmask]);
Forums Editor - Navdeep Mathur ([log in to unmask]).)

The conference organizers welcome proposals for: individual papers; full
panels (with papers); and roundtables focused on discussion of a common theme
(rather than the formal presentation of papers). Paper, panel, and roundtable
proposals (short abstracts) and inquiries should be sent to Dvora Yanow
 no later than 15 January 2007.

 
In addition, one or more of the sessions will be devoted to methodological
and/or doctoral student workshops, on the model of a “Master Class” as used in
musical instrument studies. Please send inquiries or expressions of interest
to Merlijn van Hulst by 15 January 2007.

 
Registration fee (includes 2 lunches): post-Ph.D.: 160 euros; student: 80
euros.

            
Venue and Accommodation: The conference will be held at Het Trippenhuis, a
17th century monument in the old centre of Amsterdam, the location of the
Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences since 1812:
http://www.knaw.nl/organisation/history.html. Hotel and other information is
forthcoming through the conference website, www.fsw.vu.nl/ipa.

 
Canal boat cruise: See Amsterdam from a canal boat! Optional Thursday night
activity (additional cost; information forthcoming).


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