ENGLISH

The Politics of Evidence-Based Policy Making

By Paul Cairney (auth.)

Book information

Publisher
Palgrave Macmillan UK
Year
2016
ISBN
978-1-137-51780-7, 978-1-137-51781-4
DOI
10.1057/978-1-137-51781-4
Language
english
Format
PDF
Filesize
2 MB (2179337 bytes)
Edition
1
Pages
XV, 137\152
Time added
2016-07-20 04:00:00
Public Policy

Description

The Politics of Evidence Based Policymakingidentifies how to work with policymakers to maximize the use of scientific evidence. Policymakers cannot consider all evidence relevant to policy problems. They use two shortcuts: ‘rational’ ways to gather enough evidence, and ‘irrational’ decision-making, drawing on emotions, beliefs, and habits. Most scientific studies focus on the former. They identify uncertainty when policymakers have incomplete evidence, and try to solve it by improving the supply of information. They do not respond to ambiguity, or the potential for policymakers to understand problems in very different ways. A good strategy requires advocates to be persuasive: forming coalitions with like-minded actors, and accompanying evidence with simple stories to exploit the emotional or ideological biases of policymakers.

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