Disrupted Governance: Towards a New Policy Science

The Element explores the uncertain future of public policy practice and scholarship in an age of radical disruption. It argues that an anachronistic instrumental rationalism underlies contemporary policy logic and limits efforts to understand new policy challenges. It considers whether the policy sciences framework can be reframed to facilitate deeper understandings of this epistemic instability and proposes a research agenda about epistemic destabilization and contestation. The Element applies this theoretical provocation to environmental policy and sustainability, anticipating a liminal state in the transition from one way of thinking to another. It concludes by contemplating the fate of policy's epistemic instability, anticipating what policy understandings will emerge in a new system, and questioning the degree to which either presages a seismic shift in the relationship between policy and society.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 75 pages
Publication date: 17 March 2022
Publisher: Cambridge University Press

The Element delves into the uncertain future of public policy practice and scholarship in an era of profound disruption. Building upon foundational concepts in policy sciences, we contend that an anachronistic instrumental rationalism underpins contemporary policy logic and hinders efforts to comprehend emerging policy challenges. We explore whether the policy sciences framework can be reimagined to facilitate a deeper understanding of this anachronistic epistemic, in anticipation of a research agenda focused on epistemic destabilization and contestation.

The Element applies this theoretical provocation to environmental policy and sustainability, issues about which policymaking unfolds amidst unpredictable contexts and escalating sociopolitical turbulence that heralds a transitional state in the transition from one way of thinking to another.

The Element concludes by contemplating the fate of policy's epistemic instability, anticipating what policy understandings will emerge in a new system, and questioning the extent to which either presages a seismic shift in the relationship between policy and society.

Weight: 162g
Dimension: 198 x 227 x 11 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781009125680
Edition number: New ed