Ideas and Discourse: Reform and Resistance in the Canadian and German Health Systems

2003 ◽  
Vol 36 (4) ◽  
pp. 715-739 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vandna D. Bhatia ◽  
William Coleman
Keyword(s):  
Policy Change ◽  
Policy Framework ◽  
Normative Values ◽  
Contributing Factors ◽  
Policy Actors ◽  
Policy Problem ◽  
Social Facts ◽  
German Health ◽  
The Social

This article examines the conditions under which policy discourses can serve as contributing factors to policy change, even in the absence of changes in institutions and interests. It begins with a discussion of the role of ideas in policy analysis and how they can play a "constitutive role" as frames for policy. Drawing on a distinction between "augmentative" discourses that serve to reinforce an existing policy framework and "transformative discourses" that seek to persuade various publics of the need for significant policy change, four types of policy discourse are defined and a methodology is suggested for identifying these types. Two of these types, "challenging" and "truth-seeking," are hypothesized to be more conducive to the occurrence of significant policy change. Drawing then on case studies of policy change in Canada and Germany respectively, the article shows that a "challenging" discourse emerges in both countries, but leads to significant policy change only in Germany. Based on the comparison of the two cases, it is argued that three factors are relevant to whether a challenging discourse is successful or not: a broad consensus among core policy actors on the nature and gravity of the policy problem; the consistency of the discourse with broadly held normative values; and the persuasiveness of the "social facts" brought to bear in favour of proposed new solutions.

The Role of Government Backbenchers

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meg Russell ◽  
Daniel Gover
Keyword(s):  
Policy Change ◽  
Legislative Process ◽  
Role Of Government ◽  
Policy Actors ◽  
Corporate Manslaughter ◽  
Party Cohesion ◽  
Government Legislation

This chapter explores how government backbench parliamentarians in both chambers at Westminster influence the content of government legislation and the dynamics of politics. Government backbenchers are often thought to be Westminster’s most influential policy actors, operating through the ‘intraparty mode’. As summarized here, governments have recently become less able to rely on their votes, thanks to declining party cohesion. Yet governments are rarely defeated as a result of rebellious votes. This chapter analyses government backbenchers’ amendments proposed to the 12 case study bills—some of which served purposes other than immediate policy change—and their role as ‘pivotal voters’ in resolving legislative disputes with other (particularly opposition) actors. It also emphasizes their influence on legislation before it is introduced, and the importance of ‘anticipated reactions’. For example, ministers introduced the Corporate Manslaughter Bill only reluctantly, following backbench pressure. Backbenchers hence have subtle, and often hidden, influence in the legislative process.

نظرية الفعل التواصلى وعلاقتها بفاعلية أداء المؤسسات الإعلامية Communicative Action Theory and its Relationship to Performance Effectiveness in Media Institutions

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (first) ◽  
pp. 170-185
Keyword(s):  
Action Theory ◽  
Communicative Action ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
Performance Effectiveness ◽  
The Public ◽  
Social Facts ◽  
The Social ◽  
Media Institutions ◽  
The Media

يهدف هذا البحث إلى مناقشة القضايا الأساسية لنظرية الفعل التواصلي عند هابرماس والانطلاق من هذه القضايا فى دراسة فاعلية الأداء فى المؤسسات الإعلامية بالتطبيق على وكالة أنباء الشرق الأوسط. واتفقت نتائج البحث مع بعض الفرضيات الخاصة بالنظرية النقدية وخاصة نظرية الفعل التواصلي عند هابرماس فيما يتعلق بتأثير القوى المسيطرة فى المجتمع على عمل وسائل الإعلام، حيث تؤكد هذه القوى نفوذها من خلال وسائل الإعلام التى تقوم بإعادة تشكيل الحقائق الاجتماعية بما يتفق مع رؤيتها وأهدافها، بينما لم تدعم النتائج الفروض الخاصة بقدرة وسائل الإعلام على تحقيق استقرار المجتمعات عن طريق حشد وتعبئة الجماهير تجاه القضايا التى تحقق هذا الاستقرار، حيث أشارت النتائج إلى أن الوكالة – خاصة فى عهد مبارك – كانت تدعم رموز النظام السياسى الحاكم أكثر من تعبيرها عن مصالح الدولة. وعلى الجانب الآخر اتفقت النتائج مع رؤية هابرماس حول ضرورة خلق أنماط اتصالية جديدة تنمو وتتطور عن طريق الحوارات الجماعية القادرة على طرح خطاب عقلانى نقدى يحل محل الخطاب الرسمى، وذلك لاستبدال النظام المؤسسى بنظام آخر لا يحتوى على معوقات وعراقيل تعوق حركة الأفراد ومشاركتهم فى المجتمع. “Communicative Action” theory and to use these issues to examine the effectiveness of performance in media institutions, especially the Middle East News Agency. The results agreed with some hypotheses of critical theory especially the Communicative Action theory with regard to the influence of dominant forces in society on the role of media, where they confirm their influence through the media to reform the social facts in line with their vision and goals. While the results didn’t support the hypotheses about the ability of media to stabilize societies by mobilizing the public towards the issues that brings about this stability. On the other hand, the results agreed with Habermas (Wikipedia The Free vision) about the necessity of creating new communication patterns that grow and develop through collective dialogue capable of offering rational and critical discourse to replace the institutional system with another system that does not hinder the movement of individuals and their participation in the society.

scholarly journals The Early Warning System: how frontline evidence helps us understand the UK’s social security response to COVID-19

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katie Pybus ◽  
Geoff Page ◽  
Lynsey Dalton ◽  
Ruth Patrick
Keyword(s):  
Social Security ◽  
Policy Change ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Early Warning ◽  
Early Warning System ◽  
Child Poverty ◽  
Warning System ◽  
Security Issues ◽  
The Social

This article reports on the Child Poverty Action Group Early Warning System (EWS), a database of case studies representing social security issues reported directly by frontline benefits advice workers and benefit claimants. It outlines what data from the EWS can tell us about how the social security system is functioning and how it has responded during the pandemic. It further details how insights from the EWS can be used by researchers and policymakers seeking to understand the role of social security in supporting families living on a low income and in advocating for short- and longer-term policy change.

Social Workers as Policy Actors

2013 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-36 ◽  
Author(s):  
IDIT WEISS-GAL ◽  
JOHN GAL
Keyword(s):  
Social Workers ◽  
Policy Formulation ◽  
Initial Finding ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Policy Actors ◽  
For Profit ◽  
Not For Profit ◽  
Close Analysis ◽  
The Social

AbstractThis article offers an empirical analysis of the role of social workers as policy actors in parliamentary committees. Based on an initial finding that social workers participated in 14 per cent of all the deliberations of parliamentary committees in the Israeli parliament, the article examines the actual inputs of these social workers in the committee discussions. In order to examine the inputs of social workers in these committees and to identify the links between organisational affiliation and committee type and the inputs, the study provides a close analysis of the recorded minutes of three parliamentary committees. It reveals that social workers tended to facilitate and enrich the social policy formulation process. However social workers, particularly those employed by not-for-profit organisations, also challenged policy makers and placed matters on the agendas of committees. The findings of the study show that social workers are policy actors who offer diverse inputs into a complex policy formulation process.

scholarly journals The Significance of Epiphany in D.H. Lawrence’s Short Story “The Odor of Chrysanthemums”

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 32
Author(s):  
Aycan Gökçek
Keyword(s):  
Working Class ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
Short Story ◽  
Industrial Society ◽  
British Society ◽  
Main Character ◽  
Social Facts ◽  
The Social

The aim of this study is to point out to the significance of epiphany experienced by the character Elizabeth in “Odour of Chrysanthemums” with an eye on the social realities of the time in which the story was written. With the analysis of the story, this study challenges the claims that D. H Lawrence is a sexist by feminist critics such as Kate Millet. In the line with these, after a brief information on D. H. Lawrence and his stories that are similar to “Odour of Chrysanthemums” and social, cultural and financial realities of British Industrial society, the story has been handled. In the end, it has been observed that by portraying the main character Elizabeth as a woman who seems to have a sadistic pleasure of her husband’s death in the story, Lawrence criticizes not femininity but 20th century British society which imposes unbearable responsibilities on women. In addition to these, the study also criticises industrial society and helps the reader to have an idea concerning its social facts especially on the role of a woman in the working-class family.

Social Representations and Commitment

2018 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 233-249 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric Bonetto ◽  
Fabien Girandola ◽  
Grégory Lo Monaco
Keyword(s):  
Social Representations ◽  
Social Representation ◽  
Second Line ◽  
Review Of The Literature ◽  
First Line ◽  
Research Perspectives ◽  
The Social ◽  
Bibliographic Search ◽  
English Articles

Abstract. This contribution consists of a critical review of the literature about the articulation of two traditionally separated theoretical fields: social representations and commitment. Besides consulting various works and communications, a bibliographic search was carried out (between February and December, 2016) on various databases using the keywords “commitment” and “social representation,” in the singular and in the plural, in French and in English. Articles published in English or in French, that explicitly made reference to both terms, were included. The relations between commitment and social representations are approached according to two approaches or complementary lines. The first line follows the role of commitment in the representational dynamics: how can commitment transform the representations? This articulation gathers most of the work on the topic. The second line envisages the social representations as determinants of commitment procedures: how can these representations influence the effects of commitment procedures? This literature review will identify unexploited tracks, as well as research perspectives for both areas of research.

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