Show Me the Numbers: Bureaucratic Use of Data in the Policy Making Process

2022 ◽  
pp. 009539972110699
Author(s):  
Tracey Bark
Keyword(s):  
Policy Making ◽  
Use Of Data ◽  
Policy Making Process ◽  
Legislative Agendas ◽  
The Impact

Bureaucracies often provide information to legislatures in an effort to influence the agenda. This paper assesses whether data affects this influence, arguing quantitative support can increase the likelihood of legislative discussion and passage of bills related to a given topic. I also assess the impact of centralization on an agency’s ability to provide information and shape legislative agendas. I find including data in bureaucratic reports can significantly increase an agency’s influence on the legislature, but this effect is only present in a centralized setting. These results suggest centralized agencies are better equipped to marshal quantitative support for arguments to legislatures.

Of numbers, narratives and challenges: Data as evidence in 21st century policy-making

2020 ◽  
Vol 36 (4) ◽  
pp. 1043-1055
Author(s):  
Gaby Umbach
Keyword(s):  
21St Century ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Evidence Use ◽  
The Third ◽  
Use Of Data ◽  
Science Advice ◽  
Governance Tools ◽  
The Impact

This article1 offers reflections on the use of data as evidence in 21st century policy-making. It discusses the concept of evidence-informed policy-making (EIPM) as well as the governance and knowledge effects of data as evidence. With this focus, it interlinks the analysis of statistics and politics. The paper first introduces the concept of EIPM and the impact of evidence use. Here it focusses on science and knowledge as resources in policy-making, on the institutionalisation of science advice and on the translation of information and knowledge into evidence. The second part of the article reflects on data as evidence. This part concentrates on abstract and concrete functions of data as governance tools in policy-making, on data as a robust form of evidence and on the effects of data on knowledge and governance. The third part highlights challenges for data as evidence in policy-making, among them, politicisation, transparency, and diversity as well as objectivity and contestation. Finally, the last part draws conclusions on the production and use of data as evidence in EIPM. Throughout the second part of the reflections, reference is made to Walter Radermacher’s 2019 matrix of actors and activities related to data, facts, and policy published in this journal.

Public Opinion, Domestic Structure, and Foreign Policy in Liberal Democracies

1991 ◽  
Vol 43 (4) ◽  
pp. 479-512 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Risse-Kappen
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Public Opinion ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Public Attitudes ◽  
The United States ◽  
Policy Outcomes ◽  
Liberal Democracies ◽  
Policy Making Process ◽  
The Impact

The paper discusses the role of public opinion in the foreign policy-making process of liberal democracies. Contrary to prevailing assumptions, public opinion matters. However, the impact of public opinion is determined not so much by the specific issues involved or by the particular pattern of public attitudes as by the domestic structure and the coalition-building processes among the elites in the respective country. The paper analyzes the public impact on the foreign policy-making process in four liberal democracies with distinct domestic structures: the United States, France, the Federal Republic of Germany, and Japan. Under the same international conditions and despite similar patterns of public attitudes, variances in foreign policy outcomes nevertheless occur; these have to be explained by differences in political institutions, policy networks, and societal structures. Thus, the four countries responded differently to Soviet policies during the 1980s despite more or less comparable trends in mass public opinion.

scholarly journals Data-Related Ecosystems in Policy Making: The PoliVisu Contexts

2021 ◽  
pp. 91-104
Author(s):  
Giovanni Lanza
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Public Policies ◽  
Decision Making Process ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
The Public ◽  
Use Of Data ◽  
Data Ownership ◽  
The Impact

AbstractThe article explores the complexity of the ecosystems that develop around data supported policy making. This complexity, which can be traced back to the multiplicity of actors involved, the roles they assume in the different steps of the decision making process, and the nature of the relationships they establish, takes on new connotations following the rising use of data for public policies. In fact, issues related to data ownership and the ability to collect, manage, and translate data into useful information for policy makers require the involvement of several actors, generating ecosystems where co-creation strategies are confronted with the limits of action of the public administrations within broader social and decisional networks. Based on this background, the article aims to provide, through the analysis of the direct experiences conducted by the pilot cities involved in the PoliVisu project, an overview of the opportunities and challenges related to the impact of data in the evolution of decision making networks and ecosystems in the data shake era.

Regionalization and Economic Crisis in Belgium: The Variable Origins of Centrifugal and Centripetal Forces

1986 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 261-281 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maureen Covell
Keyword(s):  
Economic Policy ◽  
Economic Crisis ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Political System ◽  
National Level ◽  
National Government ◽  
Centrifugal Forces ◽  
Policy Making Process ◽  
Centripetal Forces ◽  
The Impact

AbstractThis article examines the impact of economic crisis on the process of regionalization in Belgium and the influence of both on the balance of centrifugal and centripetal forces in the Belgian political system. It argues that the usual approach to this suject, which identifies centripetal forces with the national government and centrifugal forces with regional governments, misses the possibility that important proponents of further fragmentation may be located at the national level. The economic crisis of the early 1980s did lead to an increase in centrifugal pressures in the system but not to an increase in the power of the new regional executives. Rather, it led to a major rearrangement of the economic policy-making process at the national level.

scholarly journals Assessing the impact of transport policy instruments on road haulage energy efficiency

2014 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 323-337 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olivera Medar ◽  
Vladimir Papic ◽  
Aleksandar Manojlovic ◽  
Snezana Filipovic
Keyword(s):  
Energy Efficiency ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Policy Instruments ◽  
Policy Formulation ◽  
Road Haulage ◽  
Policy Making Process ◽  
Network Process ◽  
The Republic ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Support Decision Making

This paper focuses on elements of transport policies affecting energy efficiency of road haulage. The purpose is to present a tool developed to support decision making during the policy making process, at the stage of formulating the elements of transport policies. The paper describes a model developed to assess the impact of policy instruments on fleet energy efficiency by multi-criteria ranking applying the Analytical Network Process. The paper describes the possibilities to employ the defined model giving the example of international road haulage in the Republic of Serbia. The application led to a proposal for policy instruments which could have the highest impact on the increase of energy efficiency in this sector and which will be considered further in detail during the policy formulation process.

scholarly journals REGULATORY PROVISION OF ENTERPRISE ACCOUNTING POLICY

2020 ◽  
pp. 165-181
Author(s):  
Lubov KOVAL
Keyword(s):  
Policy Making ◽  
Financial Statements ◽  
Policy Formation ◽  
Regulatory Framework ◽  
Full Disclosure ◽  
Domestic Legislation ◽  
Policy Making Process ◽  
Standard Structure ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Accounting Policy

The features of accounting policy formation are considered in the article taking into account the provisions of the current regulatory framework. The international practice of regulation of accounting policies of the enterprise from the adoption of the first IAS to the present day is investigated. The terms given in domestic legislation and foreign regulations are compared. The role, objectives and significance of accounting policies in an entity's activities are determined. In addition, a list of factors that influence the process of accounting policies and the choice of its elements. The impact of each of them is investigated. The comparative analysis of changes in some legal acts affecting accounting policy is made. It has been established that changes in legislation directly affect the accounting policy-making process. Thus, the addition of the term "accounting policy" contributes to the full disclosure of its essence. Because accounting policies are intended to facilitate, first of all, accounting and then the formation of financial statements. Supplementation of other articles influences the formation of certain elements of accounting policy, which form both methodical component, organizational and technical. The basic normative legal acts regulating the formation and use of accounting policies of an enterprise in Ukraine are given. It is stated that these normative legal acts do not regulate the structure of the accounting policy order, thus bringing this issue to the attention of the head and the chief accountant. In this connection, the standard structure of the accounting policy order is outlined and the stages of its formation are set out, which is not specified in the current regulatory framework. It is proposed to develop and introduce a separate P (C) IAS, which would regulate exclusively the issue of accounting policy formation, indicating the structure of the accounting policy order and the stages of its formation. As a result of the study, conclusions and suggestions were formed.

The British political, social and economic system and the decision for peace and war: reflections on Anglo-German relations 1800—1939

1980 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 189-218 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wolf D. Gruner
Keyword(s):  
Policy Making ◽  
World Politics ◽  
Historical Research ◽  
Economic Conditions ◽  
National Socialist ◽  
Difference Of Opinion ◽  
Policy Making Process ◽  
Peace And War ◽  
The Impact

One of the main fields of historical research for the period between the two world wars has been the role of National Socialist Germany in world politics and the character of the British policy of appeasement. A difference of opinion as to the roots and aims of German and British policies in the 1930s continues to exist as a result of disparate interpretations of the decisive factors of these policies. The extent to which such factors as security interests at home and abroad, problems of trade, domestic and foreign policy, economic conditions and social change influence the policy-making process, as well as the impact these elements have on the capability or incapability for reform of the sociopolitical system, remains controversial.

scholarly journals Making Policies with Data: The Legacy of the PoliVisu Project

2021 ◽  
pp. 105-122
Author(s):  
Freya Acar ◽  
Lieven Raes ◽  
Bart Rosseau ◽  
Matteo Satta
Keyword(s):  
Policy Making ◽  
Urban Policy ◽  
Data Use ◽  
Added Value ◽  
Specific Policy ◽  
Use Of Data ◽  
Policy Making Process ◽  
Data Production ◽  
Institutional Actors ◽  
Policy Problems

AbstractThe PoliVisu project has the goal to investigate the potential of data use and visualisation in urban policy making. The project has explored how data supported policy making is adopted by public administrations and what we can learn from their experience. This is done by enrolling pilot cases with different and specific policy problems. From the experience of the PoliVisu pilots the influence and added value of data in the policy making process is assessed. Considering the recent “shake” in data production and use, PoliVisu has adopted four driving questions, as follow: what are the new roles data can play in the policy making process?, What is the added value of data for policy making? How can innovative visualisations contribute to improve the use of data in policy making processes? To what extent can an increased adoption of data affect the policy making process? How is the data shake affecting the involvement of non-institutional actors in the policy making process? This paper explores these questions, by presenting the experiences and the lessons learnt, also focussing on specific pilots’ initiatives and results.

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