From Survey to Policy: Community Relations in Northern Ireland

2014 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 175-186 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paula Devine ◽  
Gillian Robinson
Keyword(s):  
Northern Ireland ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Public Attitudes ◽  
Community Relations ◽  
Attitude Measurement ◽  
The Public ◽  
Worked Example ◽  
Key Policy ◽  
Important Time

Public policy is expected to be both responsive to societal views and accountable to all citizens. As such, policy is informed, but not governed, by public opinion. Therefore, understanding the attitudes of the public is important, both to help shape and to evaluate policy priorities. In this way, surveys play a potentially important role in the policy making process. The aim of this paper is to explore the role of survey research in policy making in Northern Ireland, with particular reference to community relations (better known internationally as good relations). In a region which is emerging from 40 years of conflict, community relations is a key policy area. For more than 20 years, public attitudes to community relations have been recorded and monitored using two key surveys: the Northern Ireland Social Attitudes Survey (1989 to 1996) and the Northern Ireland Life and Times Survey (1998 to present). This paper will illustrate how these important time series datasets have been used to both inform and evaluate government policy in relation to community relations. By using four examples, we will highlight how these survey data have provided key government indicators of community relations, as well as how they have been used by other groups (such as NGOs) within policy consultation debates. Thus, the paper will provide a worked example of the integral, and bi-directional relationship between attitude measurement and policy making.

The SORS Decision-Making Support System: A statistical tool for better policy making in the Republic of Serbia

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Miladin Kovačević ◽  
Katarina Stančić
Keyword(s):  
Policy Making ◽  
Modern Society ◽  
Monitoring And Evaluation ◽  
Public Debate ◽  
Statistical Tool ◽  
The Public ◽  
System A ◽  
The Republic ◽  
Trusted Data

Modern society is witnessing a data revolution which necessarily entails changes to the overall behavior of citizens, governments and companies. This is a big challenge and an opportunity for National Statistics Offices (NSOs). Especially after the outbreak of COVID-19, when the public debate about the number of mortalities and tested and infected persons escalated, trusted data is required more than ever. Which data can modern society trust? Are modern societies being subjected to opinion rather than fact? This paper introduces a new statistical tool to facilitate policy-making based on trusted statistics. Using economic indicators to illustrate implementation, the new statistical tool is shown to be a flexible instrument for analysis, monitoring and evaluation of the economic situation in the Republic of Serbia. By taking a role in public policy management, the tool can be used to transform the NSO’s role in the statistical system into an active participant in public debate in contrast to the previous traditional, usually passive role of collecting, processing and publishing data. The tool supports the integration of statistics into public policies and connects the knowledge and expertise of official statisticians on one side with political decision makers on the other.

Agricultural Policy Networks of the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland

1995 ◽  
Vol 43 (4) ◽  
pp. 664-682 ◽  
Author(s):  
Neil Collins
Keyword(s):  
Northern Ireland ◽  
Agricultural Policy ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Analytical Framework ◽  
Policy Networks ◽  
Republic Of Ireland ◽  
European Literature ◽  
The Republic

This paper provides an analytical framework within which to understand the contrasting way farmers' interests are aggregated and articulated in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. The analysis draws on the dominant European literature on state-farmer relations which emphasizes the role of policy networks and explores whether the concepts of pluralism or corporatism best characterize policy making in the two states.

The Northern Ireland Civil Service under Direct Rule and Devolution

2003 ◽  
Vol 69 (2) ◽  
pp. 205-217 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Carmichael ◽  
Robert Osborne
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Northern Ireland ◽  
Public Administration ◽  
Civil Service ◽  
The Public ◽  
Good Friday ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Asymmetrical Pattern ◽  
Key Characteristics

Although the United Kingdom is usually regarded as a unitary state in the mould of the Westminster model, in reality, complete political integration and administrative standardization have never existed. Recent political devolution consolidates an increasingly diverse and asymmetrical pattern of territorial governance. Frequently, however, notwithstanding some notable exceptions, this differentiation within the UK's governmental arrangements is overlooked in much of the literature. To help correct this oversight, this article reports on the longstanding differences in the public administration arrangements of one of the UK's smaller component countries, Northern Ireland. Specifically, the article focuses on the role of the Northern Ireland Civil Service and charts some of the key characteristics and trends that have emerged under both the period of Direct Rule from London (since the end of the Stormont devolution in 1972) and in the newly-restored devolved settlement that was introduced in 1999, following the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement.

scholarly journals ROLE OF ISLAM IN MALAYSIA’S PUBLIC DIPLOMACY: ABDULLAH BADAWI ADMINISTRATIONS

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 14
Author(s):  
Nur Fareha
Keyword(s):  
Soft Power ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Public Diplomacy ◽  
Prime Minister ◽  
Constructivist Approach ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Common ◽  
Common Perception ◽  
International Events

This paper investigates the role of Islam in Malaysia’s as a reform on soft power tools under the leaderships of Malaysia’s fifth Prime Minister, Tun Abdullah Badawi. The study emphasis the reform in policy making, philosophies and approaches of the premiers in developing an understanding of the importance of Islam’s role in Malaysia’s public diplomacy. The research also determines the influence of international events in the public diplomacy policies. The study takes a constructivist approach and includes faith diplomacy into the realm of public diplomacy. This study has achieved its objective of understanding Islamic public diplomacy in Malaysia’s administration and should be useful for developing future policies of public diplomacy for domestic and international consumption. It is an interesting reflection of this study that the common perception that Abdullah’s public diplomacy was not successful is incorrect; this perception is founded on the labelling that Abdullah’s version carried, which is because Abdullah, true to his character and personality, embraced and enriched previous premiership Islamization principles, without wanting to change them. Though there are arguments as discussed that Islam Hadhari declined, it only declined in the domestic context. In the international arena it appealed to a much wider audience.

scholarly journals Media framing of human trafficking

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 43-62
Author(s):  
Anđelija Đukić
Keyword(s):  
Human Trafficking ◽  
Public Attitudes ◽  
Sexual Exploitation ◽  
Media Framing ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Media Frames ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Usa ◽  
The Media

In recent decades, there has been notably increased engagement of the international community in combating human trafficking, which has also been contributed by the media. The role of the media is reflected in building certain public attitudes and influencing political decision-making. Based on the selected literature, the paper considers the media framing of human trafficking from the 1990s to the present. The media decides on how to approach trafficking, content and causes, information sources, generating and presenting alternative solutions process, as well as motivational procedures for initiating actions of the public and politicians, thus creating diagnostic, prognostic and motivational frames. Based on the research, it is concluded that media frames of human trafficking are not holistic but segmental, and instead of a comprehensive approach, stereotypes are presented in which trafficking is identified with sexual exploitation or considered as the consequence of migration or organized crime actions. This harms the victims, makes the identification of all perpetrators difficult, and narrows the focus of the suppression efforts. It is noted that in the relations between the media, the public and the authorities, in the process of creating a policy and implementing solutions for combating, there are significant influences of policy-makers on media framing, and thus on public attitudes, which provides support and legitimacy of current or future political decisions. In order to illustrate the diversity of media representation of human trafficking, as a COM-plex phenomenon and the possibility of different analyses of media framing, the main findings of several studies in the USA, EU, and Serbia are presented.

scholarly journals How Moral Foundations Shape Public Approval of Nuclear, Chemical, and Conventional Strikes: New Evidence from Experimental Surveys

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michal Smetana ◽  
Marek Albert Vranka
Keyword(s):  
Public Attitudes ◽  
Public Support ◽  
Moral Values ◽  
Chemical Weapons ◽  
Moral Foundations ◽  
Military Force ◽  
The Public ◽  
Experimental Treatments ◽  
New Evidence

We present the results of two survey experiments on public support for nuclear, chemical, and conventional strikes. We examined how moral values of individuals interact with the approval of different kinds of strikes and with the effects of information about the ingroup and out-group fatalities. Our results show that while the public is more averse to the employment of chemical weapons than to the conduct of nuclear or conventional strikes, the overall relationship between strike approval and the individuals’ moral values does not differ across the three experimental treatments. In addition, we found that individuals’ scores in so-called “binding” moral values affect the sensitivity of the public for in-group fatalities. Findings of our paper contribute to the broader debates in the field about the strength and nature of the norms against the use of nuclear and chemical weapons, and about the role of morality in the public attitudes to the use of military force.

scholarly journals Engineering advice in policy making: a new domain of inquiry in evidence and policy

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam C.G. Cooper ◽  
Lorenzo Marvulli ◽  
Katie Black ◽  
John Holmes ◽  
Harshal Mehta
Keyword(s):  
Policy Making ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
Science Literature ◽  
The Public ◽  
Policy Practice ◽  
Evidence Based Policy ◽  
Engineering Team ◽  
Related Science ◽  
Engineering Practices

Most, if not all empirical research on evidence-based policy has three features: firstly, it typically focuses on the application of science and scientific expertise on policy; secondly, it is executed by ‘outsider’ researchers who are not part of the public administration or policy-making process but observers of it (for example, Stevens, 2010); and thirdly, the major topical focus is in social policy areas such as health, education and crime (Oliver et al, 2014). This study advances the perspectives on evidence-based policy making by exploring the role of engineering expertise in policy making. We first make the case that, although related, science and engineering represent different epistemic communities in relation to policy practice. This difference, we argue, can give rise to particular styles of interaction that can make the governance of engineering expertise in policy making different to that for science or scientists. We then report on the findings of a study of the relationship between a new engineering team in a UK ministry with a technical portfolio and the policy colleagues they worked with across a range of programme areas. Through 18 interviews with policy officials, we identify a range of interactions that imply a need to consider styles of management and approaches to internal deployment of experts within policy organisations, as well as the implications for policy making and engineering expertise, given the way policy and engineering practices overlap.<br /><br />Key messages<br /><ul><li>Engineering advice has never been properly identified and studied in the academic social science literature to date.</li><br /><li>Engineering advice is an important and potent source of evidence in policy making in topical areas like energy policy.</li><br /><li>In contrast to science advice, engineering advice as a practice significantly overlaps with policy practice meaning important conflict or complementarity is possible, dependent on how the advice is deployed.</li></ul>

Patient Advocacy and the Policy Making Process

2020 ◽  
pp. 24-44
Keyword(s):  
Public Management ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Patient Advocacy ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Background Information ◽  
Feedback Analysis ◽  
The Public ◽  
Patient Organizations ◽  
Recent Developments

Recent developments in the policy-making literature and practice have highlighted the growing role of patient advocacy, that is, the participation of patients in policy making through the presence of their representatives at institutional working tables. This chapter has a twofold aim: (1) to frame the activity of patient organizations' advocacy into the public management and administration theory and (2) to describe how patients' organizations can participate to the public policy making from an operational point of view. The chapter starts by providing background information about patient advocacy. Then it introduces the core literature streams of public management and administration. Finally, a feedback analysis shows possible policy cycles linking patient-aided steps of interactive policy making.

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