The objective of the workshop is to examine policy design issues with reference to governance arrangements and practices that affect design considerations, processes and outcomes.

 

Although theoretical explanations and empirical research concerning the causes of policy design and governance arrangements are abundant, they fail to explain when, how and why different kinds of design and institutions are matched (or not) in the design process. Furthermore, the existing literature has focused largely on specific kinds of substantive instruments employed to direct policy implementation and has paid insufficient attention to other tools and to the policy design processes and capacities that also affect the formulation of policies. The design literature as a result remains at loss in dealing with different contexts of governance which result in different policy outcomes despite similarities in the instruments used. Better understanding of the underlying processes and contexts that drive policy formulation and its results are needed.

 

To address these concerns, the papers presented at the workshop seek answers to the following questions:

  • What are the institutions and processes that shape governance design and how do they relate to policy change?

  • How do processes such as accretion, layering, path dependency, patching, and stretching affect governance and policy design?

  • What specific kinds of political, administrative and analytical processes affect governance design and its outcomes?

  • What impact do factors such as leadership and normative and cognitive ideas have on governance design?

  • What kinds of policy capacity are required for effective governance design?

Proposals for theoretically-grounded original papers, irrespective of disciplinary background, addressing one or more of the above questions are invited. Please send your proposal by email to gdnsingapore16@gmail.com

A limited number of travel grants covering travel and accommodation costs are available on a competitive basis.

Select papers from the workshop will be considered for publication as a collection in a refereed journal.

Convenors: M Ramesh (NUS), Michael Howlett (SFU), Giliberto Capano (SNS)

Key dates:

Expression of Interest (250 words): Submission of Invited Abstracts (1000 words): Confirmation of acceptance:
Submission of complete paper

15 September 2015 15 October 2015
1 November 2015 30 January 2016

Contact: mramesh@nus.edu.sg