This Panel is concerned with conceptualisations of wicked problems and the range of policy responses to wicked problems. Some types of policy problems have been described as messy, complex, intractable, open-ended and ‘wicked’. The policy literature since the 1970s (starting with Rittel & Webber, 1973) has increasingly recognised that many issues are inherently difficult to manage or resolve, owing to increasing complexity in areas of social policy, significant differences in values, interests and perceptions, and uncertainty of outcomes and consequences.


These questions raise important challenges for both researchers and practitioners in their ongoing efforts to engage with how complex and controversial policy issues are framed, managed and resolved (or otherwise). Standard public management responses to complexity and uncertainty (such as a greater reliance on markets and outsourcing, and an increasing use of formal coordination mechanisms across public agencies) may now seem to be inadequate. New and broader process responses are increasingly being tested (such as cross-sectoral collaboration, participatory forums, mediation and conflict reduction). We appear to require some new approaches, and we can learn from a range of experiences and insights across policy issues and institutional contexts.

What are the key features of such problems? And are they really very different from the features of more routine problems? Are we developing better ways to address these wicked problems? What conceptual models are most useful? How do approaches vary across different policy issues? How do different political-administrative cultures respond to complex challenges? Are some issues more ‘manageable’ in some institutional settings and political contexts than in other settings? What are the research gaps? 

 

 

Please send your abstracts by 19th October 2015.

The conference organisers' procedure for submission is provided at this URL:

 

http://www.cityu.edu.hk/lamp/irspm/call_for_abstracts.asp