Hajer, M. 2003. Policy without polity? Policy analysis and the institutional void. Policy Sciences, , Vol.36(2), pp.175-195. Abstract. How should policy analysis respond to the changing context of policy making? This article examines three aspects of policy analysis in this changing context: polity, knowledge and intervention. It argues that policy making now often takes place in an ‘institutional void’ where there are no... Continue Reading →
The costs of collusion with activist bullshit and hype cycles
When a Shiny New Technology is being hyped, it's in order to pump the stock up, or get venture capital. That's how the hype cycle game is played, and it happens among mostly consenting adults. Fair enough you might say. No hype and nothing gets done (maybe). But when it comes to social movement hype... Continue Reading →
‘Courageous’ politician vs cars. Cars win. The Netherlands 1989…
So, I just read this. I haven't double-checked it yet, by the author is a damn fine journo/thinker/historian... It's from a story about an(other) attempt to reduce the damage caused by cars in Los Angeles. Last month the centre-right coalition Government of Prime Minister Ruud Lubbers came up with a comprehensive plan to keep the... Continue Reading →
Balance schmalance- when the powerful do it is in the ‘national interest’
So, I am writing an article; a proper academic article. Got me a journal in mind and everything. It's on incumbent strategies versus challenge(r)s, and uses multiple streams approach and defensive institutional work. Gonna have the sucker done (first draft) by the close of play on the 27th December if it kills me. Reading some... Continue Reading →
All in this together… Corporate (and State) use of “family” rhetoric
It makes my flesh crawl. That 'one team' bollocks, where our lords and masters (be they corporate or state) make out as if 'we're all in this together' - to quote the words of some already forgotten Tory Prime Minister. Yeah, right. So, I really want to read 'The Good Soldier Schweik' (after my thesis.... Continue Reading →
You Canute be serious! On Heresthetics, floods and much more
King Canute eh? What an arrogant tosser, thinking he could command the tide not to come in. Except I already knew he wasn't - that he had (probably) pulled the stunt - if he ever did- to get some of his more over-enthusiastically sycophantic courtiers to knock it off. What I didn't know was that... Continue Reading →
Suspicious minds and climate policy
Goering is alleged to have said that whenever he heard the word culture he reached for his revolver. For me, whendver I hear the word 'trap' I think of my Elvis. Specifically, 'We're caught in a trap. I can't walk out....' Meanwhile, this from an article Nair, S. and Howlett. 2015. From robustness to resilience:... Continue Reading →
The absence of structure is hierarchy
I went to a meeting (won't say if it was activist or academic or whatever - that's not the point). There was explicitly 'no agenda'. And we were then, without warning, asked to introduce ourselves (say what we had done, were doing and what we wanted to do around this particular issue/topic). And did they give... Continue Reading →
Epic streams epigram for the thesis!!!
"A new science of politics is indispensable to a new world. This, however, is what we think of least; launched in the middle of a rapid stream, we obstinately fix our eyes on the ruins which may still be described upon the shore we have left, whilst the current sweeps us along, and drives us... Continue Reading →
Last week in #Australian #Climate Politics – a bluffer’s guide
What happened? This week the government executed a massive policy backflip and its backbenchers weakened a leader who they despise and will probably knife quite soon. The opposition rolled its eyes and sighed and secretly squealed with delight. There were assurances that Australia is on track to meet its international obligations on emissions reductions when in... Continue Reading →
