Policy History, Theory, and Methods Commons^™

The Ballot Question: Citizen Initiatives, Institutions, And The Policy Process, Ty Rhoads

Dissertations

State-level policymaking remains undertheorized relative to its federal counterpart, particularly in states where institutionalized direct democracy creates a parallel channel for policy change outside the legislature. This dissertation develops a novel theoretical framework for the state policy process by adapting punctuated equilibrium theory to American state politics, integrating it with party cartel theory and the concept of legislative policy monopolies. The central argument is that citizen initiatives and legislative referrals are structurally distinct policy venues whose ideological profiles, policy magnitudes, and electoral dynamics are systematically shaped by the partisan context of the legislature. Using Missouri as a case study spanning …

On The Indispensability Of Natural Law On The Moral Theory Of The State, David W. Bolton

Liberty University Journal of Statesmanship & Public Policy

Natural Law is widely regarded as a set of universal moral standards in which the acknowledgement of the differences between right and wrong are inherent in people, not created by society or lawmakers. It is based on the consistent nature of man as opposed to varying cultural standards and is unchanged by time or circumstance. Many thinkers throughout history have offered their educated opinions on the matter of Natural Law and the moral theory of the State. The Social Contract theory of the Modern Secular thinkers of the 17^th century was considered a break with classical and traditional Christian …

Selected U.S. Government Statistical Agencies And Their Data, Bert Chapman

Libraries Faculty and Staff Presentations

Provides introductory and detailed overview of U.S. Government agencies statistics. Includes examples of how an individual U.S. law authorizes government agencies to compile statistics for particular congressional committees and the general public. Statistics cover topics such as demography, defense, foreign assistance, economic growth, criminal justice, energy, Social Security, and Medicare.

Nevada’S Secret Killer: Opioid Deaths, Vanessa Marie Booth

Calvert Undergraduate Research Awards

Emerging Scholars Winner

Presented in this study is an analysis of the Nevada opioid crisis and how a viable solution can impact its severity. It does so in a public policy environment while synthesizing outside sources to support the presented claims. The scope of this study is to present a problem, cause, solution scenario on how to solve this policy problem. This study also takes into consideration Nevada’s current economic state amid the coronavirus (COVID-19). In addition, this analysis also addresses the history behind the opioid epidemic across the United States and how it is impacting Nevada in present times. …

The Catholic Church And Its Impact On Public Policy In Contemporary Democracies, Dawid Tatarczyk

Dissertations

The overarching aim of this dissertation was to examine the extent to which the Catholic Church is still a significant public policy actor in 35 economically developed democracies. The research design used in this project draws on three distinct approaches, each addressing a different puzzle but when integrated together they provide an answer to the main question. Taken together these three approaches show that the Catholic Church continues to be an important political institution with considerable influence even in economically developed democracies.

The rational choice institutionalism paradigm is used to explain the political behavior of the Catholic Church. The paradigm …

Crowdsourcing: A New Tool For Policy-Making?, Araz Taeihagh

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Crowdsourcing is rapidly evolving and applied in situations where ideas, labour, opinion or expertise of large groups of people is used. Crowdsourcing is now used in various policy-making initiatives; however, this use has usually focused on open collaboration platforms and specific stages of the policy process, such as agenda-setting and policy evaluations. Other forms of crowdsourcing have been neglected in policy-making, with a few exceptions. This article examines crowdsourcing as a tool for policy-making and explores the nuances of the technology and its use and implications for different stages of the policy process. The article addresses questions surrounding the role …

From Tools To Toolkits In Policy Design Studies: The New Design Orientation Towards Policy Formulation Research, Michael Howlett, Ishani Mukherjee, Jun Jie Woo

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

A roadmap for `new policy design' studies now exists in the orientation which has emerged in recent years towards the formulation of complex policy mixes.The new design orientation focuses on bundles or portfolios of tools and the interactive effects which occur when multiple tools are used over time in policy packages designed to address multiple goals, and upon more complex multi-policy and multi-level design contexts.This review article examines the differences between the `old' instrument orientation and the `new' design one, setting out the current research agenda in this field and its rationale.

Policy Design And Non-Design: Towards A Spectrum Of Policy Formulation Types, Michael Howlett, Ishani Mukherjee

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Public policies are the result of efforts made by governments to alter aspects of behaviour—both that of their ownagents and of society at large—in order to carry out some end or purpose. They are comprised of arrangements of policygoals and policy means matched through some decision-making process. These policy-making efforts can be more,or less, systematic in attempting to match ends and means in a logical fashion or can result from much less systematicprocesses. “Policy design” implies a knowledge-based process in which the choice of means or mechanisms throughwhich policy goals are given effect follows a logical process of inference from …

The Value Of Words: Narrative As Evidence In Policymaking, Dmitry Epstein, Josiah Heidt, Cynthia R. Farina

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

Policymakers today rely primarily on statistical, financial, and other forms of technical data as their basis for decision-making. Yet, there is a potentially underestimated value in substantive reflections of the members of the public who will be affected by a particular piece of regulation. We discuss the value of narratives as input in the policy making process, based on our experience with Regulation Room–a product of an interdisciplinary initiative using innovative web technologies in real-time online experimentation. We describe professional policymakers and professional commenters as a community of practice that has limited shared repertoire with the lay members of the …

Advancing A Qualitative-Based Research Construct: Methods And Applications, Chien-Tsung Lu, Jennifer Kirschner, Brent D. Bowen, Erin E. Bowen

Aviation Technology Faculty and Staff Publications

A research framework, or construct, provides researchers with generally accepted guidelines to organize scholarly efforts and foster methodological rigor. Over time, many qualitative research frameworks have become fully vetted and recognized, including action research, grounded theory, and phenomenology, among many others. The Policy Research Construct has also evolved over the last decade into a refined framework for use in qualitative and mixed method studies. This paper continues to define the PRC and includes a meta-review of multiple applications of the PRC to examine policy-related research questions, as well as organizational change and program effectiveness research.

Disabilities Through The Capability Approach Lens: Implications For Public Policies Handicap Au Travers De L’Approche Par Les Capabilités: Quelles Implications Pour Les Politiques Publiques ?, Jean-Francois Trani, Parul Bakhshi, Nicol Bellanca, Mario Biggeri, Francesca Marchetta

Brown School Faculty Publications

This paper explores the contribution of the capability approach of Amartya Sen and other authors to policy making in the specific case of disability policy. After reviewing existing models, their translation into action and their limitations in this regard, the paper introduces a new policy framework based on the capability approach. In particular, we introduce a new measure of functionings and capabilities. We investigate ways of measuring the gap between functionings, what people are able to do and be, and capabilities – the valuable practical opportunities people have and choose from. The possibility of the elaboration of such a disability …

A Model Of Criminal Process: Game Theory And Law, Robert L. Birmingham

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.