Rejecting the notion that policy analysis and planning are value-free technical endeavors, an argumentative approach takes into account the ways that policy is affected by other factors, including culture, discourse, and emotion. The contributors to this new collection consider how far argumentative policy analysis has come during the past two decades and how its theories continue to be refined through engagement with current thinking in social theory and with the real-life challenges facing contemporary policy makers.
The approach speaks in particular to the limits of rationalistic, technoscientific policy making in the complex, unpredictable world of the early twenty-first century. These limits have been starkly illustrated by responses to events such as the environmental crisis, the near collapse of the world economy, and the disaster at the nuclear power plant in Fukushima, Japan. Addressing topics including deliberative democracy, collaborative planning, new media, rhetoric, policy frames, and transformative learning, the essays shed new light on the ways that policy is communicatively created, conveyed, understood, and implemented. Taken together, they show argumentative policy inquiry to be an urgently needed approach to policy analysis and planning.
Contributors. Giovanni Attili, Hubertus Buchstein, Stephen Coleman, John S. Dryzek, Frank Fischer, Herbert Gottweis, Steven Griggs, Mary Hawkesworth, Patsy Healey, Carolyn M. Hendriks, David Howarth, Dirk Joerke, Alan Mandell, Leonie Sandercock, Vivien A. Schmidt, Sanford F. Schram
Industry Reviews
"The Argumentative Turn Revisited is a must-read for anyone interested in understanding and improving democracy in policy and planning. Through theoretical refinement and new empirical examples, the contributors do an excellent job of further developing an already-strong approach to policy analysis and planning research." Bent Flyvbjerg, author of Making Social Science Matter: Why Social Inquiry Fails and How It Can Succeed Again "Given the strength of the argumentative turn in scholarly circles and its still-growing promise in policy studies, these essays by important figures in argumentative analysis will be welcomed by policy scholars and practitioners alike. Many rank-and-file social scientists still associate this school of thought with Habermasian communicative action/deliberative action frameworks. This collection recalls those origins even as it shows how far the argumentative turn has progressed beyond them. It should be used far and wide." Timothy Luke, Director, Center for Digital Discourse and Culture, Virginia Tech "The argumentative turn in policy analysis has taken another major turn for the better. Whether one accepts the arguments presented here or not, they cannot be ignored and this book contains an impressive collection of essays advancing this approach to policy." B. Guy Peters, co-author of Interactive Governance: Advancing the Paradigm
