P01 Making politics visible through interpretive methods
Panel corresponding chair and review group chair:
Prue Brown, University of Queensland, p.brown3@uq.edu.au
Co-chairs:
Sarah Warner, University of Queensland, Australia
Dalia Mukhtar-Landgren, Lund University, Sweden
Panel Description
Interpretive methods can illuminate the often-hidden role of politics in the process of governing. They help us to understand how problems are constructed and understood, how ideas about causes and solutions are limited, and how change can be constrained through framing. Despite this, they continue to be overlooked by public management researchers and practitioners wedded to more traditional approaches. This panel explores how different interpretive methods can be used to unpack and understand evolving social-political-administrative relations challenges. Understanding the values, norms, power-relations and ideologies which underpin social-political-administrative relationships provides fresh insights into understanding change processes.
Call for papers
Interpretive methods highlight the normative biases that underpin contemporary discussions – problematizing the ways in which discourses around issues are framed and articulated. This in turn provides insights into enabling and constraining factors for transformative change.
We invite abstracts of up to 500 words (including references) that use interpretive methods to explore the politics involved in addressing policy responses to contemporary challenges. We take a broad approach to interpretive methods, because we acknowledge it is in this diversity that fresh insights are made possible. Papers that address the methodological challenges associated with mobilizing interpretive approaches are also welcome.