Dr. Janni Aragon (University of Victoria) recently guest lectured in my POLI 350A Public Policy class, on feminist theories in Canadian public policy (thank you for coming all the way to guest lecture!). I’m delighted with the infectious enthusiasm that you (my students) showed and how engaged you were with Dr. Aragon’s seminar. She will be making her slides available and I will upload them on to Vista as well as post a link to the PDF on here. What was your main take-away from Dr. Aragon’s guest lecture?
Category: conversation
Last class, I asked you whether you could think of any situation in which only rational choice were the only explanatory variable. One of your colleagues asked me if there was any case of policy evolution where we could ONLY attribute the change using rational choice theory and NOT neo-institutionalism. I was a bit stumped because I have evolved from being primarily a rational-choice theorist to placing more importance in institutions (thus becoming a neo-institutionalist). So it was hard for me to think of any potential case study where ONLY rational choice can be used to explain.
My research work has always involved multiple and very diverse theoretical frameworks to explain policy change. I think there is enormous value to use a variety of explanatory frameworks and explore the same policy issue through different theoretical lenses. Chris’ question made me think about a good exercise for next lecture. In next class we will explore one case through THREE theoretical frameworks (neo-institutionalism, rational choice and constructivism).
It’s only week 3, but we are beginning to explore the underlying theories of the policy process. As we move through the process, it’s important to remember that public policy has many facets. There are a myriad of policy objectives, fiscal constraints, power asymmetries and conflicting values in every public policy decision.
Decisions that affect us include urban growth and industrial expansion. Recently, Vancouver Councillor Andrea Reimer published her views on the Metro Vancouver Regional Growth Strategy. I urge you to read them, and then come back to this blog post and share your views.
I will be talking with Councillor Reimer about this and other public policy issues of interest to our course soon and will keep you posted.