The Plausibility of Policy: Case studies from the social domain

__Abstract__ The social domain has seen a growing debate on the effectiveness of public measures. The realisation is taking shape that the legitimacy of social policies – such as the socialisation of vulnerable groups, anti-radicalisation programs or regeneration projects in deprived neighbourhoods – has to go beyond the intuition that they ‘should’ work. But unlike methods in spheres such as medicine and healthcare, social programs typically have no sharp demarcation in time, intensity or target group and are implemented in a rich context of unforeseen and unknown variables. This makes it difficult (if not impossible) to assess their impact with research methods that centralise a monocausal effect. In The Plausibility of Policy, Vasco Lub presents alternative approaches for assessing the likelihood to which social policy measures achieve their intended effects. One of his main lines of argument is to confront policy assumptions with existing scientific data. In doing so, he sheds light on how such measures can be assessed and to what degree claims about those intended effects can be substantiated

An expert-based assessment of global threats and conservation measures for spiders

Despite the prominent role of spiders in most ecosystems, these invertebrates are still notably endangered as well as underrepresented in current conservation efforts. We sent a survey to spider experts and enthusiasts belonging to arachnological societies across the globe to determine the general consensus on globally relevant threats to spiders as well as the most relevant conservation measures. We report that respondents found agriculture, livestock farming & forestry, climate change, urbanisation and pollution (including pesticides) to be the most relevant threats to spider species worldwide. Likewise, land protection and education & awareness were considered the most relevant conservation measures to avoid species declines and extinctions. Although these results tend to be consistent across the biogeographic regions of expertise of respondents, there was significant variation between regions. We discuss the support and justification for the patterns found, their regional variations, and the relevance of threats and conservation measures. This is the first global roadmap for spider species conservation action and research. In general, land should be set aside for species protection, agroforestry practices should be carefully considered, climate change should be mitigated, and the general public should be made more aware of spiders, their importance and the threats they face.Peer reviewe

A evolução da caprinovinocultura brasileira.

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Perceptions of Neighbourhood Safety and Policy Response: A Qualitative Approach

Safety perceptions of residents are often analysed through surveys and compared with factual crime developments. Using the Dutch city of Rotterdam as an urban context of improved crime levels, this article provides a critique on standardised surveys in the research of safety perceptions and its presupposed connection to factual crime. Contrasting survey results from the Rotterdam Safety Index with qualitative data from 64 in-depth interviews in four districts, the qualitative narrative contradicts findings from the survey and implies more nuanced and diversified policy responses to safety issues. Because of the tendency of surveys to connect safety perceptions to factual crime, their unsuitability to catch subtle perceptions and their inability to expose new viewpoints, we argue for de-quantification: a lesser dependency on—but not a repeal of—survey data in this area, supplemented by a periodic qualitative approach in the research of crime and safety information (qualitative monitoring)