How ideas matter in public policy: a review of concepts, mechanisms, and methods

The recent ideational turn in political science and public administration implies that ideas matter. Ideas are an essential explanatory concept for understanding policy changes and decision-making processes. The aim of the paper is to specify how ideas matter as a variable in public policy research, providing students and scholars of public policy with a stock take of the current state-of-the-art literature on ideas in political science and public administration. The paper first identifies three approaches to ideas as a variable in the policy process. It then discusses where ideas come from and the dynamics and drivers of ideational change to shed light on the ideational mechanisms underpinning policy processes. Furthermore, it taps into different research methods that can be used to study ideas. Finally, the paper concludes with five lessons for future research endeavours on the study of ideas in public policy

Meaningful public engagement in the context of open science: reflections of early and mid-career academics

How is public engagement perceived to contribute to open science? This commentary highlights common reflections on this question from interviews with 12 public engagement fellows in Utrecht University’s Open Science Programme in the Netherlands. We identify four reasons why public engagement is an essential enabler of open science. Interaction between academics and society can: (1) better align science with the needs of society; (2) secure a relationship of trust between science and society; (3) increase the quality and impact of science; and (4) support the impact of open access and FAIR data practices (data which meet principles of findability, accessibility, interoperability and reusability). To be successful and sustainable, such public engagement requires support in skills training and a form of institutionalisation in a university-wide system, but, most of all, the fellows express the importance of a formal and informal recognition and rewards system. Our findings suggest that in order to make public engagement an integral part of open science, universities should invest in institutional support, create awareness, and stimulate dialogue among staff members on how to ‘do’ good public engagement

The role of EU leaders and ideas in managing the Eurozone crisis: navigating uncharted territory

What ideas guide European political leaders during a transboundary European crisis, and when and why do their ideas change? When faced with major political challenges in Europe, answers to these questions provide important insights to understand the complexity of European crisis management. In her dissertation 'The role of EU leaders and ideas in managing the Eurozone crisis: navigating uncharted territory', Marij Swinkels explored the role of ideas of European political leaders in the Eurozone crisis. In her dissertation, she shows how ideas shape leaders' responses to a transboundary crisis. First, contextual conditions (including economic pressure) and personality traits (such as a leaders’ belief to control events) influence the way leaders define a crisis as well as their ideas about the economy. Second, leaders with more stable and rigid ideas about a crisis or the economy limit the possibilities for joint decision-making. And third, frequent interaction between leaders can reduce ideational differences as a larger group of leaders with shared ideas assume important positions. This helps to create a joint response to cope with European crises. With her dissertation, Swinkels shows that crisis management in the EU is not a technical and rational process per se, but a struggle and puzzle about definitions of and solutions for a crisis

The role of EU leaders and ideas in managing the Eurozone crisis: navigating uncharted territory

What ideas guide European political leaders during a transboundary European crisis, and when and why do their ideas change? When faced with major political challenges in Europe, answers to these questions provide important insights to understand the complexity of European crisis management. In her dissertation 'The role of EU leaders and ideas in managing the Eurozone crisis: navigating uncharted territory', Marij Swinkels explored the role of ideas of European political leaders in the Eurozone crisis. In her dissertation, she shows how ideas shape leaders' responses to a transboundary crisis. First, contextual conditions (including economic pressure) and personality traits (such as a leaders’ belief to control events) influence the way leaders define a crisis as well as their ideas about the economy. Second, leaders with more stable and rigid ideas about a crisis or the economy limit the possibilities for joint decision-making. And third, frequent interaction between leaders can reduce ideational differences as a larger group of leaders with shared ideas assume important positions. This helps to create a joint response to cope with European crises. With her dissertation, Swinkels shows that crisis management in the EU is not a technical and rational process per se, but a struggle and puzzle about definitions of and solutions for a crisis

Economic ideology in the European semester

This paper examines how the European Commission’s policy ideas have shifted over the course of the European Semester, the European Union’s annual cycle of economic governance and policy coordination that has been in place since 2011. In doing so, it seeks to add to our understanding of the divergent fiscal policy responses in many EU countries to the global economic crises that followed the EU financial crisis and the Covid-19 crisis. Our analysis relies on a quantitative text analysis applied to a comprehensive suite of Semester documents that were published by the European Commission in the period from the aftermath of the financial crisis to present (2011-2022). We find evidence for a shift in the salience of economic ideology in these documents that over time has shifted from a more ordoliberal in a more Keynesian direction. We also observe country-specific differences in the country-specific reports with some countries Keynesian recommendations throughout the lifetime of the European semester, and other countries receiving distinctively ordoliberal recommendations. Our findings indicate that the EU’s fiscal policy response to Covid-19 has been underpinned by a gradual change in ideas among EU policymakers since the middle of the last decade