Zombie Ideas: Why Failed Policy Ideas Persist

ISBN-13: 9781108926034 / Angielski / Miękka / 2020 / 75 str.

Brainard Guy Peters; Maximilian Lennart Nagel

Opis

Why do governments continue to use policy ideas that have failed in the past?

Recenzje

'Sadly, for an empirical discipline such as public policy analysis, the world is full of ideas that do not die and resist empirical falsification, 'no matter how often they are disproved' (p.7). The zombies are everywhere, in security issues, social policy, innovation and regulation - for example, 'prohibition is the means to address substance abuse' (par.2.7). This was, for me, the most entertaining reading. Beyond being a pleasure to read, this volume raises and answers fundamental questions: where do zombie ideas come from? How do they become zombie after they are proved wrong? Why do they survive? This is the analytical juice of this Element: it takes an important pressing problem and leverages the best explanations available to handle it. The public anxieties about post-truth are a natural reference for the readers of this Element.' Claudio M. Radaelli, Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis: Research and Practice

Spis treści

1. Policy ideas and public problems; 2. What do we mean by zombie ideas?; 3. Why do zombie ideas persist?; 4. The uses of zombie ideas; 5. How do ideas become zombies?; 6. Hypotheses about the likelihood of zombie ideas; 7. Conclusions.