From Interpretation to Transformation: Action Research, Co-Production and Policy Change

Abstract

From its very inception, Interpretive Policy Analysis (IPA) has boasted an ambition to be transformative; i.e., to generate fundamental change in everyday policy practices and processes as well as in the discursive, material and institutional contexts these are nested in (Grin, 2018). Arising in an era of societal and political turmoil, it set out to develop an alternative form of policy analysis that would enhance democracy, social justice and equality. These transformative ambitions were cast in a critical epistemological mould (Fischer et al., 2015): by interpreting the unheeded meanings of policy from the perspective of policy actors, revealing the implicit values, beliefs and power inequalities underpinning their behaviour and relationships, and intervening in the complexities, patterns and conflicts of their everyday practices, interpretive approaches have sought to challenge and change the nature, purpose and impact of policy and policy analysis. However, paraphrasing Wagenaar (2015, 436), IPA is not transformative by default. The impact of IPA on dominant modes of policy-making and analysis is debatable (Bartels et al., 2020a; Colebatch and Hoppe, 2018; Ojha et al. 2015). Its critical function has often been limited to analytical engagement with ‘policy as text’ rather than active intervention in policy practice. Moreover, policy makers still tend to desire neutral knowledge that supports rather than challenges authoritative decision-making. And the silent disappearance of the annual IPA conference makes the community less visible as a force to be reckoned with. This is all the more troubling given the continued growth of this community and the simultaneous increase in the need for urgent and sustainable responses to the complex problems governments and societies nowadays face. Therefore, the key question this panel addresses is: how can IPA move from interpretation to transformation? An important development in this direction has been the surge of action research, coproduction and related approaches (Bartels and Wittmayer, 2014, 2018; Richardson and Durose, 2016). A rich variety of approaches has emerged aimed at collaborating with policy actors in producing knowledge and action that changes policy problems and systems. A case in point is that action research approaches have proved key to the recent revival of Deliberative Policy Analysis (Li and Wagenaar, 2019; Bartels et al., 2020a), giving it a more methodical character and strengthening its interventionist and collaborative practices. Besides enriching its methodological repertoire, action research provides of IPA with a more solid philosophical foundation, a focus on the institutional organization of policy and academic systems, and a heuristic framework for generating policy change and sustainability transitions. Building on these developments, the main aims of this panel are to: 1. critically explore the transformative ambitions and potential of IPA; 2. showcase empirical evidence of action research approaches aiming to generate policy change; 3. set an agenda for how IPA can become more widely recognised as a transformative force. The papers in this panel offer perspectives and practical strategies for IPA to more pronouncedly step into the limelight and make its mark on a world besieged by sustainability crises.

Title	Details
Promoting Community Resilience in the Italian Post-Earthquake Areas: The Developmental Oriented Monitoring and Evaluation (DOME) Design as a Form of Emancipatory Action Research	View Paper Details
Social Labs as Dedicated Arrangements for Action Research to Provoke Institutional Change	View Paper Details
Developing Flood Resilience Through Collaboration: Action Research with Water Professionals and Residents in Hull, UK	View Paper Details