TY - CHAP

T1 - Habermas, critical theory and public policy

AU - Saretzki, Thomas

PY - 2015/12/18

Y1 - 2015/12/18

N2 - Habermas influenced the field of policy studies indirectly by stimulating critical insights on epistemological and methodological issues and on the relation of theory and practice. His work inspired policy scholars on their way from conventional policy analysis to critical policy studies. To get a sense of the corresponding elements and significance of Habermas for the development of policy studies, the chapter starts with a short recollection of the program for the policy sciences of democracy and its conceptual problems between scientific methods and democracy. Recalling Habermas’s interventions in the positivist dispute, the technocracy debate and the controversy on the relation of hermeneutics and critical theory, the chapter then goes on to explain why policy scholars committed to democratizing policy deliberation found an interest in Habermas and how his theoretical perspectives and concepts played a role in the discussion on policy evaluation. The chapter ends in a self-reflective and self-critical sense, considering some of the problems that have been experienced by those who tried to recommend his concepts to design and implement strategies to democratize processes of policy analysis and policy-making.

AB - Habermas influenced the field of policy studies indirectly by stimulating critical insights on epistemological and methodological issues and on the relation of theory and practice. His work inspired policy scholars on their way from conventional policy analysis to critical policy studies. To get a sense of the corresponding elements and significance of Habermas for the development of policy studies, the chapter starts with a short recollection of the program for the policy sciences of democracy and its conceptual problems between scientific methods and democracy. Recalling Habermas’s interventions in the positivist dispute, the technocracy debate and the controversy on the relation of hermeneutics and critical theory, the chapter then goes on to explain why policy scholars committed to democratizing policy deliberation found an interest in Habermas and how his theoretical perspectives and concepts played a role in the discussion on policy evaluation. The chapter ends in a self-reflective and self-critical sense, considering some of the problems that have been experienced by those who tried to recommend his concepts to design and implement strategies to democratize processes of policy analysis and policy-making.

KW - Politics

KW - Policy

KW - Kritische Theorie

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85022129136&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.4337/9781783472352.00009

DO - 10.4337/9781783472352.00009

M3 - Chapter

SN - 978-1-78347-234-5

T3 - Handbooks of Research on Public Policy

SP - 67

EP - 91

BT - Handbook of Critical Policy Studies

A2 - Fischer, Frank

A2 - Torgerson, Douglas

A2 - Durnová, Anna

A2 - Orsini, Michael

PB - Edward Elgar Publishing

CY - Cheltenham, UK

ER -