Habermas, critical theory and public policy
Research output: Contributions to collected editions/works › Chapter › peer-review
Standard
Handbook of Critical Policy Studies. ed. / Frank Fischer; Douglas Torgerson; Anna Durnová; Michael Orsini. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing, 2015. p. 67-91 (Handbooks of Research on Public Policy).
Research output: Contributions to collected editions/works › Chapter › peer-review
Harvard
APA
Vancouver
Bibtex
}
RIS
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 -