Explaining styles of political judgement in British government

Comparing Isolation Dynamics (1959–1974)

Datos Bibliográficos

ID6296259
AutoresPerri Six (Queen Mary University of London, autor de correspondencia)
Año2016
Volumen36
Número2
Páginas219-250
Fecha de publicación2016-06-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaJournal of Public Policy (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0143-814X • E-ISSN: 1469-7815
EditorialCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0143814x15000100
OpenAlexW2096947034
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas6
Referencias citadas38

During their time in office, British governments’ styles of political judgement or bias in policymaking often become shorter in term and less intellectually coherent, sometimes in passive or coping ways, sometimes shifting toward imposition. This article offers an explanation, developing the neo-Durkheimian theory of institutional dynamics. Changing judgement style, it argues, is driven by changes in administrations’ informal institutional ordering of social organisation. “Isolation dynamics” are shifts in that ordering towards weakly cohesive but strongly constrained “isolate” forms. Increased isolate ordering is reflected in less cohesive but more constrained judgement style. Novel distinctions within isolate ordering explain key differences among administrations’ trajectories. Using extensive archival data, three British administrations between 1959 and 1974 are compared. The study finds that, among otherwise contrasting administrations, reinforcement or undermining in informal social organisation drove changes in styles of political judgement, as shown in their ways of framing policy problems, risks, time horizons, etc

Coping (psychology · Dynamics (music · Economics · Framing (construction · Geography · Isolation (microbiology · Judgement · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Positive economics · Sociology · Style (visual arts · Critical Realism in Sociology · Law · Management and Organizational Studies · Psychology · Social and Cultural Dynamics · Social Psychology