Douglas Torgerson
Biographic Data
| ID | 996477 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Douglas Torgerson |
| GIVEN NAMES | Douglas |
| FAMILY NAME | Torgerson |
| SIGNATURE | TORGERSON D |
| AFFILIATIONS | Trent University |
| ORCID | 0009-0008-0132-5735 |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 25 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 168 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 24 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 1 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1985 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 6 |
The policy sciences of Harold Lasswell: Contextual Orientation and the Critical Dimension
Harold Lasswell as distinct from his work: The method of immanent critique and its implications
Lasswell in the looking glass: Another look
For their responses to my Forum piece, ‘Lasswell in the Looking Glass,’ many thanks to Philippe Zittoun, Jennifer Dodge, Rosana Boullosa, and Holger Strassheim. Insightful and stimulating, their co
Lasswell in the looking glass: A ‘mirror’ for critical policy studies
Lasswell remains a notable figure, but is typically cast simply as an apostle of scientism and technocracy. Is there anything in his proposal for the policy sciences to be taken seriously by critical policy studies? This essay contends that the key is a commonality between the two approaches – both are critical and committed to democracy – such that Lasswell’s proposal can be taken as a ‘mirror’ for critical policy studies to better see itself. T…
Policy sciences and democracy: A reexamination
Introduction to critical policy studies
Handbook of Critical Policy Studies
Critical policy studies, as illustrated in this Handbook, challenges the conventional approaches public policy inquiry. But it offers important innovations as well, in particular its focus on discursive politics, policy argumentation and deliberation, and interpretive modes of analysis
Institutionalizing unsustainability: The paradox of global climate governance, by Hayley Stevenson
Handbook of Critical Policy Studies
Policy as a matter of opinion
With the ‘argumentative turn’ in policy studies showing us that knowledge is not what it used to be, it is time to consider the relevance of opinion. Revisiting the ancient opposition between knowledge and opinion, particularly in connection with the work of Hannah Arendt, we find that this opposition continues to figure prominently in contemporary policy and public discourses. The argument is that policy needs to be viewed, at least in part, as …
Policy discourse and public spheres: The Habermas paradox
Emerging attention to policy discourse and network models of governance render dubious Jürgen Habermas' claim that discourses do not govern. His position follows from a sharp delineation between civil society and the state and from a conceptual strategy, centering on a bifurcation of lifeworld and system, that tends to deflect attention from multiple, complex ways in which discourses connect public spheres with the policy process. Given his subst…
Trajectories of green political theory
The image of the Maltese falcon: Reconsidering an American icon
The image of the Maltese falcon is an American icon that has made repeated appearances in print, film and elsewhere since it was first presented in the pages of Black Mask magazine in 1929. When we return to Dashiell Hammett's text (published in novel form the following year), we find that this image actually involves a range of multiple images, the significance of which can be probed by considering a stylistic contrast between Hammett and anothe…
Constituting Green Democracy: A Political Project
Research Article| January 01 2008 Constituting Green Democracy: A Political Project Douglas Torgerson Douglas Torgerson Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google The Good Society (2008) 17 (2): 18–24. https://doi.org/10.2307/20711294 Cite Icon Cite Share Icon Share Twitter Permissions Search Site Citation Douglas Torgerson; Constituting Green Democracy: A Political Project. The Good Society 1 January 2008; 17 (2): 18–24. doi: htt…
Expanding the green public sphere: Post-colonial connections
With the emergence of many environmentalisms, the terms of discourse in the green public sphere are changing, particularly now to take account of international, transnational and global contexts. As it expands in scope, the green public sphere encounters a planet divided not only in regard to rich and poor countries, but also in relation to the legacy of colonialism. Examining the practical tendencies and theoretical prospects of green politics t…
Deliberative Democracy and the Environment
Deliberative Democracy and the Environment
Rethinking Politics for a Green Economy: A Political Approach to Radical Reform
Because the process of achieving a green economy is bound to be political, it is important how politics is understood. This essay employs a three‐dimensional model of politics (functional, constitutive, performative) in developing an approach to radical reform that accentuates political potentialities—understood in terms of debate, open exchanges of differing opinions. By exploring a central tension between the formal economy (associated with adm…
Farewell to the green movement? Political action and the green public sphere
Promising a new kind of politics, green politics might seem at odds with the instrumentalism of modern governance. With its various reformist and radical commitments, though, the green movement itself often appears distinctly and paradoxically instrumentalist. Some theorists would defend a strictly instrumental focus, but tendencies in both theory and practice affirm the importance of democratic citizenship and political action. The significance …
Policy Professionalism and the Voices of Dissent: The Case of Environmentalism
Policy professionalism, being largely committed to the orderly operation of established institutions, often appears starkly at odds with dissenting social movements oriented by the goals of transformative politics. Nonetheless, the two have consequences for one another. An examination of environmentalism shows how a dissenting social movement can influence conventional practices of policy professionalism at three levels: agenda-setting, problem d…
Priest and jester in the policy sciences: Developing the focus of inquiry
Toxic waste as public business
That there is some public responsibility for toxic waste management is a point widely taken for granted. However, there has been controversy over whether toxic waste management should become the responsibility primarily of a public corporation. Proposals for a public corporation to assume such responsibility have been advanced in Canada at the provincial level with widely varying outcomes. Through a comparison of three cases – British Columbia, A…
Managing Leviathan
Interpretive policy inquiry: A response to its limitations
Between knowledge and politics: Three faces of policy analysis
Contextual orientation in policy analysis: The contribution of Harold D. Lasswell
Between knowledge and politics: Three faces of policy analysis
Contextual orientation in policy analysis: The contribution of Harold D. Lasswell
Trajectories of green political theory
Farewell to the green movement? Political action and the green public sphere
Promising a new kind of politics, green politics might seem at odds with the instrumentalism of modern governance. With its various reformist and radical commitments, though, the green movement itself often appears distinctly and paradoxically instrumentalist. Some theorists would defend a strictly instrumental focus, but tendencies in both theory and practice affirm the importance of democratic citizenship and political action. The significance …
Interpretive policy inquiry: A response to its limitations
Policy discourse and public spheres: The Habermas paradox
Emerging attention to policy discourse and network models of governance render dubious Jürgen Habermas' claim that discourses do not govern. His position follows from a sharp delineation between civil society and the state and from a conceptual strategy, centering on a bifurcation of lifeworld and system, that tends to deflect attention from multiple, complex ways in which discourses connect public spheres with the policy process. Given his subst…
Policy Professionalism and the Voices of Dissent: The Case of Environmentalism
Policy professionalism, being largely committed to the orderly operation of established institutions, often appears starkly at odds with dissenting social movements oriented by the goals of transformative politics. Nonetheless, the two have consequences for one another. An examination of environmentalism shows how a dissenting social movement can influence conventional practices of policy professionalism at three levels: agenda-setting, problem d…
Priest and jester in the policy sciences: Developing the focus of inquiry
Lasswell in the looking glass: A ‘mirror’ for critical policy studies
Lasswell remains a notable figure, but is typically cast simply as an apostle of scientism and technocracy. Is there anything in his proposal for the policy sciences to be taken seriously by critical policy studies? This essay contends that the key is a commonality between the two approaches – both are critical and committed to democracy – such that Lasswell’s proposal can be taken as a ‘mirror’ for critical policy studies to better see itself. T…
Policy sciences and democracy: A reexamination
Expanding the green public sphere: Post-colonial connections
With the emergence of many environmentalisms, the terms of discourse in the green public sphere are changing, particularly now to take account of international, transnational and global contexts. As it expands in scope, the green public sphere encounters a planet divided not only in regard to rich and poor countries, but also in relation to the legacy of colonialism. Examining the practical tendencies and theoretical prospects of green politics t…
Toxic waste as public business
That there is some public responsibility for toxic waste management is a point widely taken for granted. However, there has been controversy over whether toxic waste management should become the responsibility primarily of a public corporation. Proposals for a public corporation to assume such responsibility have been advanced in Canada at the provincial level with widely varying outcomes. Through a comparison of three cases – British Columbia, A…
Constituting Green Democracy: A Political Project
Research Article| January 01 2008 Constituting Green Democracy: A Political Project Douglas Torgerson Douglas Torgerson Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google The Good Society (2008) 17 (2): 18–24. https://doi.org/10.2307/20711294 Cite Icon Cite Share Icon Share Twitter Permissions Search Site Citation Douglas Torgerson; Constituting Green Democracy: A Political Project. The Good Society 1 January 2008; 17 (2): 18–24. doi: htt…
Contextual orientation in policy analysis: The contribution of Harold D. Lasswell
Interpretive policy inquiry: A response to its limitations
Between knowledge and politics: Three faces of policy analysis
Managing Leviathan
Priest and jester in the policy sciences: Developing the focus of inquiry
Toxic waste as public business
That there is some public responsibility for toxic waste management is a point widely taken for granted. However, there has been controversy over whether toxic waste management should become the responsibility primarily of a public corporation. Proposals for a public corporation to assume such responsibility have been advanced in Canada at the provincial level with widely varying outcomes. Through a comparison of three cases – British Columbia, A…
Policy Professionalism and the Voices of Dissent: The Case of Environmentalism
Policy professionalism, being largely committed to the orderly operation of established institutions, often appears starkly at odds with dissenting social movements oriented by the goals of transformative politics. Nonetheless, the two have consequences for one another. An examination of environmentalism shows how a dissenting social movement can influence conventional practices of policy professionalism at three levels: agenda-setting, problem d…
Farewell to the green movement? Political action and the green public sphere
Promising a new kind of politics, green politics might seem at odds with the instrumentalism of modern governance. With its various reformist and radical commitments, though, the green movement itself often appears distinctly and paradoxically instrumentalist. Some theorists would defend a strictly instrumental focus, but tendencies in both theory and practice affirm the importance of democratic citizenship and political action. The significance …
Rethinking Politics for a Green Economy: A Political Approach to Radical Reform
Because the process of achieving a green economy is bound to be political, it is important how politics is understood. This essay employs a three‐dimensional model of politics (functional, constitutive, performative) in developing an approach to radical reform that accentuates political potentialities—understood in terms of debate, open exchanges of differing opinions. By exploring a central tension between the formal economy (associated with adm…
Deliberative Democracy and the Environment
Deliberative Democracy and the Environment
Expanding the green public sphere: Post-colonial connections
With the emergence of many environmentalisms, the terms of discourse in the green public sphere are changing, particularly now to take account of international, transnational and global contexts. As it expands in scope, the green public sphere encounters a planet divided not only in regard to rich and poor countries, but also in relation to the legacy of colonialism. Examining the practical tendencies and theoretical prospects of green politics t…
The image of the Maltese falcon: Reconsidering an American icon
The image of the Maltese falcon is an American icon that has made repeated appearances in print, film and elsewhere since it was first presented in the pages of Black Mask magazine in 1929. When we return to Dashiell Hammett's text (published in novel form the following year), we find that this image actually involves a range of multiple images, the significance of which can be probed by considering a stylistic contrast between Hammett and anothe…
Constituting Green Democracy: A Political Project
Research Article| January 01 2008 Constituting Green Democracy: A Political Project Douglas Torgerson Douglas Torgerson Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google The Good Society (2008) 17 (2): 18–24. https://doi.org/10.2307/20711294 Cite Icon Cite Share Icon Share Twitter Permissions Search Site Citation Douglas Torgerson; Constituting Green Democracy: A Political Project. The Good Society 1 January 2008; 17 (2): 18–24. doi: htt…
Trajectories of green political theory
Policy discourse and public spheres: The Habermas paradox
Emerging attention to policy discourse and network models of governance render dubious Jürgen Habermas' claim that discourses do not govern. His position follows from a sharp delineation between civil society and the state and from a conceptual strategy, centering on a bifurcation of lifeworld and system, that tends to deflect attention from multiple, complex ways in which discourses connect public spheres with the policy process. Given his subst…
Policy as a matter of opinion
With the ‘argumentative turn’ in policy studies showing us that knowledge is not what it used to be, it is time to consider the relevance of opinion. Revisiting the ancient opposition between knowledge and opinion, particularly in connection with the work of Hannah Arendt, we find that this opposition continues to figure prominently in contemporary policy and public discourses. The argument is that policy needs to be viewed, at least in part, as …
Introduction to critical policy studies
Handbook of Critical Policy Studies
Critical policy studies, as illustrated in this Handbook, challenges the conventional approaches public policy inquiry. But it offers important innovations as well, in particular its focus on discursive politics, policy argumentation and deliberation, and interpretive modes of analysis
Institutionalizing unsustainability: The paradox of global climate governance, by Hayley Stevenson
Handbook of Critical Policy Studies
Policy sciences and democracy: A reexamination
Lasswell in the looking glass: A ‘mirror’ for critical policy studies
Lasswell remains a notable figure, but is typically cast simply as an apostle of scientism and technocracy. Is there anything in his proposal for the policy sciences to be taken seriously by critical policy studies? This essay contends that the key is a commonality between the two approaches – both are critical and committed to democracy – such that Lasswell’s proposal can be taken as a ‘mirror’ for critical policy studies to better see itself. T…
Lasswell in the looking glass: Another look
For their responses to my Forum piece, ‘Lasswell in the Looking Glass,’ many thanks to Philippe Zittoun, Jennifer Dodge, Rosana Boullosa, and Holger Strassheim. Insightful and stimulating, their co
Harold Lasswell as distinct from his work: The method of immanent critique and its implications
The policy sciences of Harold Lasswell: Contextual Orientation and the Critical Dimension
Political science (23 works) · Law (17 works) · Politics (15 works) · Sociology (15 works) · Law (14 works) · Philosophy (12 works) · Economics (11 works) · Epistemology (11 works) · Philosophy (10 works) · Public Administration (9 works)