Policy as Practice

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Understanding policy as practice means that policy does not so much take the shape of formal statements (decisions, rules, documents) but is both a process and outcome of the ordinary, situated, and embodied activities which policy actors routinely enact in the course of participating in the policy process. This chapter reviews how the historical development of policy studies is intimately tied up with analysis of practice and explains how practice theory provides a philosophical program that confirms and extends thinking of policy as practice. The chapter also considers a variety of ways in which practice has been analyzed and what has been gained from these studies and their different approaches. Finally, several methods and challenges involved with studying policy as practice are discussed.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationHandbook on Policy, Process and Governing
EditorsHal Colebatch, Robert Hoppe
PublisherEdward Elgar Publishing Ltd
Chapter5
ISBN (print)9781784714864
Publication statusPublished - Dec 2018
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