Calls for papers

 

International Journal of Public Policy

 

Special Issue on: "Complexity and Public Policy"

Guest Editors:
Prof. Naresh Singh, Jindal School Government and Public Policy; O. P. Jindal Global University, India
Prof. Wolfram Elsner, University of Bremen, Germany
Prof. Victor A. Beker, University of Belgrano; University of Buenos Aires, Argentina
Prof. Anirban Chakraborti, BML Munjal University, India

The traditional approach to public policy making views the world as being linear and highly deterministic leading to hierarchical organisational structures and providing a sense of comfort to policymakers to feel they are in control of the process. Such a worldview has served us well from the time of Newton and Descartes. However, upon entering the Anthropocene and with the rapid growth in the complexity of social, ecological, and economic systems, there is increasing recognition of the issues and limitations of contemporary public policy making. As public policy is becoming more complex, traditional tools and methods with their limited capabilities cannot alone address the current and emergent wicked policy problems.

This special issue aims to puts together the novel approach of understanding and intervening in the complex systems - complexity theory/complex adaptive systems thinking - towards improving the theory and practice of public policy. Complexity-inspired approaches have been growing since 1990s and now have become established in policy thinking and policymaking systems with contributions from research, modelling, and applications in social, economic and ecological systems. It has been used in several government research and policy applications in organisations such as the OECD, EU, and countries like Australia, USA and the UK. But it is nowhere near its full potential.

Nonetheless, the pursuit of complexity thinking in public policy has not been free of challenges on both theoretical and practical grounds. It is still difficult to judge how far we know the complexity and how much more we need to learn. Current perspectives are still largely infused with the traditional, linear cause and effect, reductionist thinking. This contributes to how the language of complexity is presented in a simplistic way to policymakers and elected officials who deal with complex policymaking. A key question for future investigations in levelling the playing field on both the theoretical and pragmatic fronts is the provision of straightforward evidence and solutions from complexity researchers and practitioners to the real-world policy problems, as well as encourage policy makers to engage and contribute to the development and understanding of complexity thinking to bring it to the real-world policy setting.

We will attempt to fill a clear niche to cultivate ‘complexity thinking’ in the theory and practice of the policy making world drawn on the concepts, tools, models, and methods of complexity, take action accordingly, and invite others to do so through greater engagement. In this respect, it especially welcomes submissions in the form of original research and review articles from multi-disciplinary and inter-disciplinary researchers and practitioners focused on the advancement of complexity thinking to the philosophy, methodology and real-world case studies in the social, physical, economic, and ecological systems with implications for policy making systems.

Subject Coverage
Suitable topics include, but are not limited, to the following:

• Importance of complexity to public policy
• Complexity, economics and policy
• Complexity and financial system regulation
• Complexity theory in health policy
• Complexity theory and education sector
• Sustainable development policy and complexity thinking
• Innovation and complexity
• Complex systems and urban dynamics
• Complexity implications for public administration
• Complexity, conflicts and crime
• Complexity implications in an economically productive sector such as energy, industry, agriculture, transport, tourism, forestry, mining, etc.
• Complexity, power and politics
• Complexity thinking, law and policy
• Policy design, monitoring and evaluation in complex situations

Notes for Prospective Authors

Submitted papers should not have been previously published nor be currently under consideration for publication elsewhere. (N.B. Conference papers may only be submitted if the paper has been completely re-written and if appropriate written permissions have been obtained from any copyright holders of the original paper).

All papers are refereed through a peer review process.

All papers must be submitted online. To submit a paper, please read our Submitting articles page.

Important Dates

Manuscripts due by: 31 July, 2022