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Public Inquiries and Policy Design

Public Inquiries and Policy Design

Public Inquiries and Policy Design

Alastair Stark, University of Queensland
Sophie Yates, Australian National University, Canberra
May 2024
This ISBN is for an eBook version which is distributed on our behalf by a third party.
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9781009286862
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    Public inquiries regularly produce outcomes of importance to policy design. However, the policy design literature has largely ignored the many important ways that public inquiries can act as policy design tools, meaning the functions that inquiries can offer the policy designer are not properly understood. This Element addresses this gap in two ways. First, it presents a theoretical discussion, underpinned by international empirical illustrations, to explain how inquiries perform policy design roles and can be classified as procedural policy tools. It focuses on four inquiry functions – catalytic, learning, processual, and legitimation. Second, it addresses the challenge of designing inquiries that have the policy-facing capacities required to make them effective. It introduces plurality as a key variable influencing effectiveness, demonstrating its relevance to internal inquiry operations, the external inquiry environment, and policy tool selection. Thus, it combines conceptual and practical insights to speak to academic and practice orientated audiences.

    Product details

    May 2024
    Adobe eBook Reader
    9781009286862
    0 pages
    This ISBN is for an eBook version which is distributed on our behalf by a third party.

    Table of Contents

    • 1. The public inquiry: an idiosyncratic institution
    • 2. Theorizing inquiries as policy tools
    • 3. What can inquiries offer the policy designer?
    • 4. Designing effective inquiries
    • 5. Conclusion
    • References.
      Authors
    • Alastair Stark , University of Queensland
    • Sophie Yates , Australian National University, Canberra