Magical Thinking In Public Policy

This book explores why naïve ideals about better policymaking persist even in cynical times, revealing the careful reflection at the heart of what appears to be 'magical thinking' in public policy. Contemporary policy scholarship tends to be cynical about movements to reform policymaking by making it more rational or more democratic. Scholars point to the pathologies and vagaries of realpolitik that render ideals such as evidence-based policymaking, long-term prevention, collaboration, transparency, and citizen engagement unattainable. Increasingly, many go further to warn about the democratic dangers of pursuing these foolhardy goals. The fact is, however, that scholarly objections about political obstacles and practical constraints are not news to policy actors themselves - they are acutely aware of the challenges of policy work amid uncertainty, complexity and contestation. They privately express doubt, frustration, and cynicism, but they continue to support, promote, and work towards these key aspirations in practice. Through rich case studies and wide-ranging theoretical discussion, John Boswell offers novel insights into the continuing appeal of seemingly naïve ideals. In particular, he shows how turning to these ideals helps actors to reconcile and resolve key dilemmas and challenges in their everyday work. Ultimately, the book offers a nuanced and spirited defence of the value of clinging on to seemingly naïve ideals for better policymaking, even in the face of inevitable failures and disappointments.

This text explores why naïve ideals about better policymaking persist even in cynical times, revealing the careful reflection at the heart of what appears to be 'magical thinking' in public policy, and offering new insights into the continuing appeal of such ideals.

This book develops the idea of democratic mending as a way of advancing a more connective and systemic approach to democratic repair.

Alcohol and its consumption is a major topic for public policy-making. Growing awareness of alcohol-related health problems among the general public has led to high levels of interest in alcohol consumption and its impact on society. This innovative collection of new perspectives on this critically important issue is informed by a leading group of international social scientists. Topics covered include alcoholism, the family, minimum pricing, paternalistic controls, and Socially Responsible Investment programs. Together, these essays reveal illuminating new insights into how public policy might be improved. This book was originally published as a special issue of Contemporary Social Science.

This book discusses the many meanings of “sustainability,” explores the importance of economics in environmental policy-making, and highlights the schools of thought in environmental ethics. It concludes that public administrators can play an important role in ensuring that environmental sustainability is an integral part of American government.

In this 2001 book Pamela Thurschwell examines the intersection of literary culture, the occult and new technology at the fin-de-siècle. Thurschwell argues that technologies began suffusing the public imagination from the mid-nineteenth century on: they seemed to support the claims of spiritualist mediums. Talking to the dead and talking on the phone both held out the promise of previously unimaginable contact between people: both seemed to involve 'magical thinking'. Thurschwell looks at the ways in which psychical research, the scientific study of the occult, is reflected in the writings of such authors as Henry James, George du Maurier and Oscar Wilde, and in the foundations of psychoanalysis. This study offers provocative interpretations of fin-de-siècle literary and scientific culture in relation to psychoanalysis, queer theory and cultural history.

In Magical Thinking and the Decline of America, Richard L. Rapson, a leading cultural historian, engages in a unique dialogue. Twenty years ago he wrote American Yearnings: Love, Money, and Endless Possibility. This book looked at large issues of the day from a historical perspective: show business, warlike behavior, love of money, science and religion, marital and sexual behavior, foreign policy, and more. He found everywhere in American life an exaggerated optimism that often led to serious miscalculations, both in public policy and private lives. Now he re-engages that work to see how his original arguments have fared. Have the tumultuous last two decades re-enforced or weakened his analysis? Though this book is a conversation, 20 years apart, between the author and his earlier self, the reader will find it easy, stimulating, and provocative to join in.