Abstract
This chapter provides a brief history of narrative policy analysis in political science, especially in the study of public administration and public policy. It outlines the specific interpretive approach developed by Mark Bevir and R. A. W. Rhodes. It explains what we mean by ‘decentring’ and unpacks the ethnographic toolkit we employ. It provides brief, descriptive summaries of the individual chapters and explains how each relates to the overall themes of the book. Finally, it discusses the pros and cons of a decentred approach. It concludes that the decentred analysis is edifying because it offers a novel alliance of interpretive theory with an ethnographic toolkit to explore policymaking and policy analysis from the bottom-up. It contributes to both the analysis of the policy process and analysis for the policy process.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Adler, P. A., & Adler, P. (1987). Membership Roles in Field Research. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
Agar, M., & MacDonald, J. (1995). Focus Groups and Ethnography. Human Organization, 54, 78–86.
Auyero, J., & Joseph, L. (2007). Introduction: Politics Under the Ethnographic Microscope. In L. Joseph, M. Mahler, & J. Auyero (Eds.), New Perspectives on Political Ethnography (pp. 1–13). New York: Springer.
Bevir, M. (2011). Public Administration as Storytelling. Public Administration, 89, 183–195.
Bevir, M., & Kedar, A. (2008). Concept Formation in Political Science: An Anti-naturalist Critique of Qualitative Methodology. Perspectives on Politics, 6, 503–517.
Bevir, M., & Rhodes, R. A. W. (2003). Interpreting British Governance. London: Routledge.
Bevir, M., & Rhodes, R. A. W. (2006). Governance Stories. London: Routledge.
Bevir, M., & Rhodes, R. A. W. (2010). The State as Cultural Practice. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Bevir, M., & Rhodes, R. A. W. (Eds.). (2015a). The Routledge Handbook of Interpretive Political Science. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge.
Bevir, M., & Rhodes, R. A. W. (2015b). Interpretive Political Science: Mapping the Field. In M. Bevir & R. A. W. Rhodes (Eds.), The Routledge Handbook of Interpretive Political Science (pp. 3–27). Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge.
Bobrow, D. B., & Dryzek, J. S. (1987). Policy Analysis by Design. Pittsburgh: Pittsburgh University Press.
Boswell, J., Corbett, J., Flinders, M., Jennings, W., Rhodes, R. A. W., & Wood, M. (2018). What Can Political Ethnography Tell Us About Anti-politics and Democratic Disaffection? European Journal of Political Research (forthcoming).
Cartwright, N., & Hardie, J. (2012). Evidence-Based Policy Making: A Practical Guide. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Clifford, J., & Marcus, G. E. (Eds.). (1986). Writing Culture: The Poetics and Politics of Ethnography. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Corbett, J. (2015). Being Political. Leadership and Democracy in the Pacific Islands. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.
Crewe, E. (2015). The House of Commons: An Anthropology of MPs at Work. London: Bloomsbury.
Czarniawska, B. (2004). Narratives in Social Science Research. London: Sage.
Delamont, S. (2007). Ethnography and Participant Observation. In C. Seale, G. Giampietri, J. F. Gubrium, & D. S. Silverman (Eds.), Qualitative Research Practice (pp. 205–227). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Denning, S. (2005). The Leader’s Guide to Storytelling: Mastering the Art and Discipline of Business Narrative. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Denzin, N. K., & Lincoln, Y. S. (2011 [1994]). Introduction: The Discipline and Practice of Qualitative Research. In N. K. Denzin & Y. S. Lincoln (Eds.), Handbook of Qualitative Research (4th ed., pp. 1–19). London: Sage.
Dietz, K., & Silverman, L. (2014). Business Storytelling for Dummies. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
Dror, Y. (1968). Public Policymaking Re-examined. San Francisco: Chandler Publishing.
Dryzek, J. S. (1993). Policy Analysis and Planning: From Science to Argument. In F. Fischer & J. Forester (Eds.), The Argumentative Turn in Policy Analysis and Planning. Durham: Duke University Press.
Fischer, F. (2003). Reframing Policy Analysis. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Fischer, F., & Forester, J. (Eds.). (1993). The Argumentative Turn in Policy Analysis and Planning. Durham: Duke University Press.
Fischer, F., Miller, G. J., & Sidney, M. S. (2006). Handbook of Public Policy Analysis: Theory, Politics, and Methods. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge.
Gabriel, Y. (2000). Storytelling in Organizations: Facts, Fictions, and Fantasies. London: Oxford University Press.
Geddes, M., & Rhodes, R. A. W. (2018). Towards an Interpretive Parliamentary Studies. In J. Brichzin, D. Krichewsky, L. Ringel, & J. Schank (Eds.), The Sociology of Parliaments (pp. 87–107). Wiesbaden: Springer VS.
Geertz, C. (1973). Thick Description: Toward an Interpretive Theory of Culture. In The Interpretation of Cultures (pp. 3–30). New York: Basic Books.
Geertz, C. (2001). Available Light. Princeton NJ: Princeton University Press.
Hajer, M. A. (2009). Authoritative Governance. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Hajer, M. A., & Wagenaar, H. (Eds.). (2003). Deliberative Policy Analysis. Understanding Governance in a Networked Society. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Haynes, L., Service, O., Goldacre, B., & Torgerson, D. (2012). Test, Learn, Adapt. Developing Public Policy with Randomised Controlled Trials. London: Cabinet Office.
Healy, P. (1986). Interpretive Policy Inquiry: A Response to the Limitations of the Received View. Policy Sciences, 19, 381–396.
Hill, M. (2013). The Public Policy Process (6th ed.). Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge.
Holmes, D. R., & Marcus, G. E. (2005). Refunctioning Ethnography: The Challenge of an Anthropology of the Contemporary. In N. K. Denzin & Y. S. Lincoln (Eds.), Handbook of Qualitative Research (3rd ed., pp. 1087–1101). London: Sage.
Hummel, R. P. (1991). Stories Managers Tell: Why They Are as Valid as Science. Public Administration Review, 51, 31–41.
Jennings, B. (1987). Interpretation and the Practice of Policy Analysis. In F. Fischer & J. Forester (Eds.), Confronting Values in Policy Analysis (pp. 128–152). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
Jones, M. D., & McBeth, M. K. (2010). A Narrative Policy Framework: Clear Enough to Be Wrong? Policy Studies Journal, 38, 329–353.
Jones, M. D., Shanahan, E. A., & McBeth, M. K. (Eds.). (2014). The Science of Stories: Applications of the Narrative Policy Framework in Public Policy Analysis. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Kapiszewski, D., MacLean, L. M., & Read, B. L. (2015). Field Research in Political Science. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Kedia, S., & Van, W. J. (2005). Applied Anthropology: Context for Domains of Application. In S. Kedia & W. J. Van (Eds.), Applied Anthropology: Domains of Application (pp. 1–32). Westport, CT: Praeger.
Lasswell, H. D. (1971). A Preview of Policy Sciences. Amsterdam: Elsevier.
Marcus, G. E. (1995). Ethnography in/of the World System: The Emergence of Multi-Sited Ethnography. Annual Review in Anthropology, 24, 95–117.
Marcus, G. E. (2007). Ethnography Two Decades After Writing Culture: From the Experimental to the Baroque. Anthropological Quarterly, 80, 1127–1145.
Nader, L. (1972). Up the Anthropologist—Perspectives Gained from Studying Up. In D. H. Hymes (Ed.), Reinventing Anthropology (pp. 284–311). New York: Pantheon Books.
Pink, S. (2013). Doing Visual Ethnography (3rd ed.). London: Sage.
Reeher, G. (2006). First Person Political. New York: New York University Press.
Rhodes, R. A. W. (2011). Everyday Life in British Government. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Rhodes, R. A. W. (2017). Interpretive Political Science: Selected Essays (Vol. II). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Rhodes, R. A. W., & Tiernan, A. (2014). Lessons in Governing: A Profile of Prime Ministers. Chiefs of Staff. Carlton, VIC: Melbourne University Press.
Richards, D., & Mathers, H. (2010). Political Memoirs New Labour: Interpretations of Power the “Club Rules”. British Journal of Politics International Relations, 12, 498–522.
Roe, E. (1994). Narrative Policy Analysis: Theory and Practice. Durham: Duke University Press.
Rorty, R. (1980). Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature. Oxford: Blackwell.
Schatz, E. (2009). Introduction. In E. Schatz (Ed.), Political Ethnography: The Difference Immersion Makes (pp. 1–22). Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
Schultze, C. L. (1968). The Politics and Economics of Public Spending. Washington, DC: The Brookings Institution.
Shore, C., & Wright, S. (Eds.). (1997). The Anthropology of Policy: Critical Perspectives on Governance and Power. London: Routledge.
Stone, D. A. (2001). Policy Paradox: The Art of Political Decision Making (Rev. ed.). New York: W.W. Norton.
Torfing, J., Peters, B. G., Pierre, J., & Sorensen, E. (2012). Interactive Governance: Advancing the Paradigm. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Turnbull, N. (Ed.). (2016). Interpreting Governance, High Politics and Public Policy: Essays Commemorating Interpreting British Governance. New York: Routledge.
Van Eeten, M. J. G., Van Twist, M. J. W., & Kalders, P. R. (1996). Van een narratieve bestuurskunde naar een postmoderne beweerkunde? (M. van Twist, English Trans.). Bestuurskunde, 5(4), 168–189.
Van Willigen, J. (2002). Applied Anthropology: An Introduction (3rd ed.). Westport, CT: Bergin & Garvey.
Wagenaar, H. (2011). Meaning in Action: Interpretation and Dialogue in Policy Analysis. Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe.
Wildavsky, A. (1980). The Art and Craft of Policy Analysis. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Wolcott, H. F. (1995). The Art of Fieldwork. Walnut Creek, CA: Altamira Press.
Wood, E. J. (2007). Field Research. In C. Boix & S. C. Stokes (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Comparative Politics (pp. 123–146). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Wulff, H. (2002). Yo-Yo Fieldwork: Mobility and Time in Multi-local Study of Dance in Ireland. Anthropological Journal of European Cultures, 11, 117–136.
Yanow, D. (1999). Conducting Interpretive Policy Analysis. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Acknowledgements
I must thank John Boswell, Jack Corbett and Jenny Fleming for the helpful comments on the first draft. The chapter draws on my previous work with Mark Bevir (see Bevir and Rhodes 2003, 2006, 2010 and 2015b).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Rhodes, R.A.W. (2018). What Is Decentred Analysis?. In: Rhodes, R. (eds) Narrative Policy Analysis. Understanding Governance. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-76635-5_1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-76635-5_1
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-76634-8
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-76635-5
eBook Packages: Political Science and International StudiesPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)