Ideas, Political Power, and Public Policy

Daniel Beland, Martin B. Carstensen, Leonard Seabrooke, Daniel Beland, Martin B. Carstensen, Leonard Seabrooke

• Publisher: Taylor & Francis
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN: 9780367029388
• eBook ISBN: 9781315517797
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: Economic Policy
• Index: Politics & International Relations

Through the last couple of decades, scholars on both sides of the Atlantic have increasingly emphasized the importance of political ideas in understanding processes of change and stability in politics and public policy. Yet, surprisingly, relatively little has been done to more clearly and stringently conceptualize the relationship between political power and the role of ideas in public policy and political development. This volume addresses this major lacuna in the policy and political studies literature by bringing some of best scholars in the field, who each write about the relationship between ideas and power in politics and public policy. The contributions frame the concept of ideational power and explore ways in which ideas shape power relations, across a number of distinct countries and policy areas. The topics covered include austerity, coalition building, monetary policy, social policy, tax policy, and macroeconomic indicators. The volume features a short introduction written by the co-editors, and a final, recapitulative essay prepared by Mark Blyth, one of the most cited scholars in the field. This book was previously published as a special issue of the Journal of European Public Policy.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Series Page
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Citation Information
• Notes on Contributors
• 1. Introduction: Ideas, political power and public policy
• 2. Power through, over and in ideas: conceptualizing ideational power in discursive institutionalism
• 3. The power of economic ideas – through, over and in – political time: the construction, conversion and crisis of the neoliberal order in the US and UK
• 4. Powering ideas through expertise: professionals in global tax battles
• 5. Powerful rules governing the euro: the perverse logic of German ideas
• 6. The Bocconi boys go to Brussels: Italian economic ideas, professional networks and European austerity
• 7. Studying macroeconomic indicators as powerful ideas
• 8. Ideas as coalition magnets: coalition building, policy entrepreneurs, and power relations
• 9. Ideas and power: four intersections and how to show them
• 10. The new ideas scholarship in the mirror of historical institutionalism: a case of old whines in new bottles?
• Index