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Mapping the use of knowledge in policymaking: barriers and facilitators from a subjectivist perspective (1990–2020)

Author

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  • Giliberto Capano

    (University of Bologna)

  • Anna Malandrino

    (University of Bologna)

Abstract

The use of knowledge and evidence in policymaking is a recurrent topic of research due to its scientific and policy relevance. The existing and expansive body of literature has been scrutinised in various ways to grasp the dimensions of knowledge utilisation in policymaking, although most of this research has a monosectoral focus and is based on very general criteria of analysis that do not completely account for the complexity of policy making. This paper overcomes this limitation by enlightening the epistemological divide in the field between an objectivist and a subjectivist perspective and by distinguishing two different focuses in this literature: a focus on knowledge for policy making and a focus on knowledge in policy making. Based on this analytical distinction, the paper presents an original and unprecedented systematic, intersectoral metareview by considering the thirty-year period between 1990 and 2020 (approximately 1,400 were selected for fine-grained analysis). This metareview offers a broader and more detailed map with a clear idea of the distribution of interest in the topic among the different policy fields, a better classification of the theoretical/empirical content and research goals that scholars adopt and a novel and, above all, more fine-grained perspective on the types of conditions that favour or disfavour a significant role of knowledge in policymaking. Ultimately, and above all, this metareview identifies three highly relevant components of policy making that can facilitate or constrain the use of knowledge in policymaking more than others: values/ideology/beliefs, actors’ relationships, and policy capacities.

Suggested Citation

  • Giliberto Capano & Anna Malandrino, 2022. "Mapping the use of knowledge in policymaking: barriers and facilitators from a subjectivist perspective (1990–2020)," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 55(3), pages 399-428, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:policy:v:55:y:2022:i:3:d:10.1007_s11077-022-09468-0
    DOI: 10.1007/s11077-022-09468-0
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Jesper Dahl Kelstrup & Jonas Videbæk Jørgensen, 2024. "Explaining differences in research utilization in evidence-based government ministries," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 57(2), pages 257-280, June.
    2. Azad Singh Bali & M Ramesh, 2023. "Knowledge–practice gap in healthcare payments: the role of policy capacity," Policy and Society, Darryl S. Jarvis and M. Ramesh, vol. 42(3), pages 406-418.
    3. Wouter Lammers & Valérie Pattyn & Sacha Ferrari & Sylvia Wenmackers & Steven Van de Walle, 2024. "Evidence for policy-makers: A matter of timing and certainty?," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 57(1), pages 171-191, March.

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