The Perils of Medicalizing Conflict Resolution

Riemann, Malte; Rossi, Norma

doi:10.1080/10402659.2020.1867356

Cited by 1 publication

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References 7 publications

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“…It assumes that violence can be controlled and contained via epidemiological methods and strategies applied to infectious disease control. In this CVG mirrors a broader international trend, as public-health-based approaches to violent crime prevention are increasingly endorsed by governmental agencies around the globe (Mitton, 2019; Riemann, 2019; Riemann and Rossi 2021). What makes CVG unique is its guiding proposition, which not only metaphorically links violence to a disease, but stipulates that violence ‘ is a contagious disease’ (Slutkin, 2012, 111 emphases added).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Studying Problematizations: The Value of Carol Bacchi’s ‘What’s the Problem Represented to be?’ (WPR) Methodology for IR

Riemann

2023

Alternatives: Global, Local, Political

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Critical approaches to IR have often been criticized for lacking methodological rigour. Especially, authors informed by the works of Michel Foucault have faced challenges to justify their methodology, given that Foucault did not provide scholars with a methodological blueprint. This article argues that Carol Bacchi’s ‘What’s the problem represented to be?’ (WPR) approach provides a robust critical methodology for policy analysis. WPR is a method that facilitates the critical examination of public policies to analyse ‘how the “problem” is represented within them and to subject this problem representation to critical scrutiny’ (Bacchi, 2012b). This way of questioning differs from other forms of policy analysis in that it shifts the focus of analysis from policy as a ‘problem-solving’ exercise towards seeing policy as an act which is constructive of ‘problems’. Policies are therefore not analysed from a problem-solving perspective, but from a problem-questioning perspective. By making the ‘problem’ itself the focus of analysis, it becomes possible to uncover the political, epistemological and historical contexts which are constitutive of the problem representation. I demonstrate the value of this approach by subjecting the Cure Violence Global NGO to a WPR analysis.

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