The Turn to Problematization: Political Implications of Contrasting Interpretive and Poststructural Adaptations

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to introduce and elaborate the varied meanings of problematization in contemporary policy theory. The primary focus is on the different meanings and uses of the term in interpretivism and in Foucault-influenced poststructuralism. The paper argues that interpretive/argumentative adaptations direct attention primarily to how policy makers/workers develop problematizations (ways of understanding a problem) while Foucault-influenced poststructuralists critically scrutinize problematizations (the ways in which "problems" are produced and represented) in governmental policies and practices. It concludes that Foucault-influenced adaptations provide a more substantive critique of extant social arrangements than interpretive approaches, which tend to be reformist in design and inclination.

The Evolution of Problems Underlying the EU Agricultural Policy Regime

“…This approach is highly feasible with well‐established and focused policies (e.g., the CAP), where the problems are clearly formulated and staged in the policy process. However, problems may also be embedded in the sets of feasible solutions or policy processes within a wider framework of ‘problem governance’, as suggested in the post‐positivist strand of literature (Hoppe ; Bacchi ). Problem setting, problem framing and problem solving can be configured in many ways, but problems still effectuate policy regimes and grant them legitimacy.…”

“…Multiple stream models with time‐sensitive policy windows and policy entrepreneurs feature complex and ambiguous processes (Kingdon ). The definition and structuring of problems are also sensitive to private and social framing effects and intentions via beliefs, values, motives, networks, traditions and ideologies (Dror ; Fischer and Forester ; Rhodes ; Rein ; Bacchi ). Irrespective of the theory used to organise the policy narrative or provide an explanation for the policy design and irrespective of the policy field, the problems and the policies still have a connection (Lasswell ; Turnbull ).…”

Problematizations in Health Policy

“…As a result, in poststructural policy analysis, the analytic focus shifts from the competing perspectives of policy actors-how they understand a "problem"-to the problematizations (the ways in which "problems" are produced and represented) in governmental policies and practices (Bacchi, 2015). Whereas for Kingdon, the goal is achieving problem status for a "condition," through its inclusion on a government's agenda, for analytic strategies such as WPR (developed below), the fixing of "troubling conditions" (Bacchi, 2009, p. xi) as "problems" or "social problems" instigates critical analysis of how those "problems" are constituted as "problems" of a particular sort within policies.…”

Estudos Críticos: Influências Pós-Estruturalistas na Problematização da Relação da Organização com o Presente

“…Reconhecemos que há uma polissemia conceitual em torno do termo 'problematização', mas em geral se destacam as noções de uma descrição do que as pessoas ou governos fazem, ou como resultado de um processo -o de problematizar -, ou como descrição de uma forma de análise crítica, ou ainda para se referir a um movimento que coloca para frente ou designa algo como um problema (BACCHI, 2015). Ainda que haja diferentes sentidos, problematização sugere questionamento, como a interrogação crítica de práticas gerenciais e de organizações.…”