The Uses of Cognition in Policy Analysis: A First Appraisal

Abstract

Cognitive approaches have become very fashionable in the field of policy analysis. Nevertheless, despite a common label, cognitive policy analyses vary greatly from one author to the next. So, are policy analysts talking about the same thing? Drawing on the dichotomy established by Sperber between soft cognition and hard cognition, we guess that not all authors seek to transfer theoretical assumptions from one scientific discipline to another. In order to demonstrate this hypothesis, we propose to round out these formal categories with additional sub-divisions based on the degree of conceptual transfer from cognitive science to policy analysis.

Clear Skies or Ongoing Turbulence? Canadian Airport Policy between Airport Operators, Airlines, and the Federal Government

“…Public policies are thus the concrete way actors make sense of the world they live in, because they allow actors to draw causal interpretations ("if the reality is this way, it is because of such and such") and normative interpretations ("to change such aspect of the reality, it is necessary to do so and so"). (Muller 2000, 194-195;Knoepfel et al 2011, 290-291;Gouin and Harguindéguy 2012).…”

“…The sectoral referential defines the sector, its boundaries, its internal coherence as well as its coherence with the global referential. It is when the sectoral referential and its specific norms, values, algorithms and images are consistent with norms, values, algorithms and images of the global referential that sectoral policy stability is achieved (Muller and Surel 1998;Nahrath 2010;Gouin and Harguindéguy 2012).…”