Clumsy Solutions for a Complex World

MARCO VERWEIJ is Associate Professor of Political Science at the Singapore Management University, Singapore. He is also associated with the James Martin Institute of Science and Civilization in the Said Business School at the University of Oxford. The empirical part of his research concerns public policy regarding international issues such as climate change, development aid, and the Israel-Palestine conflict. The theoretical part of his research is concerned with making a contribution to the linking of several social science-theories (in particular cultural theory and relational models theory)

• List of Figures and Tables Preface Acknowledgements Notes on Contributors The Case for Clumsiness; M.Verweij, M.Douglas, R.J.Ellis, C.Engel, F.Hendriks, S.Lohmann, S.Ney, S.Rayner & M.Thompson PART 1: ELEGANT FAILURES Is the Kyoto Protocol Merely Irrelevant, or Positively Harmful, for the Efforts to Curb Climate Change?; M.Verweij Hype and Hydro (and, at Last, Some Hope) in the Himalaya; D.Gyawali Segregation through Anti-Discrimination: How the Netherlands Got Divided Again; M.Bovens & M.Trappenburg What Russia can Learn from China in its Transition to a Market Economy; M.D.Intriligator & J.R.Wedel & C.H.Lee The Failure of Seat Belts Legislation; J.Adams PART 2: CLUMSY SOLUTIONS Gunfight at the Consequentialist Corral: The Deadlock in the United States over Firearms Control and How to Break It; D.M.Kahan , D.Braman & J.Gastil Floods and Fairness in Hungary; J.Linnerooth-Bayer , A.Vári & M.Thompson Inclusive by Design: The Curious Case of the Internet; T.Tranvik & M.Thompson You Never Miss the Water till the Well Runs Dry: Crisis and Creativity in California; D.Lach , H.Ingram & S.Rayner Clumsy Conclusions: How to do Policy and Research in a Complex World; M.Verweij , M.Thompson & C.Engel Index

'A fascinating manifesto.' - The Globe and Mail '...In an ideal world, everyone that has even a remote relation to policy and decision making would keep a well-worn copy of this book always at hand.' - British Journal of Sociology 'Both those who try to understand policy failures and those who intend to advise policy makers should take its argument about clumsiness seriously According to Verweij, Thompson and Engel, clumsiness is the new norm to craft policies suited to our complex world through the acknowledgement of plural logics. The message is convincingly conveyed here.' - Political Geography 'Casual observers might think 'clumsiness' comes naturally to government and public policy-making. If so, they might be surprised by how often it is carefully suppressed - often with disastrous consequences, as this book shows. We need to develop the methodology for the important angle of vision this book represents.' - Christopher Hood, Gladstone Professor of Government, University of Oxford, UK 'This study is a clever and important assault on the precepts 'drummed into the heads of those who aspire to be policy analysts' - that there is a single mindset in which a problem must be defined, facts and values distinguished and simple evaluative metrics deployed to achieve optimisation. The authors demonstrate the tragedies perpetrated by this dangerous approach. They show that plural voices - as identified by cultural theory - are necessary for clumsy, but safe, constructively engaged and politically feasible policy-making.' - Tony Allan, Kings College and SOAS, University of London, UK