Most of the theorizing and research on public policy has been centered in the so-called “Global North”. Even studies that proclaim themselves to be comparative may only compare the policies and politics of the wealthy and primarily democratic countries of the North. This excessively narrow vision of public policy has limited its vision and analytical capacity to study developments in the “Global South”. The domination of ideas from the Global North is especially apparent in the theories and approaches used to understand and explain public policy. The most common frameworks for analysis (e.g. the Advocacy-Coalition Framework, Multiple Streams, Institutional Analysis and Development), shape a good deal of the research on public policy and were developed in the North. While appearing to be generally applicable, the ideas that undergird them may be based on assumptions that are not in fact valid for policy across the remainder of the world. Colonial, institutional, cultural, political, and economic differences that exist between Global North and Global South countries may have a significant impact on the suitability and functioning of policy models, both intellectually and empirically.
This panel will attempt to address the broad question of the suitability of the now conventional policy frameworks for research in the countries of Africa, Latin America, Asia and most of Oceania. Building on this, we want to encourage debates about specific questions such as, what it means for a policy model to work; what makes policymaking in the Global South different from that in the Global North; to what extent do models and frameworks developed in the Global North are applicable to cases from the Global South; which alternative models (both theoretical and empirical) have been developed throughout the Global South; and how does policy learning happens between the Global North and the Global South, in both directions, and within countries from the Global South.
We encourage the submission of papers focused on either detailed country cases or comparative studies, written from any kind of methodological perspective. Papers will be considered for a forthcoming Handbook of Public Policymaking in the Global South.