Conflict reconsidered: The boomerang effect of depoliticization in the policy process

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Wolf, Eva E. A.; Van Dooren, Wouter
• 署名单位: University of Antwerp; University of Antwerp
• 刊物名称: PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0033-3298
• DOI: 10.1111/padm.12391
• 发表日期: 2018
• 页码: 286-301
• 关键词: Public management; constructive conflict; governance; depoliticisation; LIMITS

摘要

This article argues that the efforts of policy-makers to avoid conflict in the short run can be counterproductive in the long run. Not only may policy-makers fail to reap the benefits of conflicts when they try to steer clear, but conflict may actually increase rather than diminish. We study conflict through the conceptual lens of (de)politicization in the lengthy and highly contested policy-making process over the multibillion-euro Oosterweelconnection' highway in Antwerp (Belgium). An in-depth media analysis of 739 articles is combined with data from 32 narrative interviews. We conclude that efforts to end public debate through depoliticization can have a boomerang effect, in which conflict disappears only temporarily, and that these efforts can ultimately increase conflict while wasting engagement and creativity. More attention to the productive aspects of conflict is needed in public administration literature and practice.