"Knowledge, Policy and Power in EU Development Policy Making"

organized by the Working Group on Knowledge, Power and Policy

The important role that knowledge and knowledge markets play in international development, as well as the potentially significant returns to research, is increasingly recognized. Similarly, there is growing attention across Europe, particularly so at EC DG Development, to the linkages between knowledge, policy processes and practice. This is reflected not only in initiatives such as the European Development Report but also in the work of the DG Development's Forward Looking and Policy Coherence department.

This is a call for papers related to Knowledge, Policy and Power in EU Development Policy Making. Although there is considerable interest in policy making process research in international development there is surprisingly little work covering development policy making in the EC, or indeed multi-lateral development policy making processes. Further, although there is a growing literature on the relationship between knowledge, 'evidence', research and policy processes, there has been little systematic discussion about whether and, if so, how these different variables vary across different policy arenas. Does, for example, the high level of technical expertise required to engage in trade and fiscal policy debates provide different sorts of dynamics for policy narratives, agents and contexts than policies on citizenship rights? Are there different hierarchies of knowledge (quantitative, qualitative, participatory/experiential) in different policy areas? In what ways might policy influencing strategies need to be tailored differently to engage in value-charged policy debates about issues such as sexual and reproductive health policy compared to infrastructure development? Do some policy issues lend themselves to greater civil society participation and engagement? If so, what lessons might we distil in order to strengthen civic engagement in other policy areas?

We want to engage in exploring the dynamics of the policy making process in general, but at the same time focus on the relative importance of various types of 'evidence' or knowledge in that process. In sum, our approach is not just researching policy processes per se, but ensuring that there is more of a "dialogue" between various knowledge generators (including researchers) on the one hand, and policy makers and policy outcomes on the other. In this regard, we would particularly welcome contributions from researchers investigating the role that new EU member states are playing in shaping EU development policy.

Please use the Online Submission Tool to submit your abstract. We welcome submissions in English and French.

Conveners:

Nicola Jones
Overseas Development Institute
United Kingdom
E-Mail: n.jones@odi.org.uk

Andrew Sumner
Institute of Development Studies
University of Sussex
United Kingdom
E-Mail:a.sumner@ids.ac.uk

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Call for Papers