The Politics of Evidence

The Politics of Evidence ,From evidence-based policy to the good governance of evidence, 1st Edition (OPEN ACCESS)

There has been an enormous increase in interest in the use of evidence for public policymaking, but the vast majority of work on the subject has failed to engage with the political nature of decision making and how this influences the ways in which evidence will be used (or misused) within political areas. This book provides new insights into the nature of political bias with regards to evidence and critically considers what an ‘improved’ use of evidence would look like from a policymaking perspective.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• List of Figures
• List of Tables
• Acknowledgments
• Part I: Evidence-based policymaking – opportunities and challenges
• Chapter 1. Introduction
• Chapter 2. Evidence-based policymaking – an important first step, and the need to take the next
• Part II: The politics of evidence
• Chapter 3. Bias and the politics of evidence
• Chapter 4. The overt politics of evidence – bias and the pursuit of political interests
• Chapter 5. The subtle politics of evidence - the cognitive-political origins of bias
• Part III: Towards the good governance of evidence
• Chapter 6. What is ‘good evidence for policy’? From hierarchies to appropriate evidence.
• Chapter 7. What is the ‘good use of evidence’ for policy?
• Chapter 8. From evidence-based policy to the good governance of evidence
• Index

About the author

Justin Parkhurst is an Associate Professor at the London School of Economics and Political Science’s Department of Social Policy. This book was written while he was previously Senior Lecturer at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine’s Department of Global Health and Development.

book access

 The Open Access version of this book, available here.

*It has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 3.0 license.