LIST OF PANELS

We invite paper proposals for the Prostitution Policy and Sex Work Governance – Design, Implementation, and Evaluation Panel to be held at the Second International Conference on Public Policy in Milan, Italy, 1-3 July 2015. Researchers in Europe, North America, Australia, New Zealand, and elsewhere are increasingly turning their attention to analyzing the design, implementation, and evaluation of prostitution policy in terms of discourse, discursive coalitions, governance, governmentality, unintended consequences, and spill-over effects.  This panel is an opportunity to exchange knowledge among members of this growing international community of experts. Proposals should relate to one of the following areas of study: I) Design: This session focuses on the conflicts and collaborations underlying prostitution policy design and instrument choice.  Typically, prostitution has been conceptualized as a public nuisance, as immoral, or as inherently exploitative, resulting in criminalization.  However, there are examples of innovative and collaborative approaches in which sex worker organizations play pivotal roles. II) Implementation: This session examines the implementation of prostitution laws by municipal governments, regional health authorities, and police departments.  It also analyses the role of sex worker organizations, advocacy groups, and other civil society actors.  It aims to clarify their roles and to explore the relational dynamics, which may be collaborative, agonistic, or authoritarian. III) Evaluation: This session provides an opportunity for researchers to present and discuss current evidence concerning the impacts of prostitution laws and the tools best suited for assessment.  Participants will address methodological and ethical challenges such as accessing hidden, marginalized, and/or criminalized populations, collecting reliable data, and conducting comparative research.  The Panel is co-chaired by: Hendrik Wagenaar, Professor, Town and Regional Planning, University of Sheffield; Leslie Jeffrey, Professor, Department of Politics, University of New Brunswick (Saint John); and Genevieve Fuji Johnson, Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, Simon Fraser University.    

The systematic study of the design, implementation, and evaluation of prostitution policy is relatively novel but on the rise in many countries.  Researchers in Europe, North America, Australia, New Zealand, and elsewhere are increasingly turning their attention to analyzing these policy processes in terms of discourse, discursive coalitions, governance, governmentality, unintended consequences, and spill-over effects.  Collectively, they are developing an impressive body of analysis, evidence, concepts, and literature that may rival those in more mainstream areas of public policy.  Yet, there are few opportunities for real-time, in-depth exchanges of knowledge among members of this international community of experts. The proposed panel will provide such an opportunity to further our understanding of this archetypical case of morality policy.  Comprised of three sessions, it will facilitate discussion on the most recent research in prostitution policy.  Specifically, the panel will focus on the following inter-related themes:   I) Design: This session highlights analyses of the conflicts and collaborations underlying prostitution policy design and instrument choice.  Typically, dominant state actors have driven policy formulation according to ideological currents.  Prostitution has been conceptualized as a public nuisance, as immoral, or as inherently exploitative, and criminal laws have been imposed.  However, there are examples of more innovative and collaborative approaches in which sex worker organizations play pivotal roles.   II) Implementation: The focus of this session is implementation of prostitution laws by municipal governments, regional health authorities, and police departments.  It also brings into analysis the role of sex worker organizations, advocacy groups, and other civil society actors in implementation.  It aims to clarify their roles and to explore the relational dynamics among them.  In some cases, these relationships may be characterized as authoritarian governmentality; in others, they may be understood as constituting collaborative governance.  Given long histories of distrust between traditional state actors and sex workers, some of these relationships may be better conceptualized as agonistic.   III) Evaluation: This session provides an opportunity for researchers to present and discuss the most up-to-date evidence concerning the impacts, including the unintended consequences and spill-over effects, of prostitution laws.  It is also an opportunity for discussions concerning the most appropriate assessment tools.  Participants will address pressing methodological and ethical challenges, e.g., accessing hidden, marginalized, and/or criminalized populations, collecting reliable data, and conducting comparative research.    The scholarly relevance of this panel is manifold.  In terms of evidence, this panel serves in forging the most current body of evidence about design, implementation, and the consequences of prostitution laws.  Conceptually, panel participants will advance policy theory through discussions of new insights from this understudied area.  Methodologically, participants will address and tackle problems associated with research in obscured or resistant policy areas.  Finally, the panel will foster relationships among an international community of experts in prostitution law, policy, and governance.