LIST OF PANELS

Time has been explored by many disciplines, including public policy and public administration. However, we propose that a focused exploration of time could make a more significant contribution to our field. This panel seeks to bring time ‘back in’ and highlight its relevance to understanding theories in public policy and public administration.

Scholars emphasize the importance of time in these fields (e.g., Pierson, 2004; Pollitt, 2008; Murdoch et al., 2023). For example, Paul Pierson's seminal work ‘Politics in Time’ (2004) underscores the need to analyze policy over time, emphasizing that path dependence and the sequence of events are crucial to understanding policy. Similarly, a body of literature addresses policy change over time (Hacker, 2004; Béland, 2007). Christopher Pollitt’s work (2008) stresses the lack of attention to time in public management, offering a "time toolkit" that explores concepts such as duration, paths, punctuation (windows of opportunity), cycles, causal mechanisms, and multiple temporalities. Elizabeth Cohen (2015) highlights the significance of time duration in immigration policy and its impact on the meaning of citizenship for immigrants. Murdoch et al. (2023) call for a “longitudinal turn” in public administration studies. Other streams of research focus on the importance of time to well-being, examining how policies influence time use and well-being (Kahneman et al., 2004; Lahat & Sened, 2020).

This panel encourages researchers to engage with time not merely as one factor in explaining public policy and processes within public administration but as a central cornerstone that influences processes, relationships, and outcomes. The main question we aim to explore is: What is the added contribution of time and temporality to research in public administration and public policy?

We welcome papers that explore the following questions while remaining open to other possibilities:

1. How can focusing on time provide better insights (more than we know) into elements of policy theory, such as the Multiple Streams Framework (MSF), the Advocacy Coalition Framework (ACF), and the Punctuated Equilibrium Theory (PET)?

2. What is the effect of welfare policies on time use?

3. Can time itself be a goal of social and public policy?

4. How can political theory and time be better incorporated into public policy and public administration theory?

5. How could focusing on time help uncover power relations and hidden processes within public organizations?

We invite theoretical and empirical papers, including normative papers, case studies, and interdisciplinary research that shed light on the role of time and temporality in public policy and public administration. We also welcome comparative studies and case studies focusing on individual countries. Abstracts will be judged based on the clarity of the theoretical framework and methodology.

References

Béland, Daniel. (2007). Ideas and institutional change in social security: Conversion, layering, and policy drift. Social Science Quarterly, 88: 1, pp. 20–38.

Cohen, E. F. (2015). The political economy of immigrant time: Rights, citizenship, and temporariness in the post-1965 era. Polity, 47(3), 337-351.

Hacker, J. S. (2004). Privatizing risk without privatizing the welfare state: The hidden politics of social policy retrenchment in the United States. American Political Science Review, 98(2), 243-260.

Kahneman, D., Krueger, A. B., Schkade, D., Schwarz, N., & Stone, A. (2004). Toward national well-being accounts. American Economic Review, 94(2), 429-434.

Lahat, L., & Sened, I. (2020). Time and well-being, an institutional, comparative perspective: Is it time to explore the idea of a time policy?. Journal of European Social Policy, 30(3), 275-292.

Murdoch, Z., MacCarthaigh, M., & Geys, B. (2023). It's about time! Temporal dynamics and longitudinal research designs in public administration. Public Administration Review, 83(6), 1727-1736.

Pierson, P. (2004). Politics in time: history, institutions, and social analysis.

Pollitt, C. (2008). Time, policy, management: Governing with the past. OUP Oxford.

This panel encourages researchers to engage with time not merely as one factor in explaining public policy and processes within public administration but as a central cornerstone that influences processes, relationships, and outcomes. The main question we aim to explore is: What is the added contribution of time and temporality to research in public administration and public policy?

We welcome papers that explore the following questions while remaining open to other possibilities:

1. How can focusing on time provide better insights (more than we know) into elements of policy theory, such as the Multiple Streams Framework (MSF), the Advocacy Coalition Framework (ACF), and the Punctuated Equilibrium Theory (PET)?

2. What is the effect of welfare policies on time use?

3. Can time itself be a goal of social and public policy?

4. How can political theory and time be better incorporated into public policy and public administration theory?

5. How could focusing on time help uncover power relations and hidden processes within public organizations?

We invite theoretical and empirical papers, including normative papers, case studies, and interdisciplinary research that shed light on the role of time and temporality in public policy and public administration. We also welcome comparative studies and case studies focusing on individual countries. Abstracts will be judged based on the clarity of the theoretical framework and methodology.