LIST OF PANELS

How does public policy shape the political participation of those most affected by its implementation? We know that policy can often have feedback effects through which individuals may be motivated to advocate for the continuation, modification, or cancellation of the policy based on its effect on their lives. But we have very little evidence from around the world about what kinds of policies tend to motivate or depress participation towards other claims and how individuals choose to get involved in various contexts. This panel seeks to bring together researchers from diverse parts of the world to foster a comparative discussion on the effects of public policies on politics to enhance our understanding of the factors that generate participation, particularly among those who are the direct targets or beneficiaries of policies.

The concept of policy feedback gained traction in the 1980’s and 90’s as part of the wave to situate policy making and politics within the framework of historical institutionalism (Pierson 1993; 1994; Skocpol 1992; Weir, Orloff and Skocpol 1988). This framework brought in the dimension of time and how policies reshape politics, and then in turn politics reshape policies (Béland and Schlager 2019; Mettler and SoRelle 2014). The question of how policies impact the politics of beneficiaries has then been explored by a number of scholars in the United States (for example, Soss and Schram 2007; Mettler 2002, 2005; Campbell 2002, 2003, 2012) who find that the direction of attitudes and participation is very much conditioned by the type of policy. More recently research has expanded in a comparative direction, though like the United States more work is needed to identify how different types of policies shape political participation across diverse contexts.

The genesis for this panel comes not only from this previous literature but from the chair’s research on how social programs shape the empowerment of beneficiaries to make further claims of the state across the Global North and South. The direction of the effects of policy on political participation are particularly important for social policies meant to reduce inequalities, contribute to poverty alleviation, and rectify structural discrimination. We want to know whether social policies are achieving the outcomes they are meant to produce. In other recent research, scholars have asked whether conditional cash transfer programs engender political loyalty to those most responsible for implementing the policy and under what circumstances that loyalty endures.

In this panel we seek additional examples of research on political preferences as well as the range of behavior from active claims-making to greater alienation that may result from the implementation of diverse social policies, in particular. However, other types of policy also have political effects, such as those involving climate change, immigration, and economic development and these papers are also quite welcome. For example, how might development policies that aim to prevent flooding shape the politics of those most directly at risk? Empirical evidence is needed to understand the broad political effects of such policies and the aim of this panel is to bring scholars together to further this effort.

For this panel I hope to bring together scholars of various thematic, academic, methodological, and geographic orientations. The call for papers is open to anyone who would like to contribute to our knowledge of the feedback effects of public policy on individuals’ political preferences and engagement. Both in-person and virtual participation are welcome. Papers may explore issues areas including, but not limited to: housing, conditional cash transfers, climate change, immigration, healthcare, education, transportation, and infrastructure. All papers should reflect evidence-based research.

References:

Béland, D., Schlager, E., 2019. Varieties of Policy Feedback Research: Looking Backward,

Moving Forward. Policy Studies Journal 47, 184–205.

Campbell, Andrea Louise. 2002. “Self-Interest, Social Security, and the Distinctive

Participation Patterns of Senior Citizens.” American Political Science Review 96 (3): 565–74.

                   . 2003. How Policies Make Citizens: Senior Political Activism and the American

Welfare State. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

                   . 2012. “Policy Makes Mass Politics.” Annual Review of Political Science 15: 331

51.

Mettler, Suzanne. 2005. Soldiers to Citizens: The G.I. Bill and the Making of the Greatest Generation. New York: Oxford University Press.

                   . 2002. “Bringing the State Back In to Civic Engagement: Policy Feedback Effects of

the G.I. Bill for World War II Veterans.” American Political Science Review 96 (2): 351–65.

Mettler, Suzanne, and Mallory SoRelle. 2014. “Policy Feedback.” In Theories of the Policy

Process, 3rd ed., ed. Paul A. Sabatier, and Christopher M. Weible. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 151–81.

Pierson, Paul. 1993. “When Effect Becomes Cause: Policy Feedback and Political Change.”

World Politics 45 (4): 595–628.

                   . 1994. Dismantling the Welfare State? Reagan, Thatcher, and the Politics of

Retrenchment. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.

Skocpol, Theda. 1992. Protecting Soldiers and Mothers: The Political Origins of Social Policy

in the United States. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press.

Soss, Joe, and Sanford F. Schram. 2007. “A Public Transformed? Welfare Reform as Policy

Feedback.” American Political Science Review 101 (1): 111–27.

Weir, Margaret, Ann Shola Orloff, and Theda Skocpol. 1988. “Introduction: Understanding

American Social Politics.” In The Politics of Social Policy in the United States, ed. Margaret Weir, Ann Shola Orloff, and Theda Skocpol. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1–36.

For this panel I hope to bring together scholars of various thematic, academic, methodological, and geographic orientations. The call for papers is open to anyone who would like to contribute to our knowledge of the feedback effects of public policy on individuals’ political preferences and engagement. Both in-person and virtual participation are welcome. Papers may explore issues areas including, but not limited to: housing, conditional cash transfers, climate change, immigration, healthcare, education, transportation, and infrastructure. All papers should reflect evidence-based research.