LIST OF PANELS

WPR, or ‘Whats the Problem Represented to be’ is an approach developed by Carol Bacchi that aims to challenge the conventional view that public policies are responses or reactions to problems that sit outside the policy process, waiting to be discovered and solved. Public policy decisions are assumed to be part of larger societal discourse that construct reality in particular ways. These discourses thus help maintain certain power structures by legitimizing some knowledges and marginalizing others.

The key question Bacchi asks is: "What's the problem represented to be?". Central to this question is unpacking the ways solutions and problems are framed. By limiting the range of possible solutions, and constraining possible evidence bases, traditional policy approaches can encourage a policymaking space that may end up reproducing the same problems it seeks to ‘solve’. By questioning ‘taken for granted’ assumptions and mapping the history of the present, WPR aids in the examination of policy ‘problems’ and offers alternative ways of thinking.

Grounded in ideas of governmentality and knowledge-power systems, in particular discussed by poststructuralist and feminist thinkers such as Foucault, Latour and Haraway, WPR conceptualizes power as not merely a repressive force held by a sovereign or state. Rather, it is a productive and diffuse network of relations that operates through institutions, practices, and discourses. Power and knowledge are closely linked, and policies canreproduce and subjugate knowledges. 

This panel aims to surface the ways in which WPR can be used and actioned to disrupt these hierarchies and surface these conversations. 

WPR can be described as a collective project, or “work-in-progress”; this panel aims to explore this concept in more depth and unpack its complexity, as well as explore how it could work in varying policy contexts.

Papers are welcome on any topic within post-structural policy analysis, as long as WPR is a central or significant feature. This could involve research taking a WPR approach to understanding a policy problem, work that develops and expands on such approaches, or practical examples of WPR in policymaking settings. We are particularly interested in research conducted in non-traditional settings, and keen to hear from early career researchers. 

Some relevant questions considered in this panel might include:

How can the WPR framework expand and develop to include more diverse perspectives in policy?

How can ‘WPR-thinking’ be used in policymaking settings and open up political discourse on key policy issues of our time? 

How do conceptions of knowledge equity entangle with ideals on governing, in both historically colonial and decolonial settings, and how can we embed subjugated knowledge?

What are the limitations of this post-structuralist approach for policy analysis?

How does WPR reveal the ways that policy constrains and legitimizes certain knowledge discourses?