Prizes
The 2023 Winners
The Bleddyn Davies Prize, which acknowledges scholarship of the very highest standard by an early career academic, is awarded to joint winners:
Tracing 25 years of ‘initiativitis’ in central government attempts to join up local public services in England by Michael Gibson, Felix-Anselm van Lier and Eleanor Carter
and
Evidence-based policymaking in the legislatures – Timeliness and politics of evidence in Finland by Ville Aula
In our jointly winning article of the Bleddyn Davies prize entitled Tracing 25 years of ‘initiativitis’ in central government attempts to join up local public services in England, authors Michael Gibson and colleagues illustrate the ‘initiativitis’ inflicted upon local governments by identifying patterns in the approach of government through their analysis of the central government’s 55 initiatives to join up local public services in England over the last 25 years. In this way, the article sheds new light on our understanding of coordination programmes at a central–local government level, offering an empirical lens to map the ‘glacial and incremental’ reframing of central–local relations and associated shifts in public accountability.
By providing more solid foundations for understanding central governments’ reliance on controlling the reins of funding, the competitive nature of allocation processes, and the enduring centralisation of accountability, their findings bring a new clarity to this topic.
Our second joint winner of this year’s Bleddyn Davies prize goes to Ville Aula for his article on Evidence-based policymaking in the legislatures – Timeliness and politics of evidence in Finland.
In this article, Ville Aula provides new insights on evidence-based policymaking, which has long called for a more realistic understanding of how politicians use evidence, and especially the ways that use of evidence is negotiated alongside political goals. This article offers a new perspective on this question by drawing on research from legislative organisations. It introduces a new framework for the study of evidence-based policy, developed by reviewing key insights from legislative studies and applying it to an interview-based case-study of the Parliament of Finland. Previous studies have identified timeliness and relevance as some of the key barriers to using evidence, but this research focuses on how key actors in legislative organisations understand and manage these.
The findings suggest that it is important for research on evidence-based policymaking in a legislative context to go beyond the study of committees and individual legislators, to explore the role of political parties. By providing insights on the often non-linear and indirect ways that evidence can influence policy, this article makes a clear contribution to the field.
Congratulations Michael, Felix-Anselm and Eleanor, and Ville on your well-deserved joint prize!
Analysing the ‘follow the science’ rhetoric of government responses to COVID-19 by Margaret MacAulay, Patrick Fafard, Adèle Cassola and Michèle Palkovits
In this innovative article, the authors claim that, during the COVID-19 pandemic, governments’ repeated claims to “just following the science” were in fact an abdication of responsibility by politicians. They argue that making policy decisions based only on scientific evidence is impossible (if only because ‘the science’ is always contested) and undemocratic (because governments are elected to balance a range of priorities and interests in their decisions). They evidence that such claims of “following the science” weren’t so much about adhering strictly to scientific advice as they were about deflecting blame for policy failures or unpalatable decisions.
They conclude that, in mature democratic countries, credit and blame for government decisions are borne by elected politicians, not those appointed to advise them. Crucially, their research raises important questions about the nexus of science and politics and how the latter can manipulate the former for political gains.
This contribution is a worthy winner of our Best Paper of 2023 prize. Congratulations Margaret, Patrick, Adèle and Michèle!
The Ken Young best paper prize is awarded to the paper published in the previous year’s volume judged to represent excellence in the field. The winner’s paper will receive publicity and a period of free electronic access to their article to encourage use and citation.
- the selected paper must have been published in the previous year’s volume
- all papers, including research provocations, are eligible
- individual authors and teams of authors are eligible
- the nominations will be shortlisted and selected by the co-editors
- a short written summary statement is published on the rationale for the selection
The Bleddyn Davies early career prize is awarded to the best paper published in the previous year’s volume by an early career author. The winner’s paper will receive publicity and a period of free electronic access to their article to encourage use and citation.
- the selected paper must have been published in the previous year’s volume
- early career authors are those who completed their PhD no more than 4 years ago
- individual authors and teams of authors are eligible
- the nominations will be shortlisted and selected by the co-editors
- a short written summary statement is published on the rationale for the selection
About the Prizes
Thanks to the initiative of Bleddyn Davies and Ken Young in the early 1970s, we celebrated 40 years of the journal in 2012 and we are delighted to name two annual prizes after them in recognition of their innovative ideas and determination to put interdisciplinary analysis of and for policy firmly on the academic map in the UK and beyond.
The first issue of Policy & Politics, published by Macmillan, appeared in September 1972, with Bleddyn Davies (LSE) as founding editor and Ken Young (also at the LSE) as Associate Editor. Both had been heavily involved in the deliberations about the launch of a new journal which initially focused on local government "whilst drawing on a variety of disciplines and approaches". By September 1974 (Vol.3, No.1), publication had moved to Sage, its scope and coverage had been broadened in the sphere of public policymaking and Bleddyn and Ken became joint editors, both having moved to the University of Kent at Canterbury. The next change occurred with the January 1979 issue (Vol.7, No.1) as a result of the move by Ken to the University of Bristol, bringing the journal with him to be published by the then School for Advanced Urban Studies (SAUS). Bleddyn became a member of the Editorial Board and Ken was the Managing Editor of the journal until he handed on to Michael Hill in January 1980 (Vol.8, No,1). The journal continued to be published by SAUS until the School merged with the School of Applied Social Studies (SASS) in 1995 to form the School for Policy Studies, after which the newly created Bristol University based publisher, The Policy Press, took over the production of Policy & Politics.