Navigating Knowledge and Power in Policy: Insights from David Walker
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David Walker, head of policy at AcSS and contributing editor at The Guardian, explores the complex interplay of migration, housing, and corporate power in contemporary policy-making. He highlights the ideological challenges faced by local governments and the necessity of re-evaluating current assessment methods. Walker emphasizes the critical role of knowledge distribution in both local and central governments and poses thought-provoking questions about who drives these discussions. As the political landscape evolves, there's an urgent need for intellectual collaboration and reflection on data utilization for policy improvement.
Navigating Knowledge and Power in Policy: Insights from David Walker
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Presentation Transcript
Knowledge power David Walker, head of policy, AcSS + contributing editor, Guardian Public
Exciting times -1 • ‘On the ground’ problematic: migration, transport, housing, spatial systems, productivity, capital and corporate power, fiscal and environmental sustainability etc, etc • ‘In the air’ problematic: remodelling after the crash, not just in economics – non-linearity, multiple/absent equilibria, path dependency, phase transitions
Exciting times - 2 • Ideological assault on the state, of which ‘localism’ a skirmish • Paradoxes in ‘evidence for policy’ • Size/shape of local government (and research) in question for years • Reassessment of assessment – weighting for ‘impact’, trends in university organisation, intellectual property rights
Case for ‘engagement’ • All agree on broad enlightenment aims: quantum and spread of knowledge…but • Who asks the questions? • Must it be universities that answer? • Knowledge in local government – distributed, concentrated or ‘strategic’ • Knowledge in central government – a strategy for data or social science?
Opportunities • A moment for reflection: pre-election/referendum prospects • Exploiting the ‘data moment’ • Change and renewal at the LGA? • Is intellectual collaboration possible amid political strife?