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Advancing Policy Process Research at Its Overlap with Public Management Scholarship and Nonprofit and Voluntary Action Studies
Author(s) -
Weible Christopher M.,
Carter David P.
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
policy studies journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.773
H-Index - 69
eISSN - 1541-0072
pISSN - 0190-292X
DOI - 10.1111/psj.12194
Subject(s) - nexus (standard) , scholarship , voluntary action , political science , process (computing) , corporate governance , scope (computer science) , public policy , action (physics) , public relations , research policy , public administration , sociology , economics , management , social science , agency (philosophy) , engineering , computer science , law , physics , quantum mechanics , operating system , programming language , embedded system
A scholarly nexus is defined as identifiable spheres of theoretical and empirical overlap between academic fields or disciplines. This article explores the nexus between policy process research, public management scholarship, and nonprofit and voluntary action studies, oriented from the perspective of policy process scholars. The article begins with a description of policy process research, including some of its major thematic emphases regarding governance problems and processes. It next discusses limitations of policy process research imposed by its scope of inquiry, theoretical black boxes, and omitted factors. Three strategies—filling, zooming, and linking—for addressing these limitations are introduced. The article ends with rationales for leveraging research at the nexus to advance both specialized and general knowledge about public policy processes and governance issues.