Historical Policy Analysis: interpreting historical data

Panel Chairs:

Thomas Koenig, University of Vienna (thomas.koenig@univie.ac.at)
Marion Löffler, University of Vienna (marion.loeffler@univie.ac.at)

Abstract:

This panel aims to discuss methodological issues on interpreting historical data. Two reciprocal questions stand in the center: How can methodological reflections of historical data contribute to policy analysis as an interpretive science? And how can Interpretive Policy Analysis contribute to analyzing historical data?

Since the end of the Cold War, records have become available containing data presented in a uniquely systematic order. Documents from state apparatuses as well as international agencies give us close insights into processes and the forming of opinion in policy-making. Social meaning relevant to policy processes was produced in many intellectual artifacts in pop culture. Even raw data from older studies gain potential for re-interpretation. These kinds of historical sources often include crucial information about topics that are subject of present-day policy processes; for example, they inform us about origins and contextual shaping of specific worldviews and ideologies, and how they provide impulse for policy processes.

We invite contributions from all fields of policy-making focusing primarily on methodological issues. Particularly, we look forward to submissions that

• Either confront historical data with an interpretive approach of policy analysis, or
• Apply a historical method on policy research, or
• Find another creative way to combine historical data with IPA-approach.

We invite political scientists, but also historians as well as scholars from related disciplines to submit papers. Our aim is to stimulate the discussion in a matter where research agendas too often distinguish too sharply between historical and contemporary perspectives.