Mikołaj Pawlak – författare

This book is about irrationality and policy failures. It argues that policy failures are not rational in the sense of a policy action plan that led to an error of implementation or lack of success, followed by decision-making, coping and learning. Policy failures are rational in that they entertain an image of rationality, a mythology almost, that hides or normalises their inherent irrationality. Failure irrationality is not so much about policy failures being illogical, ad hoc or unfair; instead, it comes from the observable evolution to other forms, the autonomisation of failure. Failure is today endowed with a life of its own.

This is the first book that combines failure curiosity in social sciences with literature and film that explore human absurdity, existentialism and quietism. Rendering the Irish playwright Samuel Beckett central to its analysis, it provides a comparative recent history of three public policies in Poland: migration, abortion and disability. In an age of gridlock and polarization in policy domains, this book provides a crucial disruption to the linear and policy outcome focus of traditional policymaking literature. It argues that irrationality is not a fixable institutional hazard, but rather the contemporary manifestation of a new failure ecology, acoustics and even skin.

Examining policy failure and success, this book sheds light on the social, political and emotional consequences of the process of not achieving an outcome in policymaking. It will be of interest to scholars and students of sociology, anthropology, policy studies, political science, emotion/affect studies and failure studies.

This book is about irrationality and policy failures. It argues that policy failures are not rational in the sense of a policy action plan that led to an error of implementation or lack of success, followed by decision-making, coping and learning. Policy failures are rational in that they entertain an image of rationality, a mythology almost, that hides or normalises their inherent irrationality. Failure irrationality is not so much about policy failures being illogical, ad hoc or unfair; instead, it comes from the observable evolution to other forms, the autonomisation of failure. Failure is today endowed with a life of its own.

This is the first book that combines failure curiosity in social sciences with literature and film that explore human absurdity, existentialism and quietism. Rendering the Irish playwright Samuel Beckett central to its analysis, it provides a comparative recent history of three public policies in Poland: migration, abortion and disability. In an age of gridlock and polarization in policy domains, this book provides a crucial disruption to the linear and policy outcome focus of traditional policymaking literature. It argues that irrationality is not a fixable institutional hazard, but rather the contemporary manifestation of a new failure ecology, acoustics and even skin.

Examining policy failure and success, this book sheds light on the social, political and emotional consequences of the process of not achieving an outcome in policymaking. It will be of interest to scholars and students of sociology, anthropology, policy studies, political science, emotion/affect studies and failure studies.

Ignorance and Change analyses the European refugee crisis of 2015–2016 from the perspective of ignorance studies showing how the media, decision-makers and academics engaged in the projection and reification of the future in relation to the crisis, the asylum system, and the solutions that were proposed.

Why do recent crises fail to bring meaningful change? Why do we often see replication of the regimes of ignorance, inefficient knowledge and expertise practices? This book answers these questions by shifting the focus from the issue of change to our projections and expectations of what change will look like. Building on three comprehensive case studies, Poland, Hungary, and Romania, it demonstrates how ignorance and projectivity were essential for new Member States not only for managing the crisis but also for reaching a higher level of autonomy in relation to the EU.

Employing an innovative interactional approach to ignorance, it bridges ignorance studies with sociology of future and migration research. Challenging the dominant interest in defining ignorance, it moves the focus from what ignorance is to what ignorance does. It incorporates the concept of future into ignorance studies and develops notions such as “projective agency,” “reification of the future,” “projection by proxy,” and “projectors of EU asylum policies.” The book provides an erudite background, comprehensive empirical research, and original tools of analysis for graduate students, researchers, and policy makers interested in crisis studies, public policy, ignorance studies, social theory, migration studies, and sociology of the future.

Ignorance and Change analyses the European refugee crisis of 2015–2016 from the perspective of ignorance studies showing how the media, decision-makers and academics engaged in the projection and reification of the future in relation to the crisis, the asylum system, and the solutions that were proposed.

Why do recent crises fail to bring meaningful change? Why do we often see replication of the regimes of ignorance, inefficient knowledge and expertise practices? This book answers these questions by shifting the focus from the issue of change to our projections and expectations of what change will look like. Building on three comprehensive case studies, Poland, Hungary, and Romania, it demonstrates how ignorance and projectivity were essential for new Member States not only for managing the crisis but also for reaching a higher level of autonomy in relation to the EU.

Employing an innovative interactional approach to ignorance, it bridges ignorance studies with sociology of future and migration research. Challenging the dominant interest in defining ignorance, it moves the focus from what ignorance is to what ignorance does. It incorporates the concept of future into ignorance studies and develops notions such as “projective agency,” “reification of the future,” “projection by proxy,” and “projectors of EU asylum policies.” The book provides an erudite background, comprehensive empirical research, and original tools of analysis for graduate students, researchers, and policy makers interested in crisis studies, public policy, ignorance studies, social theory, migration studies, and sociology of the future.