How is policy expertise governed under soft authoritarianism?: Vera Axyonova draws on interviews with Kazakhstan think tank professionals and examines how the state manages and funds expertise. New blog post in #PolicyAndPolitics policyandpoliticsblog.com/2026/09/23/h...

How think tanks shape policymaking in authoritarian regimes

This article focuses on an underexplored political context, examining how expertise is organised, mobilised and constrained in Kazakhstan.

policyandpoliticsblog.com

💥 The semester is off and running - it's a great time to take a pause and catch up on a few articles. 💥 See our 2026 reading list, with an extended Open Access Deadline until Oct 31. policyandpoliticsblog.com/2026/09/16/2...

2026 Policy & Politics Student Reading List

Updating your student reading lists in 2026? Read our essential reading recommendations for public policy and politics courses on expertise and evidence in policymaking, policy process theories, an…

policyandpoliticsblog.com

🤩 Check out our latest quarterly highlights, featuring 5 open-access articles on collective action, collaborative governance, expertise, and coalition dynamics.

Advancing policy scholarship: Quarterly highlights from Policy & Politics

This collection advances policy scholarship demonstrating how theoretical development, methodological innovation and empirical research can deepen our understanding of contemporary policy making.

policyandpoliticsblog.com

Who shapes local policy? New research by Oliver Meza & Ana Cecilia de Alba shows how municipal councilors exercise agency with limited formal authority: policyandpoliticsblog.com/2026/09/02/h...

How local councillors shape public policy: new insights into policy agency

This article explores how municipal councillors influence the policy process and argue that their contribution has been overlooked in policy process research.

policyandpoliticsblog.com

policyandpoliticsblog.com/2026/05/20/p...

Policy Fatalism: Public Views on the Limits of Policy Action

This article introduces the concept of policy fatalism, understood as the belief that governments are unable to address some of the most important problems facing society. It argues that this captu…

policyandpoliticsblog.com

🚨Sept 1 Deadline for our Call for Special Issue Papers: Power and Politics in the Policy Process 🚨 We're looking for your ideas on how to bring power more explicitly into policy process theories. See full call and more details below on our blog 👇 bristoluniversitypressdigital.com/view/journal...

🚨Call for papers on Power and Politics in the Policy Process – A Special Issue of Policy & Politics🚨 👇 Read more on our blog! policyandpoliticsblog.com/2026/08/17/c...

Call for papers on Power and Politics in the Policy Process – A Special Issue of Policy & Politics

Final reminder of 1st September deadline for Call for papers from the editors of Policy & Politics The co-editors invite abstracts for a special issue on Power and Politics in the Policy Proces…

policyandpoliticsblog.com

📚 Updating your student reading lists? Read our essential reading recommendations for public policy and politics courses on expertise and evidence in policymaking, policy process theories, and interpretive approaches to policy research. policyandpoliticsblog.com/2026/07/30/u...

➡️ ➡️ Complete Themed Section on #InterpretiveProcessTracing now #OpenAcces ⬅️ ⬅️ Four papers, one goal: thinking through and advancing PT for interpretive research (post with a tribute to Raúl Pacheco-Vega fellow PT and methods enthusiast). 1/

I'm very happy to see @policy-politics.bsky.social published this blog post on my new article that is part of the 'Advancing Interpretive Process Tracing in Policy Research' themed section. policyandpoliticsblog.com/2026/06/19/i...

Interpretive process tracing themed section article on “Interpretive process tracing and policy feedback theory: how social reporting put poverty on the agenda in Germany”

This article examines how poverty became recognised as a legitimate policy issue in Germany, bringing interpretive process tracing into dialogue with policy feedback theory to explain how a politic…

policyandpoliticsblog.com

Christopher Smith Ochoa@csmithochoa.bsky.social · 7mo ago

🎉 Ecstatic that my new article, “How social reporting put poverty on the agenda in Germany: an interpretive process tracing analysis”, is now published open access in @policy-politics.bsky.social bristoluniversitypressdigital.com/view/journal...

😊🥁📣Happy to share that ‘Policy expertise in times of crisis’ (coauthored with Brian Head and Marleen Easton) was one of Policy & Politics’s most highly cited articles in 2025! Link to collection: bristoluniversitypressdigital.com/page/highly-... Link to the article doi.org/10.1332/0305...

Highly Cited Collection

bristoluniversitypressdigital.com

🔥 Smokefree Public Places Policy in Scotland: Rethinking Policy Work in Multiple Streams and Punctuated Equilibrium Theory by @profkatsmith.bsky.social Discover on our blog: policyandpoliticsblog.com/2026/07/01/s... Check out the full research article: doi.org/10.1332/0305...

Smokefree public places policy in Scotland: rethinking policy work in multiple streams and Punctuated Equilibrium Theory

This article examines how and why Scotland became the first UK nation to introduce comprehensive smokefree public places legislation through prominent theories of policy change. To do so, it draws on ...

doi.org

We’re delighted to announce that Policy & Politics has achieved a 2-year Impact Factor of 3.5 in the 2025 JCR, maintaining its position in the top quartile of journals in both Public Admin and Political Science. @eakoebele.bsky.social @allegrafullerton.bsky.social @berglundoscar.bsky.social

There is a clear gap in the literature: politics is either not explicitly addressed or under-integrated in policy process studies. If politics is missing, then so is power. This Special Issue aims to address the gap. Submit your abstract by 1 Sept bristoluniversitypressdigital.com/view/journal...

Enjoy a free preview of our upcoming themed section until end of July! bristoluniversitypressdigital.com/subject/Jour...

Hilde van Meegdenburg 🟥@hildevanmeegdenburg.com · 4mo ago

➡️ ➡️ Complete Themed Section on #InterpretiveProcessTracing now #OpenAcces ⬅️ ⬅️ Four papers, one goal: thinking through and advancing PT for interpretive research (post with a tribute to Raúl Pacheco-Vega fellow PT and methods enthusiast). 1/

⬇️ Policy diffusion and interpretive process tracing: explaining the spread of assisted voluntary return policies by @munchsybille.bsky.social policyandpoliticsblog.com/2026/06/11/i... 🔥 Read about other articles in the themed section policyandpoliticsblog.com/2026/06/04/n...

🎉 Ecstatic that my new article, “How social reporting put poverty on the agenda in Germany: an interpretive process tracing analysis”, is now published open access in @policy-politics.bsky.social bristoluniversitypressdigital.com/view/journal...

New @policy-politics.bsky.social paper revisits how Scotland became 1st UK nation to introduce smokefree public places. I argue for extending Punctuated Equilibrium Theory via Niche Construction Theory to understand behind the scenes policy work required for implementation success: shorturl.at/GlhxR

Smokefree public places policy in Scotland: rethinking policy work in multiple streams and Punctuated Equilibrium Theory

This article examines how and why Scotland became the first UK nation to introduce comprehensive smokefree public places legislation through prominent theories of policy change. To do so, it draws on ...

shorturl.at

We are deeply saddened to learn of the sudden passing of Raúl Pacheco-Vega, a valued member of the Policy & Politics Editorial Board since 2021.

1/When the UK asylum system is described as in 'crisis', what if that's not a breakdown of the system but instead how it functions? In Policy & Politics, @e-c-hill.bsky.social and I argue that 'crisis ordinariness' is a method of governing in which extraordinary harm is presented as administration.

Lived Experience as evidence in anti-poverty policy making, Hayley Bennett, open access at @bupjournals.bsky.social #socialpolicy #poverty bristoluniversitypressdigital.com/view/journal...

📢 Policy Fatalism: Public Views on the Limits of Policy Action. Check out our latest blog post by Gerry Stoker, Daniel Devine @danjdevine.bsky.social & Brenton Prosser policyandpoliticsblog.com/2026/05/20/p... ⬇️ Read their research doi.org/10.1332/0305... #fatalism #policy #Britain #Australia

🌟 Read the latest Quarterly Highlights from Policy & Politics. Environmental policy through theory: collaboration, narratives, evidence and design, free to access until 31st Aug! bristoluniversitypressdigital.com/subject/Quar... Explore more on our blog: policyandpoliticsblog.com/2026/05/06/h...

🚨 New blog post! Cultural theory and policy framing in attitudes toward universal basic income by Wei-Ting Yen and Li-Yin Liu Read here⬇️ policyandpoliticsblog.com/2026/04/29/c... Check out the full research article: doi.org/10.1332/0305...

☀️ Not Yet Partisan: Cultural Theory Explains Attitudes about Solar Radiation Management in the US by @chris-koski.bsky.social and Paul Manson. 📚 Read about their latest research on our blog: policyandpoliticsblog.com/2026/04/23/n... ⬇️ Check out their research paper: doi.org/10.1332/0305...

🚨 Final Reminder! Special Issue proposals for Policy & Politics journal - deadline is fast approaching on 30 April!🚨 Read more on our blog! policyandpoliticsblog.com/2026/04/22/f...

New blog post! ⬇️ This week's post looks at policy diffusion and the motivations behind open government policies, based on the latest research article by Seulki Lee-Geiller, Caterina Santoro, Mohsan Ali & Yannis Charalabidis. policyandpoliticsblog.com/2026/04/09/p...

An article that caused me much sweat and tears to write is published: ➡️ ➡️ Interpretive process tracing? How PT can become amenable to interpretive research ⬅️ ⬅️ doi.org/10.1332/0305... 🧵 1/3

Just out and Open Access in Policy & Politics - "Inferential reasoning in policy analysis: knowledge use under uncertainty and complexity" by M. Ramesh & M. Howlett (March 30, 2026). bristoluniversitypressdigital.com/view/journal...

⭐ This week's blog post explores collaborative climate governance: linking consensus-building and collective action. Read the full post by Cheng Zhou and @claregrb.bsky.social here 👇 policyandpoliticsblog.com/2026/04/01/c...