dc.contributor.advisor | Howes, Michael | |
dc.contributor.author | Grant-Smith, Deanna Chantal Cristina | |
dc.date.accessioned | 2018-01-23T02:30:15Z | |
dc.date.available | 2018-01-23T02:30:15Z | |
dc.date.issued | 2012 | |
dc.identifier.doi | 10.25904/1912/2626 | |
dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/10072/366493 | |
dc.description.abstract | The difficulties involved with addressing wicked problems have been acknowledged
since the early 1970s. Collaboration, deliberation and communicative rationality have
been posited as a way forward on these. Some wicked problems, however, present the
additional challenge of high levels of psychosocial sensitivity and verbal proscription. The
unspeakable nature of these problems makes them particularly problematic within
rational deliberation processes because they are quite literally issues that we can’t or
won’t talk about.
Through this research I seek to understand how these unspeakable policy problems are
dealt with by and can affect policy making processes, participation and outcomes. As a
paradigmatic unspeakable policy problem, this research focuses on a case study of the
regulation of sewage discharges from recreational boats. Through this case study I
explore how governments go about the business of addressing unspeakable policy
problems and what happens when they do. Using critical discourse analysis and an
interpretive approach to policy analysis, I highlight the discursive strategies used in these
policy making debates and consultations, as well as the policy implications of the way the
unspeakable object and subject are constructed. These discursive strategies seek to
influence the creation and definition of policy problems, to control the range of policy
contributions that are considered to be legitimate, and to restrict the range of issues and
possible solutions. I argue that each of these acts gains an increased importance due to
the unspeakability of the policy problem.
Does it matter whether we find excrement abhorrent because we find it disgusting or
because it is harmful? Such a distinction provides clues as to why people respond the way
they do to certain policies, the potential for behaviour change and the means by which it
is most likely to be achieved. Placing the object of policy, excrement, and its sociocultural
constructions at the forefront of our enquiry enables us to recognise the
implications of its unspeakable presence and, this, the need for a more contextually and
culturally situated policy approach. Recognising sewage regulation as an unspeakable
problem allows for the design of processes which both acknowledge and accommodate
its unspeakability.
This thesis demonstrates the value of focussing on the discourses of policy in developing
an understanding of the constraints and opportunities for policy making for unspeakable
issues. I advocate the need for policy process to accommodate a range of ways of
speaking about the unspeakable that accommodates emotional and embodied talk, and
not just abstract or technical contributions. | |
dc.language | English | |
dc.publisher | Griffith University | |
dc.publisher.place | Brisbane | |
dc.rights.copyright | The author owns the copyright in this thesis, unless stated otherwise. | |
dc.subject.keywords | Policy making | |
dc.subject.keywords | Policy problems | |
dc.subject.keywords | Wicked problems | |
dc.subject.keywords | Policy process | |
dc.title | Regulating the Unspeakable: A Policy Story of Boaters, Floaters, Voters and Matter Out of Place | |
dc.type | Griffith thesis | |
gro.faculty | Science, Environment, Engineering and Technology | |
gro.rights.copyright | The author owns the copyright in this thesis, unless stated otherwise. | |
gro.hasfulltext | Full Text | |
dc.contributor.otheradvisor | Howlett, Catherine | |
dc.contributor.otheradvisor | Cameron, Jenny | |
dc.contributor.otheradvisor | MacCallum, Diana | |
dc.rights.accessRights | Public | |
gro.identifier.gurtID | gu1357281736624 | |
gro.source.ADTshelfno | ADT0 | |
gro.source.GURTshelfno | GURT1355 | |
gro.thesis.degreelevel | Thesis (PhD Doctorate) | |
gro.thesis.degreeprogram | Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) | |
gro.department | Griffith School of Environment | |
gro.griffith.author | Grant-Smith, Deanna CC. | |