What makes evidence-based policymaking such a useful myth? The case of NICE guidance on bariatric surgery in the UK
What makes evidence-based policymaking such a useful myth? The case of NICE guidance on bariatric surgery in the UK
There is widespread scepticism among policy scholars and practitioners about the move to rationalise policy making: the naive vision of ‘evidence-based policy’ is often contrasted with the reality of ‘policy-based evidence’. Yet the language of evidence-based policy making (EBPM) continues to dominate policy debate about complex and contested issues. In this paper, I explore this apparent paradox by looking at what makes EBPM such a useful myth for all sorts of policy actors. I do so with reference to the pioneering work of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), focusing specifically on its work in relation to bariatric surgery, a suite of controversial and drastic weight loss procedures. I show that the myth of EBPM has political, pragmatic and procedural utility in practice, allowing the organisation to set and administer guidelines on this uncertain, complex and contested treatment in ways which sustain buy-in and enable ongoing contestation.
Evidence-based policy making; rationality; policy practice; obesity; NICE
199-214
Boswell, John
34bad0df-3d4d-40ce-948f-65871e3d783c
1 April 2018
Boswell, John
34bad0df-3d4d-40ce-948f-65871e3d783c
Boswell, John
(2018)
What makes evidence-based policymaking such a useful myth? The case of NICE guidance on bariatric surgery in the UK.
Governance, 31 (2), .
(doi:10.1111/gove.12285).
Abstract
There is widespread scepticism among policy scholars and practitioners about the move to rationalise policy making: the naive vision of ‘evidence-based policy’ is often contrasted with the reality of ‘policy-based evidence’. Yet the language of evidence-based policy making (EBPM) continues to dominate policy debate about complex and contested issues. In this paper, I explore this apparent paradox by looking at what makes EBPM such a useful myth for all sorts of policy actors. I do so with reference to the pioneering work of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), focusing specifically on its work in relation to bariatric surgery, a suite of controversial and drastic weight loss procedures. I show that the myth of EBPM has political, pragmatic and procedural utility in practice, allowing the organisation to set and administer guidelines on this uncertain, complex and contested treatment in ways which sustain buy-in and enable ongoing contestation.
Text
EBPMpaper_Revised
- Accepted Manuscript
More information
Accepted/In Press date: 18 February 2017
e-pub ahead of print date: 26 April 2017
Published date: 1 April 2018
Keywords:
Evidence-based policy making; rationality; policy practice; obesity; NICE
Organisations:
Politics & International Relations
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 406450
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/406450
ISSN: 0952-1895
PURE UUID: b2588d86-c498-4003-9b09-8865414409fe
Catalogue record
Date deposited: 10 Mar 2017 10:47
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 05:02
Export record
Altmetrics
Download statistics
Downloads from ePrints over the past year. Other digital versions may also be available to download e.g. from the publisher's website.
View more statistics
