Operationalizing inclusive growth: can malleable ideas survive metricized governance?

Clementine Hill O'Connor*, Katherine Smith, Ceri Hughes, Petra Meier, Robin Purshouse

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

2 Citations (Scopus)
47 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Advocates of inclusive growth claim it provides policymakers with a means of combining economic success with social inclusivity, making it highly attractive across a wide range of settings. Here, we explore how three UK policy organizations (a devolved national government, a city region combined authority, and a local council) are pursuing inclusive growth goals. Drawing on 51 semistructured interviews, documentary analysis and policy ethnography, we argue that inclusive growth is a classic "chameleonic idea," strategically imbued with malleable qualities that serve to obscure substantive, unresolved tensions. These characteristics are helpful in achieving alliances, both within policy organizations and between these organizations and their multiple stakeholders. However, these same qualities make inclusive growth challenging to operationalize, especially in governance settings dominated by metrics. The process of representing a malleable idea via a set of metricized indicators involves simplification and stabilization, both of which risk disrupting the fragile coalitions that malleability enables.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)114-130
Number of pages17
JournalPublic Administration
Volume102
Issue number1
Early online date13 Feb 2023
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 31 Mar 2024

Keywords

  • social inclusivity
  • metricized indicators
  • Inclusive growth

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Operationalizing inclusive growth: can malleable ideas survive metricized governance?'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this