Thematic scope of article selection:

The editorial board of "Public Policy Studies" in cooperation with the editorial board of "Wiadomości Społeczne. Pismo Polskiego Towarzystwa Polityki Społecznej" invites the authors to submit proposals for a thematic issue, which will be devoted to the analysis of socio-economic phenomena conducted using the theoretical framework appropriate for historical institutionalism and derivative theoretical approaches.

It seems that theoretical discussions in recent years have increasingly included concepts that emphasize the importance of the temporal dimension of processes in various public policies.

This tendency is expressed, for example, in the regular use of the popular phrase “history matters”. It reflects the appreciation of the “long time horizon” factor as extremely important for the course and dynamics of the processes of programming and implementing public policies.

In this trend, the key concept is the category called "path dependence". It refers to the idea that past processes in public policies, including initial conditions, influence current processes. In other words – current policies depend on “the heritage of the past".

The concept of “path dependence” can also be characterized as a phenomenon related to the processes of accumulation of factors that co-determine the conditions for undertaking public action - constraints, burdens, barriers.

The concept of "path dependence" has created a tendency among authors to focus their analyses on socio-economic policies/interventions that remain "trapped on the path" (in the status quo) due to the impact of phenomena that limit the possibility of carrying out changes/reforms in them (e.g. the effect of asymmetry of influence among stakeholders, growing benefits, narrow program menu, or specific rules in public finances). Nevertheless, some authors analyse those policies and interventions that "went off the path" as a result of strengthening specific feedback mechanisms that undermine the status quo.

Other important concepts within this theoretical approach are: sensitivity to initial conditions in policies, formative periods, trajectories, critical points, critical junctures, causality of temporally earlier phenomena, mechanisms of change (layering, drift, replacement, conversion) and policy feedback as a mechanism reinforcing or undermining the status quo.

 

Within the presented theoretical framework, the adoption of a specific policy/intervention by a public institution creates a stable event with a given institutional-organizational configuration (design) and patterns of behaviour. And at the same time, a specific groups of interests (along with a benefit distribution model), financial and organizational structures, administrative staff with specific competencies emerge.

Representatives of this approach are: Paul Pierson, Kathleen Thelen, Theda Skocpol, Jack Goldstone, and Daniel Béland, Suzanne Mettler i Mallory SoRelle.

The editorial boards of „Public Policy Studies” and „Wiadomości Społeczne” look forward to articles focusing on theoretical aspects, empirical studies, case studies, or practical applications of concepts from the theoretical trends mentioned above.

The list of potential topics includes, among others:

• the importance of initial/baseline conditions for further development sequences in selected public policies and interventions;
• mechanisms that strengthen path dependence (maintaining status quo), or mechanisms that weaken it / push away from the path (undermining status quo);
• the dynamics of functioning of selected policies in reference to the concepts of time, critical points, critical intersections, etc.;
• theorethical analyses focusing on selected concepts belonging to historical institutionalism approach, policy feedback theory, or other compatible;
• case studies illustrating path dependence on specific phenomenon on the examples of selected policies/public interventions;
• conditions for the development of social policy in selected countries in the light of path dependence;
• conditions for the economic development of selected countries in the light of the path dependence;
• the processes of shaping selected institutions in the light of the dependency path;
• feedback between programmatic/conceptual phenomena (policy) and political phenomena (politics) – when public programs co-shape or influence the politics of party competition (politics).

 

The articles will be published in ”Public Policy Studies” journal  and summarized in ‘Wiadomości Społeczne’. Also, ‘Wiadomości Społeczne’ will promote this issue.

 

Submisson Procedure:

Proposed topics should be sent to Editorial Assistant Dr. Klaudia Wolniewicz-Slomka: kwolni@sgh.waw.pl

Authors should submit manuscripts to the journal “Studia z Polityki Publicznej / Public Policy Studies” only via the Open Journal Systems website: https://econjournals.sgh.waw.pl/KSzPP/about/submissions

Texts should be written in Word (.docx) format and contain up to 40,000 characters. All texts undergo a review process (double-blind peer-review). Articles are published in Open Access under the CC BY 4.0 licence (authors retain the copyright). Editing and publication of articles in “Studia z Polityki Publicznej / Public Policy Studies” journal are free of charge. Fees or Article Processing Charges (APCs) are not requested from the authors at any point of the peer review and publication.

We require the use of an article template (in Polish or in English).

The journal is indexed, among others in the databases: BazEkon, Central and Eastern European Online Library (CEEOL), CrossRef, Google Scholar, Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ), ERIH PLUS, Free Journal Network (FJN), Polska Bibliografia Naukowa (PBN), Lens, Dimensions, Scite, Scilit, Baidu Scholar, NAVER, Korea Open Access Platform for Researchers (KOAR), Informationsdienst Politikwissenschaft (POLLUX), International Political Science Abstracts (IPSA), J-Gate, Research Papers in Economics (RePEc), Bielefeld Academic Search Engine (BASE), Gale Academic OneFile, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI).

More information for authors is available on the journal’s website (http://szpp.sgh.waw.pl).