Research meeting of the Section of Knowledge, Transformation, and Society (KiTeS), University of Twente, with guest-speaker Sebastián Ureta, who will give a presentation followed by questions and discussion. For more information please contact the KiTeS secretariat. You are welcome!
ABSTRACT
We live in an experimental society. From citizen projects to artistic interventions, the concepts of “experiment” and “experimentation” are frequently used to describe multiple kinds of social processes and initiatives. Especially in the policy field, a wide range of interventions on issues of public concern are labeled as “experimental”. However, it is often not made explicit what exactly is the experimental character of these initiatives or what are their specific characteristics and effects. This presentation – based on a forthcoming book – will propose a new analytical framework for understanding policy experiments, their origins, scope, and consequences. Adopting an STS approach, policy experiments are going to be defined as speculative interventions on issues of public interest that rely on unprecedented configurations of artifacts, knowledge, and social practices. More than a fashionable label, policy experiments constitute a highly specific modality of contemporary public intervention. Their appeal lies in its promise to deal with problems of public interest efficiently and rapidly, without recourse to traditional models of bureaucratic rationality or cumbersome state planning. Experimental approaches to policy issues are presented as open and innovative, but also as imbued with a scientific rationality, endowing them with no small degree of prestige and credibility.
Sebastián Ureta, Universidad Católica de Chile
2023-2025 Prince Claus Chair in Equity and Development