Professor Christina Boswell

Event details

Lecture title: Against ‘Interests’ in Political Science: Public Policy and Political Motivation

Date: Tuesday 21 May 2013

Venue: Auditorium Lecture Theatre, Business School

Lecture abstract

What factors influence politicians and officials in formulating public policy? Most political scientists rely on some notion of ‘interest’ to explain policy. My research over the past 15 years has tried to chip away at the supremacy of interest. I have challenged the deployment of the concept as a short-hand for describing reasons for action; and the presumed content of such interests, especially when it comes to understanding immigration and asylum policy.

But is there an alternative to the concept of interest in theories of policy? And what would an interest-free theory look like? I suggest that sociological and political theory accounts of legitimation can provide the basis both for a more plausible account of political motivation, and for explaining different types of policy response.