Essayreeks - The Plausibility of Policy

The social domain has seen a growing debate on the effectiveness of public

measures. The realisation is taking shape that the legitimacy of social

policies such as the socialisation of vulnerable groups, anti-radicalisation

programs or regeneration projects in deprived neighbourhoods has to go

beyond the intuition that they `should work. But unlike methods in spheres

such as medicine and healthcare, social programs typically have no sharp

demarcation in time, intensity or target group and are implemented in a

rich context of unforeseen and unknown variables. This makes it difficult

(if not impossible) to assess their impact with research methods that

centralise a monocausal effect.