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. In The Plausibility of Policy, Vasco Lub pres