en
Scientific article
English

Governing Morality Issues through Procedural Policies

Published inSchweizerische Zeitschrift für Politikwissenschaft, vol. 17, no. 3, p. 239-258
Publication date2011
Abstract

Morality issues such as the death penalty, drug consumption, gambling, and same-sex-marriage often constitute intractable policy controversies. Classical “morality politics” scholars predict two types of governmental responses to such public problems: either a substantive policy design if there is a broad consensus among electoral constituencies or a non-decision if there is a fundamental clash of values. We argue that the adoption of a procedural policy design represents a third option. Providing empirical evidence on the plausibility of this hypothesis, we compare the Swiss regulation of four morality issues in the medical field: reproductive medicine and embryo-related research; abortion; euthanasia; and organ transplant. In fact, “moral values” frames are not always dominant, as the multi-dimensionality of each morality issue allows for concurrent policy frames promoted by various policy actors.

Keywords
  • Public policy
  • Switzerland
  • Agenda-setting
Citation (ISO format)
ENGELI, Isabelle, VARONE, Frédéric. Governing Morality Issues through Procedural Policies. In: Schweizerische Zeitschrift für Politikwissenschaft, 2011, vol. 17, n° 3, p. 239–258. doi: 10.1111/j.1662-6370.2011.02025.x
Main files (1)
Article (Accepted version)
accessLevelRestricted
Identifiers
ISSN of the journal1424-7755
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