en
Scientific article
Open access
English

Dealing with bad guys: actor- and process-level determinants of the “devil shift” in policy making

Published inJournal of public policy, p. 1-26
Publication date2015
Abstract

Policy actors tend to misinterpret and distrust opponents in policy processes. This phenomenon, known as the “devil shift”, consists of the following two dimensions: actors perceive opponents as more powerful and as more evil than they really are. Analysing nine policy processes in Switzerland, this article highlights the drivers of the devil shift at two levels. On the actor level, interest groups, political parties and powerful actors suffer more from the devil shift than state actors and powerless actors. On the process level, the devil shift is stronger in policy processes dealing with socio-economic issues as compared with other issues. Finally, and in line with previous studies, there is less empirical evidence of the power dimension of the devil shift phenomenon than of its evilness dimension.

Citation (ISO format)
FISCHER, Manuel et al. Dealing with bad guys: actor- and process-level determinants of the “devil shift” in policy making. In: Journal of public policy, 2015, p. 1–26. doi: 10.1017/S0143814X15000021
Main files (1)
Article (Published version)
accessLevelPublic
Identifiers
ISSN of the journal0143-814X
915views
615downloads

Technical informations

Creation04/07/2015 2:31:00 PM
First validation04/07/2015 2:31:00 PM
Update time03/14/2023 11:09:35 PM
Status update03/14/2023 11:09:35 PM
Last indexation01/16/2024 5:41:14 PM
All rights reserved by Archive ouverte UNIGE and the University of GenevaunigeBlack