Policy styles and norms in Asia: a critical and interpretive reflection

Lead Researcher(s): Piyapong Boossabong; Noe John Joseph E. Sacramento; and Antonio D. Salazar Jr.
Status: Published

Abstract/summary: This chapter discusses policy styles and norms in Asia. It conceptualizes styles and norms as the art side of public policy that determines the political and bureaucratic construction of policy nature. Policy styles and norms can be perceived as the dominant policy discourse in a particular setting that reflects policy framing, preferences, and meaning. The style is a performative part of the norm. With this lens, the chapter highlights five operative policy discourses as the main Asian policy styles and norms: state, spirituality and the human-centric approach, communitarianism, sufficiency and self-reliance, and technological solutionism. The chapter clarifies their characteristics and illustrates how these operative policy discourses dominate policy domains in the major part of the region. It also examines their real-world implications.

Keywords:

• Policy styles
• Policy norms
• Developmental state
• Spirituality
• Communitarianism
• Technological solutionism