Historical Background



CAROL BACCHI LEGAL FRAMEWORK

NAME OF WRITER

AFFILIATIONS

What is the WPR Framework?

The WPR (What’s the problem represented to be) approach is a user-friendly tool presented by Carol Bacchi, consists of seven interconnected steps of questions and analysis. It can be applied to a wide range of analysis mainly including accounting and finance, law, health sciences, and geography ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"QtsML8FV","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(\\uc0\\u8220{}Introducing WPR,\\uc0\\u8221{} 2017)","plainCitation":"(“Introducing WPR,” 2017)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":"EqOjwX5Q/yujjrGBh","uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/jpfyfVgo/items/LNCEDYKX"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/jpfyfVgo/items/LNCEDYKX"],"itemData":{"id":215,"type":"post-weblog","title":"Introducing WPR","container-title":"Carol Bacchi","abstract":"The WPR approach is a user-friendly tool consisting of seven interrelated forms of questioning and analysis (Bacchi WPR CHART). It can be applied in a wide array of fields beyond policy analysis, i…","URL":"https://carolbacchi.com/about/","language":"en","issued":{"date-parts":[["2017",11,1]]},"accessed":{"date-parts":[["2019",10,7]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (“Introducing WPR,” 2017). The WPR claims that policies contain inherited approaches that meaningfully address the problems. The Framework aims to treat such problems with an approach of critical scrutiny. The WPR can be used extensively in a comparative analysis as well. As the study of problematizations can be defined as the can reveal that certain factors can combine to lead to a problem in one condition while it may not be a problem in other conditions. It is also not necessary to address all the questions, different studies may require a specific number of questions to answer and not all of them. The question that why this framework was created can be answered from the element that there are a lot of problems that are resistant to change despite the efforts of formulating extra policies. The reason for that is the way we represent many problems in our policies. The understanding of the problem is as necessary as its solution. To create a change the understanding of problems and their representation in policies needs changing.

Problem Representation in Policy

Through these questions, there can be certainly more than one policy representation in a document. That said it is still likely to claim a general direction within the specified policy letting more relative suggestions to be made. Every problem is the solution of a specific problem, the representation of a problem in policy is done in a specific way and that specific way of representation may help some while may prove to be a disadvantage to other. The principles of ethics, law, finance and social issues are at stake while using WPR approach. This approach fits it in a grave pattern because of its questioning method of the effects of the problem. These questions approach is different from manual problem-solving approaches because of its examining power to look into the effects of the policy. The principle at stake is that rather than assessing policies based on their ability to solve problems, the way it constructs problems needs to be studied and also these principles are central to the practices of government as well ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"VyZjC97v","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Bletsas and Beasley, 2012)","plainCitation":"(Bletsas and Beasley, 2012)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":75,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/KfR9yuY2/items/U58EQSUD"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/KfR9yuY2/items/U58EQSUD"],"itemData":{"id":75,"type":"book","title":"Engaging with Carol Bacchi: Strategic interventions and exchanges","publisher":"University of Adelaide Press","ISBN":"0-9871718-5-2","author":[{"family":"Bletsas","given":"Angelique"},{"family":"Beasley","given":"Chris"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2012"]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Bletsas and Beasley, 2012). One of the other issue drivers behind WPR is the reliance on health policies on political science models for assistance in difficult path and policy development. The assumption used in the medical paradigm is generally positivism that individual scholars can reach objectives of the evidence about the real world that are distinct ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"6M2KcRY7","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Bacchi, 2016)","plainCitation":"(Bacchi, 2016)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":76,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/KfR9yuY2/items/MLN5XAJ9"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/KfR9yuY2/items/MLN5XAJ9"],"itemData":{"id":76,"type":"article-journal","title":"Problematizations in health policy: questioning how “problems” are constituted in policies","container-title":"SAGE Open","page":"2158244016653986","volume":"6","issue":"2","author":[{"family":"Bacchi","given":"Carol"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2016"]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Bacchi, 2016). One thing that is a concern that facts and values are held in a similar category in previous models. WPR model is based on the generalized form of information that can be collected for aby specific topic.

Different media houses see things differently. Like the word democracy, might means something different to one news channel or publication it can mean an entirely different thing to others. The response in the general academic culture is positive about this analytical approach but no specific media coverage has been given to this. Like Bletsas and Beasley many scholars have discussed and written about the improvement in analytical methods by using this framework. Its implications in the research field of health, education, social science have been highlighted by many people. However, its impact could have been much bigger if mainstream media had shown interest in it. As the power of media dependence tend to highlight those areas where there is a lack of information about an issue ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"Yjs54XE6","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Happer and Philo, 2013)","plainCitation":"(Happer and Philo, 2013)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":77,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/KfR9yuY2/items/7EYS2NBP"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/KfR9yuY2/items/7EYS2NBP"],"itemData":{"id":77,"type":"article-journal","title":"The Role of the Media in the Construction of Public Belief and Social Change","container-title":"Journal of Social and Political Psychology","page":"321-336-336","volume":"1","issue":"1","source":"jspp.psychopen.eu","abstract":"The media play a central role in informing the public about what happens in the world, particularly in those areas in which audiences do not possess direct knowledge or experience. This article examines the impact the media has in the construction of public belief and attitudes and its relationship to social change. Drawing on findings from a range of empirical studies, we look at the impact of media coverage in areas such as disability, climate change and economic development. Findings across these areas show the way in which the media shape public debate in terms of setting agendas and focusing public interest on particular subjects. For example, in our work on disability we showed the relationship between negative media coverage of people on disability benefit and a hardening of attitudes towards them. Further, we found that the media also severely limit the information with which audiences understand these issues and that alternative solutions to political problems are effectively removed from public debate. We found other evidence of the way in which media coverage can operate to limit understanding of possibilities of social change. In our study of news reporting of climate change, we traced the way that the media have constructed uncertainty around the issue and how this has led to disengagement in relation to possible changes in personal behaviours. Finally, we discuss the implications for communications and policy and how both the traditional and new media might help in the development of better informed public debate.","DOI":"10.5964/jspp.v1i1.96","ISSN":"2195-3325","language":"en","author":[{"family":"Happer","given":"Catherine"},{"family":"Philo","given":"Greg"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2013",12,16]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Happer and Philo, 2013).

Reference List

ADDIN ZOTERO_BIBL {"uncited":[],"omitted":[],"custom":[]} CSL_BIBLIOGRAPHY Bacchi, C., 2016. Problematizations in health policy: questioning how “problems” are constituted in policies. SAGE Open 6, 2158244016653986.

Bletsas, A., Beasley, C., 2012. Engaging with Carol Bacchi: Strategic interventions and exchanges. University of Adelaide Press.

Happer, C., Philo, G., 2013. The Role of the Media in the Construction of Public Belief and Social Change. Journal of Social and Political Psychology 1, 321-336–336. https://doi.org/10.5964/jspp.v1i1.96

Introducing WPR, 2017. . Carol Bacchi. URL https://carolbacchi.com/about/ (accessed 10.7.19).