2001/01/01 by Randall Hansen, Desmond King · 211 citations
Arts and Humanities · Social Sciences · #Economics #Epistemology #Eugenics #Extant taxon #Historical Studies on Reproduction, Gender, Health, and Societal Changes #Immigration #Law #Political and Economic history of UK and US #Political economy #Political science #Politics #Positive economics #Public policy #Social Policy and Reform Studies #Social science #Sociology #Sterilization (economics)
paper · doi:10.1353/wp.2001.0003
published in World Politics 53(2), 237-263 (Cambridge University Press)
openalex publication_date 2001/01/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/26
A burgeoning literature in comparative politics has sought to incorporate ideas into political analysis. In this article the authors categorize the main ways in which this incorporation has occurred—ideas as culture, ideas as expert knowledge, ideas as solutions to collective action problems, and ideas as programmatic beliefs—and explicate the different assumptions about causality and the permanence of ideas implied by these different frameworks. This theoretical exercise is then applied to an empirical examination of eugenic ideas about sterilization and immigration and their influence on public policy in Britain and the United States between the world wars. Given that ideational ideas were (broadly) equally powerful in both countries, the cases provide a basis for shedding light on when and how extant ideational frameworks influence public policy. Employing primary sources the authors conclude that ideas remain powerful expressions of societal interests but depend upon key carriers to realize such expressions.