“Get those voices at the table!”: Interview with Deborah Stone

Abstract

Deborah Stone’s work on political reasoning, storytelling and metaphors has been a longstanding contribution to the development of public administration, political and policy sciences. In her book Policy Paradox and Political Reason published in 1988, she focuses on policy and politics as cultural bargaining over values and ideas, instead of a rational process of decision-making. In addition to this book, which was retitled Policy Paradox, The Art of Political Decision Making in later editions, she has published widely on societal paradoxes, political reasoning and professional dilemmas in many aspects of social policy. The newest edition (published in 2012 and called the third edition, but really the fourth) incorporates major revisions to the literature, theories and policy illustrations, including more examples from international relations and countries besides the USA. Due to this key contribution and the longstanding relevance of her book, we talked with Deborah Stone in Vienna on 5 July 2013. We had a dialogue about this book, her theoretical ideas and how policy sciences could improve in the future.