Brian W . Head

The University of Queensland, Australia, School of Political Science and International Studies, Faculty Member

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Brian W. Head has been Professor of Public Policy at the University of Queensland since 2007. He was a senior executive and CEO in the Queensland Government between 1990 and 2003. He was inaugural CEO of ARACY (the Australian Research Alliance for Children and Youth) between 2005-07. He is a Fellow of ASSA (the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia) and a National Fellow of IPAA (the Institute of Public Administration Australia). He is the current chair of the Scientific Advisory Committee of the UNESCO program in the social sciences, and a former Vice-President of the International Public Policy Association (IPPA).

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The Rise of ‘Wicked Problems’—Uncertainty, Complexity and Divergence

Springer eBooks, 2022

Rittel and Webber argued that scientific and technocratic approaches for tackling the difficult i... more Rittel and Webber argued that scientific and technocratic approaches for tackling the difficult issues of social policy and urban planning were bound to be inadequate. A 'scientific' approach to understanding the nature of these problems necessarily overlooks the significance of different stakeholder perspectives in the framing or constituting of social problems. Recognising these differences is thus crucial for developing acceptable solutions to the policy challenges. Science and engineering approaches produce reliable knowledge but are appropriate only for technical issues where the key variables are measurable, and optimal solutions can be agreed. These are the 'tame' or 'benign' problems, with clear boundaries and agreed solutions. By contrast, modern social problems are 'wicked' problems, because stakeholders disagree about the nature of these problems, about possible solutions, and about the values or principles that should guide improvements. Hence, policies addressing social problems can never be optimal in the engineering sense, but robust policies could incorporate insights from stakeholder engagement. With the growing popularity of 'wicked' terminology, recent scholarly analysts have worried it has become a catchword rather than a critical concept. They have also wished to reconsider the stark contrast between 'tame' and 'wicked' problems, calling for refinement of the 'either/or' dichotomy. And other writers have raised epistemological issues about the respective contributions of scientific, political and stakeholder knowledge for understanding and resolving difficult issues.

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Senior Executive Case Study - Northern Territory

This ANZSOG Research Insights paper is one of a series of eight case studies which summarise how ... more This ANZSOG Research Insights paper is one of a series of eight case studies which summarise how senior executive arrangements in the public service have evolved since the 1980s in Australia. The series includes the Commonwealth, all six states and the Northern Territory. The papers cover the legislative and policy changes that have influenced the work of each public service over recent decades, and provide a snapshot of recent arrangements for senior public servants in each jurisdiction through to around 2021. The papers are being published as a resource that may assist students and researchers who want to understand more about the comparative arrangements across jurisdictions.

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Understanding the Policy Realities of Urban Transitions

Routledge eBooks, Jun 14, 2017

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Senior Executive Service Case Study - Queensland

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The limits of voluntary measures: Packaging the plastic pollution problem in Australia

Australian Journal of Public Administration

The massive global growth in the production, use, and disposal of plastic materials has generated... more The massive global growth in the production, use, and disposal of plastic materials has generated a pollution crisis in many countries. In Australia, debates about how to address this multi‐faceted challenge have lacked the political urgency necessary for adopting strong reform measures. Consistent with the early stages of other sustainability debates, the industrial producers and distributors of plastic materials have been successful in prioritising voluntary measures, such as recycling materials and local authority collection schemes, to mitigate the problem, instead of agreeing to implement enforceable reduction targets. This paper examines Australian measures to manage plastic waste with a focus on how particular policy instruments were favoured and endured and how a greater focus on the full range of policy instruments—market based, regulatory, and voluntary—could generate more effective solutions.Points for practitioners Choice of effective policy instruments is crucial for ta...

Urban water governance in times of multiple stressors: an editorial

Ecology and Society, 2015

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Policy Innovation in Turbulent Times

Springer eBooks, 2022

Innovative solutions are increasingly recommended because many of the old-style solutions (see Ch... more Innovative solutions are increasingly recommended because many of the old-style solutions (see Chapter 3) are found to be ineffective. This chapter explores the felt need for greater innovation in tackling social, economic, technological and bio-health issues. Improved knowledge and understanding are required not only to appreciate and foster innovations, but also to identify appropriate ways to regulate new technologies. The chapter considers recent work on design methods for facilitating social innovation. Much of this work is aimed at the local level and place-based contexts, rather than aspiring to design mainstream programs at a national level. The chapter considers the arguments in favour of social experimentation and co-design processes for addressing wicked problems. It concludes with some observations on the contemporary politics of populism and opinion-based policy ideas.

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Political Governance of Wicked Problems

Springer eBooks, 2022

When difficult problems arise in a democratic political system, government leaders have a range o... more When difficult problems arise in a democratic political system, government leaders have a range of possible responses. This chapter suggests a repertoire or classification of typical responses that can be observed in practice. On some occasions, leaders retreat into various forms of avoidance, denial or symbolic reassurance. Where difficult problems and urgent threats continue to attract significant attention and public debate, several other strategies are found. When the challenges are portrayed as national security threats, policy responses typically involve centrally imposed executive decisions. However, for many difficult social problems, the standard processes for policy development usually work towards incremental adjustments, informed by the contributions of stakeholders, managers and experts. For large emerging issues with high levels of uncertainty, ongoing engagement with diverse stakeholders is valuable for articulating different perspectives, sharing information, and seeking closer agreement on goals, strategies and cooperative action.

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Improving Social Well-Being and Social Equity

Springer eBooks, 2022

Protecting and enhancing the well-being of citizens is a central goal of modern governments. The ... more Protecting and enhancing the well-being of citizens is a central goal of modern governments. The specific social programs adopted in various countries reflect their local political and economic contexts. The range of problems considered is very extensive-such as public health services, education and training, social support services, crime and corrections and issues concerned with discrimination in relation to age, gender, ethnicity and religion. The core pillars of social policy-especially income support, health, education, social services and civil rights-broadly constitute the modern 'welfare state'. All the social reforms were controversial when first proposed in earlier times. As public expectations gradually increased, so political ambitions correspondingly shifted. In most democracies, the problem of deep and enduring poverty, along with gender-based discrimination, came to be seen as unacceptable features of advanced societies. But many programs have remained controversial. Thus, the key dimensions of wicked problems-complexity, disagreement and uncertainty-have permeated social policy debates. The chapter includes a brief discussion of two case studies of wicked problems in action-policies to tackle homelessness and policies regulating drug use.

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Public policy theory, practice and skills: Advancing the debate

ANU Press eBooks, Mar 18, 2021

Learning without thought is labour lost; thought without learning is perilous. (Confucius) A theo... more Learning without thought is labour lost; thought without learning is perilous. (Confucius) A theory must be tempered with reality. (Jawaharlal Nehru) Circumstances give in reality to every political principle its distinguished colour and discriminating effect. (Edmund Burke) Debates about the need for developing better policy capacities and skills in government gained momentum in the 1950s and 1960s. At this time, there was a proliferation of interest in 'policy sciences' thinking and systemic approaches, popularised primarily by US scholars and 'pracademics'. Much of the policy theory-making emanating from the US was a legacy of the New Deal planning agendas of the mid-1930s and later strategic planning approaches developed by public and private organisations that helped to plan and strategise the war effort in the 1940s and the subsequent Cold War. Cognisant of calls for administrative reform

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Ideologie and the Pursuit of Certainty

Why is an APT approach to wicked problems important?

Landscape and Urban Planning, 2016

In this essay, we argue that the adaptive, participatory, and transdisciplinary (APT) approach to... more In this essay, we argue that the adaptive, participatory, and transdisciplinary (APT) approach to working with wicked problems offers valuable assistance to practitioners along two critical dimensions -the understanding of wicked problems, and policy responses to them; and that more context-dependent practice research is needed.

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Assessing the value of political science in the era of relevance and impact

Australian Journal of Political Science, 2017

ABSTRACT The political science profession, like other social sciences, is under pressure from man... more ABSTRACT The political science profession, like other social sciences, is under pressure from many quarters to demonstrate its ‘relevance’. This need arises primarily from requirements for universities to justify public investment in their teaching and research. Competition across the full range of science and humanities disciplines for public and private funding makes this an important challenge for all. This article reflects on how political scientists have seen the public value of their professional work. It concludes by suggesting some alternative ways of thinking about relevance, value and impact.

Debates in Public Policy—Problem Framing, Knowledge and Interests

Springer eBooks, 2022

There are different types of public policy problems. In democratic political systems, policy prob... more There are different types of public policy problems. In democratic political systems, policy problems arise in very diverse political and institutional contexts. These influence how the problems are debated and resolved. Policy decision-making is structured through organisational processes that reflect historical institutional arrangements. Complex policy problems often involve conflicting interests and divergent perceptions among various stakeholder groups. Disagreements about problems and policies arise from many factors, including material interests, sociocultural values and political (dis)trust. The framing of problems and solutions is expressed in different ways, through the language of economic benefits, ideological outlooks, group values and political loyalties. Leaders of political, economic and social organisations argue for the priority of some issues over others, depending on their judgements about threats, rewards and opportunities. Leaders typically offer simplified and persuasive narratives about problems and solutions, in order to attract wide support for their preferred approach. Evidence and expertise are mobilised selectively by policy actors to influence the perceived credibility of their own favoured policy options. However, rigorous evidence is not privileged in everyday politics-policy debates are structured through the interplay of many forms of knowledge, values, emotions and interests. Expertise can assist in managing complex problems but never determines the outcomes.

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The Idéologues Revisited: Ideology, Science and Perfectibility

Ctheory, 1984

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A network approach to analyse Australia’s blue economy policy and legislative arrangements

Marine Policy

Exploring Capacity for Strategic Policy Work: Water Policy in Australia

Policy Capacity and Governance, 2017

Claims that policy capacity has been eroded in the world of new public management have been widel... more Claims that policy capacity has been eroded in the world of new public management have been widely canvassed. Yet these conceptualizations of policy capacity have mainly been linked to traditional and rationalist views of the policy process, where the focus is on content expertise for understanding the issue, analytical skills for generating viable options, and exercising authority and autonomy to implement the chosen policy. A second discourse on perceived policy capacity decline raises deeper challenges in relation to strategic policy work such as comprehension of ‘wicked’ policy challenges, and the need for forward-thinking, collective effort and political alignment capabilities. What is the range of skills needed for envisioning and communicating this ‘policy-for-the-future,’ as opposed to designing and implementing ‘policy-of-the-day?’ This chapter draws together research on the urban water policy responses of Australian capital cities to prolonged drought, in order to explore the policy capacity required for innovative policy making. The drought circumstances heightened policy activities and provided an opportunity to identify the policy capacity which featured in the strategic policy responses of the period, alongside the perceived capacity gaps which contributed to a missed opportunity for policy innovation. The results suggest that capability within both individual and organizational levels of the policy setting is required to produce a reinforced architecture for facilitating major policy change. In particular, capacity for gaining legitimacy for long-term policy outlooks, addressing the politicization of issues, and facilitating/managing diverse policy communities emerged as key themes in strategic policy work. By examining policy capacity characteristics and deficits for policy innovation, the chapter makes a first attempt at identifying key aspects of what might constitute forward-looking policy capacity in contemporary government.

Public Instruction and Ideologie

Reconsidering borders

Reconsidering Policy, 2020

This chapter considers policy-making beyond the ‘shadow’ of a powerful state. Cross-border policy... more This chapter considers policy-making beyond the ‘shadow’ of a powerful state. Cross-border policy-making presents a unique dilemma. From the practice perspective, borders open or close to encourage or prevent transnational flows. They can be reshaped to enhance economic growth, social development outcomes, and/or security. From the analytic perspective, the challenge of framing transnational policy-making in open economy sectors, where actors and ideas operate across and beyond borders to shape agendas, policy content, and modes of governing, is a work in progress. Some see policy studies as a ‘methodological prisoner of the state,’ unable to adapt analysis of state capacity to a globalising world. This chapter separates national policy processes from those at the international and global levels. In the context of multiple and diffuse sources of sovereignty at the global level, where porous boundaries between public and private spheres of governance, the conventional dilemmas of pol...

Economics: The Science of “Industrie”

Brian W . Head

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