Policy divergence across crises of a similar nature: the role of ideas in shaping 19th century famine relief policies

Declan Curran and Mounir Mahmalat

Review of International Political Economy, 2021, vol. 28, issue 3, 712-738

Abstract: This paper explores the phenomenon of policy divergence in response to crises of a similar nature. We argue that politically dominant interpretations of the nature of a crisis constitute a central mechanism that determines the shape of prevailing policy responses to that crisis. These interpretations lend legitimacy to views and policy proposals of certain political actors over others, which strengthens their position in the political bargain from which the eventual policy response emerges. As a consequence, political actors can exert a greater influence within the policy-making process even in the absence of a shift in the underlying institutional or political configuration of power. We illustrate this via a case study which explores two crisis episodes – the Great Irish Famine (1845–1850) and the Lancashire Cotton Famine (1861–1865) - in which one particular policy response was proposed by policymakers, yet the eventual legislative outcome differed significantly.

Date: 2021
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/09692290.2020.1727938 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:rripxx:v:28:y:2021:i:3:p:712-738

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/rrip20

DOI: 10.1080/09692290.2020.1727938

Access Statistics for this article

Review of International Political Economy is currently edited by Gregory Chin, Juliet Johnson, Daniel Mügge, Kevin Gallagher, Ilene Grabel and Cornelia Woll

More articles in Review of International Political Economy from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().