Tackling Wicked Policy Problems

Gilles Paquet (1936–2019), O.C., MRSC, was Professor Emeritus at the Telfer School of Management and a Senior Research Fellow at the Centre on Governance of the University of Ottawa. He was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and of the Royal Society of Arts of London, and served as President of the Royal Society of Canada (2003–2005). He studied at Laval, Queen's (Canada) and at the University of California (Los Angeles) where he was Postdoctoral Fellow in Economics. He taught at Carleton University for almost 20 years before joining the University of Ottawa in 1981. He received honorary doctorates from Queen's, Laval, and Thompson Rivers University, received the Public Service Citation Award of APEX, and was made Honorary Member of l'Association des économistes québécois. He was made Member of the Order of Canada in 1992.

Introduction
Part I – State of Play
Chapter 1 – Slouching Toward a Relatively Stateless State
Introduction
Two reference points
The rise and evolution of the notion of governance
Experiments at the Centre on Governance
Conclusion
Chapter 2 – Governance as Mythbuster
Introduction
The governance approach
Four key notions transformed in the small ‘g’ world
Persiflage about the governance approach
Some conjectures about the future of governance studies
Conclusion
Chapter 3 – Wicked Problems and Social Learning
Introduction
The social learning response to the wicked problems challenge
The engine of social learning and wayfinding
Scoping design thinking
Design attitude: why, what and how
Shifting attitude
Conclusion
Part II – Wicked Trans-scientific Policy Challenges
Chapter 4 – Equality
Introduction
The Tocqueville mechanism
The dynamics of the entitlement revolution
Impacts of the entitlement revolution
The toxicity of the entitlement epidemic
The governance of equability
Modest general propositions
Conclusion
Chapter 5 – Diversity
Introduction
The issue domain: a few stylized facts
The manufactured Canadian consensus
A fragile social fabric and its dilemmas
A primer on the governance of diversity
The journey to transculturalism
Conclusion
Annex
Chapter 6 – Sustainability
Introduction
Sustainability as a weaselword
Governance
Blending, complex adaptative systems and bricolage
A plea for polycentric governance
Conclusion
Conclusion
Issues
Polyphonic organizations and hybrid forms of governance
Issue domains and wayfinding: mechanisms and representations
Two murky frontiers
In conclusion
References