Call for papers on policy at ESSA 2008

The ESSA Policy Special Interest Group invites submissions of papers for a special session on policy related issues and social simulation at the ESSA 2008 conference in Brescia, Italy. We particularly invite papers on the following issues:

• examples of and results from applied policy research
• reflections on the use of ABSS in policy analysis and support
• methods for using ABSS in policy support
• generation of new policy-relevant questions arising from simulations
• policy-design and rehearsal using ABSS

In line with the general call for papers, the deadline for submitting a full paper is 1 May 2008. Authors will receive a notification of acceptance by 1 June 2008. Papers are limited to 12 pages (including figures, tables and references) and should be written using the Springer lecture notes template . Papers should be submitted via the official ESSA 2008 conference website stating in parentheses in the paper’s title “SIG-Policy”. Papers will be peer-reviewed. Once accepted for presentation, paper givers’ names will appear in the official ESSA 2008 program and their papers will be published in the ESSA 2008 proceedings.

The Policy-SIG

Policy making and the impact of policies is an inherently complex process. Many problems associated with the creation, implementation and assessment of policies result from the great variety of actors and the "not so straight forward" processes leading to a final policy decision. On the side of the policy creation and implementation, the basic actors are heterogeneous, follow different interests, represent different groups, etc. There are different forms of interactions such as dialogues, conflicts, negotiations, co-operation. All of these can have influences on the course of events and on the final outcomes of the policy process. On the side of policy assessment, the systems and actors on which policies act are far from simple and thus lead to comparable unpredictable results making the policy-based governing a difficult and often uncertain task.

Agent-based social simulation (ABSS) approaches provide some means to accommodate some of these requirements. Yet, up to now they only start to get established in policy analysis. Despite of these considerations, there appears to be a positive perception of models and support tools in general. This is reflected not only in the high demand for scientific policy support, but also in a large number of projects explicitly involving the use of models and the amount of financial resources going into model development and applications.

In response to several presentations and discussions on policy issues at meetings of ESSA, several colleagues with a interests in policy analysis and support have expressed a wish to establish a Special Interest Group on Agent-based Social Simulation and Policy within ESSA:

• to bring together those in the ABSS Community with in interest in policy-relevant research and those who interact directly with policy/decision-makers, e.g. via EU projects or through the use of ABSS in consultancies or as government or NGO employees. These categories are not intended to be exclusive.
• to reflect on the use and suitability of ABSS for policy analysis and support
• to exchange on experiences with the use of ABSS models in policy analysis and support
• to identify areas and ways in which ABSS appears to offer additional insights relevant to decision-makers which other approaches cannot deliver
• to exchange with policy/decision-makers on their views on ABSS as a policy support instrument

During the ESSA Annual Conferences 2007, a number of papers were dedicated to various issues on policy analysis and design and presented within dedicated sessions. Results were discussed in a final session. The large number of papers presented in the special dedicated sessions shows that there is a demand to deal with policy issues.

Participation and contact

Participation in the SIG is open to all members of ESSA. Those who are not members of ESSA can join the Association via its website at http://www.essa.eu.org/. For 2008, we plan some activities at the Annual ESSA Meeting. The SIG is coordinated by Scott Moss (scott@cfpm.org) and Kathrin Happe (happe@iamo.de). If you (or your collegues) are interested in joining this Policy SIG please respond to:

Kathrin Happe
Leibniz Institute of Agricultural Development
in Central and Eastern Europe (IAMO)
Theodor-Lieser-Str. 2
06120 Halle (Saale)
Germany
e-mail: happe@iamo.de
web: http://www.iamo.de
phone: ++49 345 2928 322