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Stefan_Schubert comments on Opinion piece on the Swedish Network for Evidence-Based Policy - Less Wrong Discussion
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Great post, thank you! I love your work and have several comments and questions. First of all, is there something like your organisation in Germany?
I don't know about Sweden, but in Germany politicians are deluged with policy suggestions from all manner of parties, and that includes innocuous-looking non-profits with lofty goals that are actually sockpuppets for lobbyists. You pattern match pretty well to the latter. I'm highly confident many seasoned politicians' instinct will be to listen to you politely, agree with lots of things you say, and then do nothing and never call back because you resemble untrustworthy players so closely. Are you aware of this possibility, and how are you adressing it?
I suspect you'd gain a lot from getting some civil servants and administration workers on board. There got to be some that have been vocal about government waste in the past. These might be attracted to you because their concerns are part of yours, and they make great allies. If you can't find them, ask at civil servants unions.
Have you looked into talking to partys' youth organisations, rather than experienced politicians, in order to change mindsets before they're too resistant to change and get the next genetration of politicians if you can't get the current one?
What is your relation to the Swedish Pirate Party?
Thanks! I'm sure Germany and Sweden aren't that different in this regard.
There are of course many expert groups inside and outside government working on what in a broad sense could be called "evidence-based policy" in most countries (whether or not that very term is used). Most of these groups have the problem that you mention - they have good advice, but the politicians don't listen to them. That's why we don't want to be another group of that kind, but also a campaigning organization. We want to push the message of political rationality fairly aggressively in the media and on social media (though you have to be careful not to trigger the "Straw Soviet"). That way, we'll try to force politicians' to listen to ours and other expert organizations' advice.
I don't know if there is any similar organization in Germany, though I think there should be.
You're absolutely right about getting civil servants onboard. A few has joined since we wrote the article, and we are working on recruiting more. We lack a bit of practical know-how now, since most of us are academics or students, but I'm confident we will be able to get more people onboard.
Yes, younger politicians are probably more interested in this than older, for several reasons. We are not affiliated with any party, but are independent. We do talk to the parties, though - and the Pirate Party is among them.
I'll talk about this on Saturday in Berlin, by the way, at the LW meeting. Will you be there?
Check out http://europa.eu/epic/topics/evidence-based-practices_en.htm - it's EU, not country specific, but it's heading in that direction.
Yup. See you there.