Pull Out Policy Design

Policy-making is one intervention format within many. Due to its dependence on public discourses it usually operates within dominant beliefs, norms, knowledges, imaginations and perceptions. Many futures are unimaginable out of a policy lens. Due to the dependence on dominant discourses, policy-making often struggles to create transformative innovation beyond those discourses. Because of that I would argue that policy-making might be unable to transition social systems out of the frames within which they are often stuck. Without discursive shifts the overton window of what is imaginable in policy-making remains static or bounces between dominant binaries. Though, many actors within social systems expect that urgently needed societal transformations emerge out of policy-making. They consider it as the responsible intervention format to address the complex systemic issues societies face. But if the needed pathways are unimaginable out of a policy lens there is little probability that policy-making will enable them. It will not get social systems out of the frames within which they are stuck, but it is still an effective way to mitigate emerging issues within these frames. Design is a useful approach for policy-making. It can support policy-making in creatively speculating on possible implications that could emerge from a new development. To see if existing policies would cover these implications or not, blind spots can be identified. After that concrete policy system interventions can be created through which emerging developments are shaped in a way that aligns with normative discourses. Though, policy design should also operate beyond that. It could transition to some kind of pull out policy design that enables policy shifts towards futures that are unimaginable out of existing frames. Only like that the needed transformations can emerge. If we for instance consider how much policy-making is often bound to techno-solutionism ideologies, there need to be interventions that operate outside this ideology space, but not to jump to the contrary, and rather explore pathways that are not yet visible. If such an approach is not pursued I think it is quite likely that policies will only operate within dominant ideology spaces. There might be some changes but social systems will remain very far from the scale that is needed. We need policy design that addresses emerging issues within dominant systems but simultaneously develops explorative interventions that can pull policy-making out of its frames.

Jul 17, 2025