The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.tandfebooks.com/, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 3.0 license. This book provides new insights into the nature of political bias with regard to evidence. It draws on both policy studies and cognitive psychology to understand how the origins of such bias derive from the fundamental nature of policy contestation, as well as the nature of human cognition and information processing. Taken as a whole, the approach promoted is coined the 'good governance of evidence' - a concept that represents the construction of systems that strive to use rigorous, transparent, and unbiased evidence to inform policy decisions. Essential reading for social policy, health policy, governance and politics students and researchers.

Justin Parkhurst is an Associate Professor at the London School of Economics and Political Science's Department of Social Policy. This book was written while he was previously Senior Lecturer at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine's Department of Global Health and Development.

List of Figures

List of Tables

List of Boxes

Acknowledgments

Part I: Evidence-based policymaking - opportunities and challenges

Chapter 1. Introduction

Chapter 2. Evidence-based policymaking - an important first step, and the need to take the next

Part II: The politics of evidence

Chapter 3. Bias and the politics of evidence

Chapter 4. The overt politics of evidence - bias and the pursuit of political interests

Chapter 5. The subtle politics of evidence - the cognitive-political origins of bias

Part III: Towards the good governance of evidence

Chapter 6. What is 'good evidence for policy'? - from hierarchies to appropriate evidence

Chapter 7. What is the 'good use of evidence' for policy?

Chapter 8. From evidence-based policy to the good governance of evidence

Index