Abstract
This chapter introduces the first main theoretical pillar underpinning the investigation of this study: the literature on the policy-making process and research utilisation into policy. The chapter explores how policy-makers, street-level bureaucrats, and researchers exist in policy networks that define and characterise the policy-making process. It briefly introduces the literature on policy networks to show how, over the last few decades, the theoretical inquiry on policy-making has progressively considered the importance of informal links between governmental and other actors in the policy process. In seeing researchers as one of these actors, the chapter particularly examines the theoretical concept of epistemic communities—peculiar groups of professionals who base their influence on policy upon their recognised knowledge and expertise. It then introduces the literature on research utilisation to further comprehend the narratives and dynamics characterising the use of research in policy, which also underpin the uptake of research in the case of SSR in Sierra Leone.
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Varisco, A.E. (2018). Policy Networks and Research Utilisation in Policy. In: Research in Security Sector Reform Policy. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-58675-9_2
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