Interpreting influence: towards reflexivity in penal policy?

This chapter explores the contribution to be made by interpretive political analysis (IPA) in understanding the extent to which participants in penal policymaking can be considered to be reflexive. Further, it considers the extent to which IPA might facilitate the improvement of reflexivity amongst penal policymakers. Relevant forms of reflexivity are first set out. Research conducted for the monograph Dangerous Politics (Annison, 2015) is then drawn upon in order to explore this issue empirically. In closing, the potential value of IPA to the improvement of penal policymaking, via a promotion of individual and collective reflexivity, is discussed