On Decision-Analytical Support for Wicked Policy Issues

Abstract

Lempert and Turner contribute importantly to the design of decision-analytical tools for wicked policy issues by acknowledging the centrality of socially determined and often irreconcilable worldviews. Their point of departure is application of the DMDU approach (decision making under deep uncertainty) separately for each contending worldview as postulated by cultural theory. This allows stakeholders to maintain solidarity with their social or organizational value communities, an important consideration or even prerequisite for robust policy compromises. Drawing from a codesign process in Italy, this commentary suggests that the Lempert and Turner multiworldview approach can be useful for aiding stakeholder deliberation by representing alternative problem framings or worldviews, displaying the implications of acting on one framing when viewed from the others, and identifying compromise solutions robust across the framings. The challenge is to operationalize the Lempert and Turner approach, a challenge well worth pursuing given the increasingly intractable and "wicked" nature of today's policy issues.