From Knowledge to Policy: Mobilizing Social Science Knowledge in the Philippine Food Staples Self-Sufficiency Program

This paper measures the impact of Philippine social sciences on a chosen State policy, the Food Staples Self-Sufficiency Program (FSSP) of the Philippine Government which is being implemented from 2011-2016. Using quantitative research methods such as citation and social network analyses, the paper reveals a different facet of the process behind the utilization of a wide array of previously published social science research works toward a specific policy-making goal. This paper answers the following questions: Which particular social scientists and social science works have contributed the most to the crafting of the policy? Which particular schools of thought are most prominent in the policy? Which particular schools of thought have been excluded in policy making? Results of the quantitative analysis reveal that particular networks of natural scientists and social scientists as well as their respective schools of thought are given a privileged position in the crafting of the FSSP. Data from key informant interviews with actors involved in the crafting of the policy further contextualize these results. These findings provide insights into the nature and dynamics of knowledge mobilization at the national and policy levels. In particular, they highlight the centrality of social networks of epistemic communities and the consequent absence of epistemic inclusiveness in policymaking. The paper ends with reflections on how the production of social science knowledge could be better organized so that it could be mobilized only at the national and policy levels but also by communities and local governments.