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Governance

Plausible nonsense and deliberative reasoning: Benchmarking LLMs against human judgment

·558 字·2 分钟
Polihot 政治理论 研究方法 LLM相关 Large Language Models Deliberative Democracy Benchmarking Human Judgment Governance
PNAS 123/37 pp. e2600126123-e2600126123 2026-09-09 Original Plausible nonsense and deliberative reasoning: Benchmarking LLMs against human judgment Francesco Veri, Gustavo Umbelino Abstract Large Language Models (LLMs) are entering democratic contexts as instruments of governance, where the challenges at hand are ill-structured, marked by ambiguity and contestation. Ill-structured democratic problems demand more than factual precision; they call for intersubjective reasoning: context-sensitive judgments that others can understand and publicly accept. Using the Deliberative Reason Index (DRI), this study evaluates 60 LLMs against human deliberation across nine policy scenarios. Only four models consistently exceed the permutation-based null benchmark for alignment with human patterns of reason-giving. Most models fall short: their reason-preference structures rarely clear this threshold, even though their outputs can still appear coherent and persuasive. Yet outputs can appear reasonable even when this alignment is absent. The observed gap between surface plausibility and deliberative coherence urges caution: deploying LLMs in governance contexts requires prior assessment of their deliberative reasoning capacity, not just their surface outputs.

A Comprehensive Taxonomy of Rules for Nuanced Analysis of Governance Systems

·656 字·2 分钟
Polihot 公共政策 比较政治 Governance Institutions Ostrom Rule Typology Institutional Analysis
PSJ 54/3 2026-07-15 Original A Comprehensive Taxonomy of Rules for Nuanced Analysis of Governance Systems Diego Arahuetes‐de la Iglesia, Alicia Tenza‐Peral, Laura Ximena Estévez‐Moreno, Andrea Martín‐Suárez, Francisco Javier Lacosta‐García, Ismael Lare‐David, Irene Pérez‐Ibarra

Leveraging an Unhappiness Lens for Smarter Policies

·786 字·2 分钟
Polihot 公共政策 Unhappiness Well-Being Policy Design Governance Policy Interventions
PSJ — 2026-04-09 Original Leveraging an Unhappiness Lens for Smarter Policies Marine Coupaud, Gilles Grolleau, Naoufel Mzoughi Abstract ABSTRACT Traditional policy research has largely focused on enhancing happiness or well‐being, privileging positive outcomes as the primary metric of success. We argue that a systematic focus on the drivers of unhappiness—rather than solely on happiness—offers a complementary analytical framework that can uncover hidden societal deficits and broaden the repertoire of policy interventions. By foregrounding unhappiness, scholars and practitioners can identify latent demand, structural inequities, and unintended negative side effects that are often obscured in happiness‐centric analyses. We first articulate why a shift away from predominantly happiness‐driven policies is conceptually necessary, demonstrating that unhappiness signals distinct causal pathways and policy levers. Second, we explain how adopting an unhappiness lens can lead to different—and potentially better—policy outcomes. By integrating unhappiness into the policy toolkit, this paper expands the analytical horizon of scholars and offers policymakers actionable insights for more resilient, equitable, and responsive governance. We introduce several novel theoretical issues that provide a strong foundation for a research agenda on unhappiness and its policy implications. We also caution that misusing unhappiness‐based arguments poses ethical risks and could exacerbate the very problems such arguments aim to address.