Abstract

Does political rhetoric play a role in street-level bureaucrats policy implementation? If so, how? We examine this question through in-depth semi-structured interviews with 31 Israeli LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer) teachers. Our findings demonstrate that when politicians express anti-LGBTQ rhetoric that contradicts the ideological position of these street-level bureaucrats, the latter implement policies that run counter to the stated positions of the former. Our study contributes to the implementation literature by highlighting the implications of political rhetoric in the execution of bottom-up policies. It illustrates that politicians’ words have power, which paradoxically motivates street-level bureaucrats to react by subverting them.

摘要

政治言论是否在基层官僚政策实施中发挥作用？如果是这样，怎么做？我们通过对 31 位以色列 LGBTQ（女同性恋、男同性恋、双性恋、跨性别和酷儿）教师的深入半结构化访谈来研究这个问题。我们的研究结果表明，当政客发表与这些街头官僚的意识形态立场相矛盾的反 LGBTQ 言论时，后者实施的政策与前者的既定立场背道而驰。我们的研究通过强调政治言论在自下而上政策执行中的影响，为实施文献做出了贡献。它说明了政客的话语有力量，这自相矛盾地激发了街头官僚通过颠覆他们的反应来做出反应。