Moving ideas: An agenda for expanding the political scope of the policy mobilities approach

Abstract

This paper addresses the policy mobilities approach’s relative inattention to counter-hegemonic activism and contentious politics. It outlines one way to expand the literature’s engagement with the political. By introducing the notion of “moving ideas”—ideas that circulate among places and also move people to political action—it outlines five avenues for policy mobilities scholars to advance the approach: situated knowledge on-the-move; persuasive storytelling; encounters in physical “truth-spots”; the temporalities of activism; and the role of “futuring” in policy change. It ends with notes on the framework’s possible applicability to numerous social movements and its challenges and limitations.