Decolonizing Policy Research

Abstract

This article offers a decolonial reading of policy research by examining how decolonial studies challenge the field’s positivist and Eurocentric foundations. Reconstructing their core analytical dimensions—specifically the colonialities of power, knowledge, and being—the article shows how these perspectives open key agendas for policy research: pluriversality, visibilization and de-silencing, valuing margins and interculturality, and reparative justice. Furthermore, it highlights tendencies toward radicalization driven by counter-colonial, Afro-diasporic, and Pindoramic thought, emphasizing their transformative potential. The article argues that as these agendas consolidate, they require sustained critical attention to the risks of institutionalization and appropriation by colonial logics—a central paradox that runs through the field.