“Copy-paste policy” is such a policy that relies on the repeat, which satisfies the natural desire of the authorities to avoid change. However, despite its critical potential, the concept can be a conceptual Trojan horse for at least two reasons related to its two components.
First, “copy-paste policy” is not really policy, but technology disguised as policy. Masked as a policy, this technology is used by the managing authority to maintain the status quo by mechanically repeating the same. This technology is allied with the technology of the production line and shares its dehumanizing effects. Second, the concept of “copy-paste policy” is more like a metaphor for repetition, but it is actually literalism. This is because often (as in the considered case) “copy-paste policy” is a literal repeat of entire texts (and therefore practices) without any revision and change – that is, a total dehumanized repeat in which human intervention is minimized. The following text is intended to show how in the field of disability in Bulgaria the “copy-policy” metaphor happens quite literally as a technology of the repeat for maintaining the status quo. Тhe text analyzes the new Strategy for Equal Opportunities for People with Disabilities 2008 – 2015.
You can download the text here: ANATOMY OF THE “COPY-PASTE POLICY”