Pathology of the Implementation System of Iran’s Social Welfare Policies

Abstract

Introduction: In the implementation of public policy, there are many factors and obstacles, the identification of which will lead to the efficient way of implementing the policies. Method: The present research was conducted with the aim of identifying and prioritizing the obstacles to the implementation of Iran's social welfare policies. The research is of a meta-composite type, in the qualitative part, semi-structured interviews were used so as to collect the data with open coding, and finally the obstacles to the implementation of social welfare policies were identified. In the quantitative part, using the review of related literature and research studies, six fundamental research studies in the field of policymaking were selected according to the citations and the items affecting the implementation of policies having been extracted from other studies in the form of commonalities. Then, the 10 experts cooperated, and the three-step Delphi method was used. Findings: Based on Friedman's test, ten priorities were identified, which are as follows: existence of opposing and supporting parties, technical difficulties, lack of use of new technologies, legitimacy of the country's political and governance system, lack of attention to the intellectual and political maturity of the target group, political factors, political conflicts, the welfare state of the target group, the lack of appropriate executive instructions, the lack of alignment of programs, and the lack of optimal allocation of the country's budget. Discussion: It was found that the influential factors are in the hands of the government and the role of the executives in the implementation of social welfare policies is weaker. Therefore, it is suggested that the government should pay more attention to the use of pro and opposition parties, the legitimacy of the ruling political system, and executive guidelines.