Abstract
Public policies are the result of efforts made by governments to alter aspects of behaviour—both that of their own agents and of society at large—in order to carry out some end or purpose. They are comprised of arrangements of policy goals and policy means matched through some decision-making process. These policy-making efforts can be more, or less, systematic in attempting to match ends and means in a logical fashion or can result from much less systematic processes. “Policy design” implies a knowledge-based process in which the choice of means or mechanisms through which policy goals are given effect follows a logical process of inference from known or learned relationships between means and outcomes. This includes both design in which means are selected in accordance with experience and knowledge and that in which principles and relationships are incorrectly or only partially articulated or understood. Policy decisions can be careful and deliberate in attempting to best resolve a problem or can be highly contingent and driven by situational logics. Decisions stemming from bargaining or opportunism can also be distinguished from those which result from careful analysis and assessment. This article considers both modes and formulates a spectrum of policy formulation types between “design” and “non-design” which helps clarify the nature of each type and the likelihood of each unfolding.
Highlights
Policy Design Studies Past and FutureA roadmap for a new “policy design orientation” exists in studies undertaken in recent years into the formulation of complex policy mixes in fields such as energy and environmental policy, among others (Howlett, 2014a; 2014b; Howlett & Lejano, 2013; Howlett, Mukherjee, & Woo, 2014)
The research agenda of this new design orientation is focused on questions which an earlier literature on the subject largely neglected, such as the trade-offs existing between different tools in complex policy mixes and how to deal with the synergies and conflicts which result from tool interactions; as well as the different means and patterns—such as layering—through which policy mixes evolve over time (Tan, Migone, Wellstead, & Evans, 2014; Thelen, 2004)
By engaging in a discussion of the intention to engage in policy design—whether towards public interest or more politically driven opportunism—and of the capacity of governments to undertake such design efforts, the paper develops a continuum of several formulation processes that can exist between ideal instrumental and problem-solution driven policy design and other more contingent and less intentional processes
Summary
A roadmap for a new “policy design orientation” exists in studies undertaken in recent years into the formulation of complex policy mixes in fields such as energy and environmental policy, among others (Howlett, 2014a; 2014b; Howlett & Lejano, 2013; Howlett, Mukherjee, & Woo, 2014). The research agenda of this new design orientation is focused on questions which an earlier literature on the subject largely neglected, such as the trade-offs existing between different tools in complex policy mixes and how to deal with the synergies and conflicts which result from tool interactions; as well as the different means and patterns—such as layering—through which policy mixes evolve over time (Tan, Migone, Wellstead, & Evans, 2014; Thelen, 2004) This temporal orientation highlights the processes through which policies emerge and raises the issues of how to distinguish between design and other formulation and decision-making processes and the frequency or likelihood of occurrence of each. By engaging in a discussion of the intention to engage in policy design—whether towards public interest or more politically driven opportunism—and of the capacity of governments to undertake such design efforts, the paper develops a continuum of several formulation processes that can exist between ideal instrumental and problem-solution driven policy design and other more contingent and less intentional processes
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