An overview of Policy

Design

Origins, Process and

Design itself
Policy origins

Edward C. Page
 Policies may reflect a variety of intentions and ideas…
 They can even be unintended or undeliberated consequences of
professional practices or bureaucratic routines
 Such intentions, practices, ideas can in turn be shaped by an array
of environmental circumstances…
 How can we talk about the origins of something as diverse as
policy?
Policies on Agenda

 Policies first come into being through bringing them on agenda – a

notional list of topics that people involved in policy-making are
interested in…and which they seek to address
Limitations of agenda literature

 Two limitations of agenda literature:

1. Concerned with legislative policy-making

2. Dominant theoretical models have been developed primarily to

apply to the US, making their direct application as generalized
descriptions problematic
Differences in Origins

 The term ‘‘policy’’ can refer to a constructed unity imposed on diverse

and disparate measures—we may look at the totality of measures on
something.
 Policies can be considered as intentions or actions or more likely a mixture
of the two.
 It is possible for a policy to be simply an intention.
 it is possible for a policy to be simply an action.
Levels of abstraction

 Intentions and actions can each be divided into two distinct

groupings of things, thus making Four levels of abstraction to discuss
how policies emerge at each level, and each level has distinctive
characteristics:

 Principles
 Policy lines
 Measures
 Practices
Principles

 General views about how public affairs should be arranged or

conducted
 Principles need not necessarily be easily defined or even coherent,
but should be a set of ideas that are capable of application in
some form or another to diverse policy topics.
 In the origins of policy, principles are particularly powerful as cross-
sectoral and cross-national spreaders and generalizers of policy
initiatives, possibly more than as actual originators.
Cont.

 the popularity of policy principles can send powerful signals to

policy makers and officials involved in developing policy that
policy lines, measures, and practices consistent with such
principles have political support. Even the most politically
unappealing of policy lines can get additional support through its
relationship to a government-supported principle
Policy lines

 These refer to strategies to take in regulating or dealing with

particular topics
 refer less to an overarching set of principles and more to goals
related to the specific issue or problem that a policy seeks to
address
 Policy lines becoming agenda items stress the competitiveness of
the process as originators
 Policy lines become closer to a routine event, working through the
logical consequences of a policy commitment and translating it
into specific laws or other measures and securing the necessary
budgetary, manpower, or other resources to carry it through.
Measures

 Measures are the specific instruments that give effect to distinct

policy lines
 Measures are also referred as the tools of government in the
literature
 To develop policy measures policy lines have to be clarified
‘‘Policy as its own cause’’

 ‘‘policy as its own cause’’ Wildavsky’s (1980)

According to which ‘‘policies tend to feed on each other: the more there are,
the more there have to be to cope with the new circumstances, effects on
other policies and unexpected consequences.

‘‘most policy making is actually policy succession: the replacement of an

existing policy, program or organization by another.’’
Hogwood and Peters (1983)
Practices

 Practices are the behavior of officials normally expected to carry out

policy measures.
 Different from implementation in the sense that they are produced by the
measures that seek to give effect to policy, while implementation looks at
how a policy interacts with existing practices within an organization to
shape its implementation

 Activities: Policies without Agendas

Conclusion

 “There is no simple answer to the question of where policies come from.

The best we can do is indicate the proximate events leading to the
authorization or other form of adoption of policies.”
The Process of Policy
Design

YUKIO ADACHI
What is policy design?

 Essentially, a blueprint that combines/is constitutive of

 An understanding of context
 A judgment of value(s)
 A plan for operationalization
 To simplify:
 What you have (or don’t have)
 What you want
 Using what you have to get what you want
The ‘public’ factor in policy design

 The society as client

 Diverse peoples with diverse interests
 What is right is not always popular (the need to satisfy – not just when you
are short on resources, but also when you are short on ratings)
 The Process

Preliminary Process (design input)

Monozukuri (design output)

Preliminary Process - I

 Problem identification
 Highly subjective process
 Includes both decision-making and non-decision making (ref.
Bachrach and Baratz)
 Necessary supplement: to convince others
Preliminary Process - II

 Investigation of causes
 (a + b + c = X)
 (a > b > c = X)
 (a or b or c = X)
 (a = X or Y or Z)
Preliminary Process - III

 Identification of relevant government behaviours

 Non-action
 Action
 May not affect the status quo
 May affect the status quo for the better
 May affect it for the worse
Monozukuri

 I – Identify Policy Objective

 objectives move from abstract to concrete, refined along the
way
 policy > plans > programs > projects
 necessary supplement: to convince others
 II – Define Policy Prescriptions
 To begin with: stock strategies
 Ultimately: objectives-means combinations exclusive to the
case at hand
The Role of Politics

 Ends on a positivist note: identifies the system as an active actor

 The constraints of politics are very real; policies obstructed by
politics every step of the way
 The case for flexibility
Policy Design

“POOR POLICY DESIGN IS A REASON FOR POLICY FAILURE”

Policy Design

Goals
Goals: What we want to
accomplish
Scale Depth Timing

Scale
•How many?
•How much?
•How quickly?
Depth
Core vs Peripheral Change

Timing
•Short-term or long-term
goal?
•Interim measure or ultimate
solution?
Targets
Policy Design
Targets

 “… the persons, groups, or firms selected for

behavioral change by public policy…. These
are the people who are expected to comply
with policy directives or who are offered
policy opportunities”
(Ingram & Schneider, 1991, 334)
Our Purpose

 To examine the component of the policy process that involves the

“tools” that government uses to get people to do what they might
not generally do
 To understand policy design and policy tools used by the
government.
 Analysis of the “gap” in matching desired behavior of the
consumers with appropriate government tools.
Ambiguity

 In most of the public issues, policies are intentionally vague as it

provides states flexibility in implementation of those policies.
 However, the vagueness complicates the implementation process
and often results in a failed policy.

 Public Policy is by nature complicated because the roots of public

problems has no simple single answer and is affected by the
multitude of factors.
“Policies are usually designed to
influence behavior to get people to
do what they ordinarily might not do.”
 One of the most pressing factors that inhibits the policy success is
the inability to predict consumer behavior and participation in a
particular program.
 That the most logical and simple way to determine policy success is
the tools that the government chooses to use to achieve its desired
goals in addressing a public issue.
 Despite of many studies have been conducted regarding the
policy process, but very few have focused upon the process of
policy design in the matter.
Why is policy design significant in the
policy process?

 Policy design should be a component to be considered during all phases

of the policy process to promote policy success.
 For example, in the agenda-setting phase, the concerned issue mist be
stated in such a way to capture the attention of lawmakers and framed in
such a way that it would be feasible and adaptable for the government.
 During implementation phase, the design of the policy should provide
guidance and give an overall picture of the plan along with the intended
outcomes.
 Then during evaluation phase, the program objectives should be clearly
identified and measurable.
Policy Process

 Policies are formulated to address socio-economic issues of the general

public with the collective effort of legislators, executive branch, courts,
professional experts and special interest groups.
 Policies reflect public opinion.
 The policy players are a collection of actors whose task is to find a solution
to the intractable problem.
 It is well known that decision making regarding a particular social problem
or a factor having impact on that issue is often tacked hastily because of
lack of information, lack of expertise and constituency impatience.
Review of Policy Research…

 Pressman and Wildavsky (1973) argued that when many branches

and divisions of government work for a particular issue then it
faced complexity in implementation and difficulty in achieving
policy success.
 Bardach (1977) identified activities such as bargaining and
negotiating among policy actors that make a significant impact on
the policy success or failure.
 Bardach stated that “a good policy must begin with a design that
incorporates scenarios anticipating games and fire alarms in the
policy process.”
The Design issue

 Policy design is an integral component of the policy process and its

tools for policy design along with the assumptions are critical to the
understanding of overall policy process.
 Linder and Peter(1987) stated that “poor policy design is a reason
for policy failure”. They proposed that implementation should be
examined but only as one of the conditions to be satisfied for the
successful policymaking.
 Policy design provides a more reliable and explicit approach
towards policy success.
Policy Instruments (Government tools)
Schneider and Ingram (1990)

 Government tools and underlying behavioral assumptions as variables

that guide policy decisions and choices.
 They stated that policy tools are substitutable and states often used a
variety of tools to address a single problem.
 However in order to understand which tools are most productive, these
tools should be used in conjunction with a particular policy design.
 They argued that public policy mostly attempts to enable to do things they
would not do otherwise, and policy tools are those methods chosen by
policymakers to overcome barriers to policy-relevant actions.
Categories of Policy Tools

 Authority Tools:
 Used mostly by governments to guide the behavior of agents and
officials at lower levels. The statements are backed by legitimate
power of government that grant permission or prohibit action.

 Incentive Tools:
 It assume individuals are utility maximizers and will not be motivated
to take action without any incentive. These tools rely on tangible
payoffs as motivating factors.
 Manipulate tangible benefits, costs and probabilities that policy
designers assume are relevant to the situation
Cont…

 Capacity-building tools:
 Provide information, training, education and resources to enable
individuals, groups or agencies to make decisions or carry out
activities.
 Population must be aware of the risk factors the tools possess and
how these tools can help, mainly focus on education of the public.

 Symbolic or Hortatory Tools:

 Assume that people are motivated from within and decide
whether to take policy-related actions on the basis of their beliefs
and values.
Conti….

 Learning Tools:
 Used when the basis upon which target populations might ne moved to
take problem-solving action is unknown or uncertain.
 These tools is mostly used for open-ended policies in purpose and
objectives with broad goals.
 Need assessment may be conducted by a taskforce.
 Policy tools are important resources as these can be used to
enlighten policy makers and persuade them to support or oppose
a policy.
 The political climate in which social problems are addressed often
prescribed the tools to be implemented. Various tools are used
when addressing a similar social problem giving different
outcomes.
Conclusion

 Policy design is an integral component of the policy process. The choice of

policy tools and the underlying assumptions of policymakers during the
design process are critical to the success or failure of policy.
 The design phase of the policy process is the point at which the original
intent of a solution to a problem is understood an the appropriate tools are
employed to achieve policy success.
Design Discussion

 The Class Input