Designing for Policy Success

Amidst the general mood of skepticism about the problem-solving capacity of governments in the face of ‘wicked problems’, it is easy to overlook that at times governments do manage to design and implement public policies and programs quite successfully. In this paper, we build on an emerging area of...

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Main Authors: Mallory E. Compton, Joannah Luetjens, Paul ‘t Hart
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: OpenEdition 2019-10-01
Series:International Review of Public Policy
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.openedition.org/irpp/514
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author Mallory E. Compton
Joannah Luetjens
Paul ‘t Hart
author_facet Mallory E. Compton
Joannah Luetjens
Paul ‘t Hart
author_sort Mallory E. Compton
collection DOAJ
description Amidst the general mood of skepticism about the problem-solving capacity of governments in the face of ‘wicked problems’, it is easy to overlook that at times governments do manage to design and implement public policies and programs quite successfully. In this paper, we build on an emerging area of ‘positive evaluation’ research into public policy successes (Bovens et al 2001; McConnell 2010; Nielsen et al 2015). Using the conceptual tools emanating from this research and drawing on a corpus of 33 such cases (Compton and ‘t Hart 2019; Luetjens et al, 2019), we draw inferences about the contexts, strategies, and practices that are conducive to policy success. We find compelling evidence that process inclusivity is a pivotal factor, but certainly not the only one, on the path to policy success. Variation in the degree of innovation and the pace of change also emerge as interdependent and important factors.
format Article
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institution Kabale University
issn 2679-3873
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language English
publishDate 2019-10-01
publisher OpenEdition
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series International Review of Public Policy
spelling doaj-art-3f097275d4e04c19ab8fd18c383a8c312025-01-09T16:26:05ZengOpenEditionInternational Review of Public Policy2679-38732706-62742019-10-01111914610.4000/irpp.514Designing for Policy SuccessMallory E. ComptonJoannah LuetjensPaul ‘t HartAmidst the general mood of skepticism about the problem-solving capacity of governments in the face of ‘wicked problems’, it is easy to overlook that at times governments do manage to design and implement public policies and programs quite successfully. In this paper, we build on an emerging area of ‘positive evaluation’ research into public policy successes (Bovens et al 2001; McConnell 2010; Nielsen et al 2015). Using the conceptual tools emanating from this research and drawing on a corpus of 33 such cases (Compton and ‘t Hart 2019; Luetjens et al, 2019), we draw inferences about the contexts, strategies, and practices that are conducive to policy success. We find compelling evidence that process inclusivity is a pivotal factor, but certainly not the only one, on the path to policy success. Variation in the degree of innovation and the pace of change also emerge as interdependent and important factors.https://journals.openedition.org/irpp/514qualitative comparative analysisperformancepositive evaluationpolicy success
spellingShingle Mallory E. Compton
Joannah Luetjens
Paul ‘t Hart
Designing for Policy Success
International Review of Public Policy
qualitative comparative analysis
performance
positive evaluation
policy success
title Designing for Policy Success
title_full Designing for Policy Success
title_fullStr Designing for Policy Success
title_full_unstemmed Designing for Policy Success
title_short Designing for Policy Success
title_sort designing for policy success
topic qualitative comparative analysis
performance
positive evaluation
policy success
url https://journals.openedition.org/irpp/514
work_keys_str_mv AT malloryecompton designingforpolicysuccess
AT joannahluetjens designingforpolicysuccess
AT paulthart designingforpolicysuccess