Policy design and non-design: Towards a spectrum of policy formulation types

• Main Authors: HOWLETT, Michael, MUKHERJEE, Ishani
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2014
• Subjects: non-design; policy design; public policy; Policy Design, Analysis, and Evaluation; Policy History, Theory, and Methods
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soss_research/2560; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/soss_research/article/3817/viewcontent/PaG_2_2____Policy_Design_and_Non_Design__Towards_a_Spectrum_of_Policy_Formulation_Types.pdf
• Institution: Singapore Management University

Public policies are the result of efforts made by governments to alter aspects of behaviour—both that of their ownagents and of society at large—in order to carry out some end or purpose. They are comprised of arrangements of policygoals 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 systematicprocesses. “Policy design” implies a knowledge-based process in which the choice of means or mechanisms throughwhich policy goals are given effect follows a logical process of inference from known or learned relationships betweenmeans and outcomes. This includes both design in which means are selected in accordance with experience andknowledge and that in which principles and relationships are incorrectly or only partially articulated or understood. Policydecisions can be careful and deliberate in attempting to best resolve a problem or can be highly contingent anddriven by situational logics. Decisions stemming from bargaining or opportunism can also be distinguished from thosewhich result from careful analysis and assessment. This article considers both modes and formulates a spectrum of policyformulation types between “design” and “non-design” which helps clarify the nature of each type and the likelihoodof each unfolding.