The nature of policy change and implementation a review of different theoretical approaches
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31. INTRODUCTIONChange is a major part of our lives, whether it is change in industries, technologies or varioussectors such as transportation, education, health care or social policies. But we still know little about whenand how change occurs. Rahm Emanuel, former White House chief of staff, once said you never want aserious crisis to go to waste. Since 2008 policy-makers in the Organisation for Economic Cooperation andDevelopment (OECD) countries have faced a serious economic crisis – but it remains to be seen whetherthis was an opportunity taken advantage of or missed completely. Do we need a major shock to the systemto initiative change? Or can there be incremental change?The topic of policy change is a widely researched area in public policy and political science. Infields such as education policy, however, there is often an untheoretical approach on ‘what works’. Thispaper seeks to fill this gap and provides a review of the main theoretical approaches to policy change. Butpolicy change may not lead to desired results if the process of implementation is omitted fromconsideration. Thus the main question is: how can we explain policy change and implementation? Whilethere is a growing body of literature on policy change and implementation, this review can only engagewith a few selected theories which were deemed the most applicable to education policy.The review proceeds in the following way: Section 2 presents a selection of the main theories andmodels of change, their strengths and weaknesses and their applicability to different policy areas. Inparticular, the following theories are discussed: path dependence, advocacy coalition framework, policylearning, policy diffusion, punctuated equilibrium, institutional change, multi-level governance, policynetworks, disruptive innovation as well as the politics of change and reform. Next, several key theories(such as top-down and bottom up approaches and rational choice including game theory) and lessons of Show
The system can't perform the operation now. Try again later. What are the theoretical approaches to public policy?The theoretical approaches that are primarily connected with public policy formulation are rational-choice theory, incremental theory, policy output analysis, political system theory, and institutionalism, group theory, and elite theory.
What are the different policy approaches?In reflecting on the role of policy, two very different policy approaches can be considered: a regulatory and a developmental approach. A regulatory approach aims at establishing a stable policy framework for actions that are either market-driven or mandatory.
What are the three approaches to policy analysis?There are three approaches that can be distinguished: the analysis-centric, the policy process, and the meta-policy approach.
What are the basic approaches of policy development?The theoretical approaches include elite theory, group theory, political systems theory and institutionalism, policy output analysis, incremental theory and rational-choice theory which are primarily concerned with public policy-making as a process. Each of these theories is briefly discussed.
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