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What work makes policy?

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  • Hal Colebatch

Abstract

The mainstream policy literature identifies a number of activities as part of ‘policy-making’: ‘policy analysis’, ‘policy advice’, ‘decision-making’, and perhaps also ‘implementation’ and ‘evaluation’. Describing policy in these terms is compatible with the Western cultural account, and these terms tend to be applied to positions, organisational segments and official procedures. But policy practitioners tend to find that on the one hand, their experience of their work bears little resemblance to the assumptions in this policy-making model, and on the other, that policy outcomes seem to reflect much broader processes than the work of specialist functionaries. On closer examination, we find that our thinking about policy activity draws on several distinct and potentially conflicting perspectives, and that what is seen as ‘policy work’ depends on the conceptualisation of the policy process. Framing the question in this way helps to understand the apparent differences between mainstream (American) accounts of policy activity and policy practice in other political systems. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media, LLP 2006

Suggested Citation

  • Hal Colebatch, 2006. "What work makes policy?," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 39(4), pages 309-321, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:kap:policy:v:39:y:2006:i:4:p:309-321
    DOI: 10.1007/s11077-006-9025-4
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Caspar F. Berg, 2017. "Dynamics in the Dutch policy advisory system: externalization, politicization and the legacy of pillarization," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 50(1), pages 63-84, March.
    2. Giulia Molinengo & Dorota Stasiak & Rebecca Freeth, 2021. "Process expertise in policy advice: Designing collaboration in collaboration," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 8(1), pages 1-12, December.
    3. Jonathan Craft, 2015. "Conceptualizing the policy work of partisan advisers," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 48(2), pages 135-158, June.
    4. Anna Wesselink & Hal Colebatch & Warren Pearce, 2014. "Evidence and policy: discourses, meanings and practices," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 47(4), pages 339-344, December.
    5. Marlee Tichenor & Sally E Merry & Sotiria Grek & Justyna Bandola-Gill, 2022. "Global public policy in a quantified world: Sustainable Development Goals as epistemic infrastructures [The ethics of a formula: Calculating a financial-humanitarian price for water]," Policy and Society, Darryl S. Jarvis and M. Ramesh, vol. 41(4), pages 431-444.
    6. Nambiar, Devaki, 2013. "India's “tryst” with universal health coverage: Reflections on ethnography in Indian health policymaking," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 135-142.
    7. Farhad Mukhtarov & Andrea Gerlak, 2014. "Epistemic forms of integrated water resources management: towards knowledge versatility," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 47(2), pages 101-120, June.
    8. Joshua Newman & Emi Patmisari & Ida Widianingsih, 2022. "Policy analytical capacity and "Eastern" styles of policy analysis: evidence from West Java Province, Indonesia," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 55(3), pages 469-485, September.
    9. Michael Howlett & M. Ramesh, 2016. "Achilles' heels of governance: Critical capacity deficits and their role in governance failures," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 10(4), pages 301-313, December.
    10. Sedlačko Michal & Staroňová Katarína, 2015. "An Overview of Discourses on Knowledge in Policy: Thinking Knowledge, Policy and Conflict Together," Central European Journal of Public Policy, Sciendo, vol. 9(2), pages 10-31, December.
    11. Deveci, Muhammet & Pamucar, Dragan & Gokasar, Ilgin & Isik, Mehtap & Coffman, D'Maris, 2022. "Fuzzy Einstein WASPAS approach for the economic and societal dynamics of the climate change mitigation strategies in urban mobility planning," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 1-17.
    12. Novotný Vilém, 2015. "Czech Study of Public Policy in the Perspective of Three Dominant Approaches," Central European Journal of Public Policy, Sciendo, vol. 9(1), pages 8-29, May.
    13. Koen Bartels, 2013. "Research as Usual: How Researching Public Problems Affects Problem Solving," Working Papers 13002, Bangor Business School, Prifysgol Bangor University (Cymru / Wales).
    14. Agus Heruanto Hadna, 2021. "Policy Formulation During Pandemic COVID-19: A New Evidence of Multiple Streams Theory from Yogyakarta, Indonesia," Journal of Public Administration and Governance, Macrothink Institute, vol. 11(3), pages 3655-3655, December.
    15. Pierre-Olivier Bédard, 2015. "The Mobilization of Scientific Evidence by Public Policy Analysts," SAGE Open, , vol. 5(3), pages 21582440156, September.
    16. Ann-Charlotte Nedlund & Peter Garpenby, 2014. "Puzzling about problems: the ambiguous search for an evidence-based strategy for handling influx of health technology," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 47(4), pages 367-386, December.
    17. Anna Wesselink & Andy Gouldson, 2014. "Pathways to impact in local government: the mini-Stern review as evidence in policy making in the Leeds City Region," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 47(4), pages 403-424, December.

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