Table Of ContentUnderstanding
Public Policy
Theories and Issues
Paul Cairney
pal grave
macmillan
©Paul Cairney 2012
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Contents
List of Boxes, Figures and Tables Xl
List ofA bbreviations xm
Preface and Acknowledgements x1v
1 Introduction: Theories and Issues 1
Why do we study public policy? 1
The general approach 4
Theories of public policy: from the old to the new? 5
Power, agenda setting and public policy 7
Governance and the power of the centre 8
Individuals, institutions and environments 9
Bureaucratic politics, policy networks and group-
government relations 11
The role of ideas 15
Stability and instability; continuity and change. 17
The structure of the book 18
Conclusion 20
2 What is Public Policy? How Should We Study It? 22
What is public policy? 23
Measuring public policy 26
Narratives of public policy 28
Theories, models and heuristics 30
What is the policy cyCle? 32
Implementation 34
Top-down and bottom-up implementation 37
Evaluation 39
Policy maintenance, succession and termination 40
Beyond the policy cycle 41
Conclusion 43
3 Power and Public Policy 46
Definitions of power 48
From community power to thought control: traditional
approaches to power and politics 50
From empirical to normative: the right to exercise power 59
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vm Contents
Anglophone versus continental European discussions of power? 60
Contemporary approaches to power and policymaking 62
Conclusion 66
4 Institutions and 'New Institutionalism' 69
Identifying formal and informal institutions 70
But what exactly is an institution? What is institutionalism? 73
Key variants: historical "institutionalism 76
Key variants: rational choice institutionalism 79
Key variants: normative and sociological institutionalism 81
Key variants: constructivist (discursive) institutionalism 83
The new institutionalisms: is there more to unite than divide
them? 84
Conclusion 91
5 Rationality and Incrementalism 94
What is comprehensive rationality? 96
Bounded rationality 97
Incrementalism 98
The normative debate: how should we make policy? 100
The normative debate: should power be concentrated in the
'centre' 103
Incrementalism: is it a universal phenomenon? 104
How do modem theories conceptualize bounded rationality?
Is incrementalism inevitable? 106
Conclusion 108
6 Structural Explanations 111
Do structural factors determine politics? 113
The economic context: Marxism and globalization 117
The government context: inheritance before choice and policy
successiOn 120
The policy process as a complex system 124
Conclusion 129
7 Rational Choice Theory 132
What does rational mean? What is rational choice? What is
rational choice theory? 136
The role of game theory and its relevance to public policy 137
The ·relevance of rational choice theory to public policy 141
The main debates between rational choice advocates and critics 147
Conclusion 151
Contents ix
8 Multi-Level Governance 154
What is governance? 156
The governance problem 157
Multi-level governance and the Westminster model 160
Multi-level governance, policy networks and the European·
Union 162
Multi-level governance, federalism and beyond 165
Conclusion 173
9 Punctuated Equilibrium 175
Why 'punctuated equilibrium'? 177
Policy communities and policy monopolies 178
'Issue networks and the executive establishment' 180
Agenda setting 182
Problem definition 185
Problem definition and venue shopping 189
Case studies of punctuated equilibrium: 'some issues catch fire' 190
The generalizability of punctuated equilibrium: (1) from case
studies to theory 192
The generalizability of punctuated equilibrium: (2) other
political systems 196
Conclusion 197
10 The Advocacy Coalition Framework 200
A picture of the advocacy coalition framework 202
Belief systems and power 204
The dynamics of 'policy-oriented learning' 206
Stability and instability, continuity and change 208
Applications and revisions 210
Applications outside the US 213
The ACF and the public policy literature 215
Conclusion 218
11 The Role ofldeas 220
Defining ideas 223
Ideas as the primary source of explanation: viruses and norms 224
Coalitions, punctuations and paradigms 228
Policy windows, multiple streams and garbage cans 232
Conclusion 242
12 Policy Transfer 244
Lesson-drawing, diffusion, convergence and policy transfer:
what do they mean? 245
Who does it and from where are lessons drawn? 250
x Contents
·Why transfer? Is transfer voluntary? 253
What is transferred? How much is transferred? 257
What determines the likelihood and success of policy transfer? 258
Links to the wider literature: is the transfer process 'rational'? 260
Conclusion 263
13 Conclusion 265
Synthesis 266
Combined literatures, but different meanings? 271
Combining_theories: commonalities and contradictions 274
Multiple theories, multiple perspectives 282
Conclusion 287
References 290
Index 320
List of Boxes, Figures and Tables
Boxes
1.1 Essence of decision 3
2.1 Discussions of public policy 25
3.1 Discussions of power 48
3.2 The language of power 49
3.3 Gender, power and public policy 55
3.4 Power and luck 64
4.1 Discussions of institutions 75
4.2 Key questions for new institutionalism 77
4.3 Path dependence and immigration 79
4.4 Social construction theory 85
5.1 The meaning of incrementalism 99
5.2 Periods of crisis: from the new deal to the credit crunch 101
5.3 The shifting image of majoritarianism 105
6.1 Structural factors 114
6.2 Japan's nuclear policy 117
6.3 Case study: mental health policy 118
6.4 Incrementalism and inertia 122
6.5 Case study: public expenditure 123
7.1 The key tenets of rational choice theory 133
7.2 What is the point of simplified assumptions? 135
7.3 Nested games 138
7.4 What makes rational choice a normative theory? 147
7.5 Wider rational choice applications in political science 150
8.1 Key descriptions of (multi-level) governance 156
8.2 Global governance 158
8.3 Is the British state hollowing out? 160
8.4 Neofunctionalism and interest groups 164
8.5 An example of multi-level governance:
EU-UK-Scotland-local 172
9.1 The changing world of group-government relations 179
9.2 Participation in American politics: the dynamics of agenda
building 184
9.3 Up and down with ecology: the 'issue-attention cycle' 188
9.4 Key terms for statistical analysis 195
10.1 ACF case studies 211
11.1 Ideas and interests 222
Xl
xii List of Boxes, Figures and Tables
11.2. Ideas and the case study of tobacco 226
11.3 Elites, ideas and the evolution of public policy 231
11.4 'Taking the power of ideas seriously' 238
12.1 Examples of widespread policy convergence or transfer 246
12.2 The diffusion of environmental policies 250
12.3 Learning negative lessons 257
13.1 Multiple theories and the banking 'bail out' 267
13.2 'Incommensurability' 280
Figures
2.1 The generic policy cycle 34
9.1 A broad picture of the general punctuation hypothesis in
action. 194
10.1 The advocacy coalition framework flow diagram, 2007 202
12.1 The Dolowitz and Marsh policy transfer continuum 254
Tables
4.1 Lijphart's majoritarian-consensus dichotomy 89
7.1 The prisoner's dilemma 139
8.1 Westminster model versus multi-level governance: key
compansons 161
8.2 Types of multi-level governance 169
9.1 Types of policy network 178
List of Abbreviations
ACF Advocacy coalition framework
ABC Atomic Energy Commission (US)
AIDS Acquired immune deficiency syndrome
BBC British Broadcasting Corporation
BP British Petroleum
BR British Rail
BSE Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (mad cow disease)
BT British Telecommunications
CAP Common agricultural policy (EU)
DSH Dye-Sharkansky-Hofferbert (systems theorists)
EU European Union
FCTC Framework Convention on Tobacco Control
FDA Food and Drug Administration (US)
FY Financial year
GDP Gross domestic product
HIV Human immunodeficiency virus
HMO Health Maintenance Organization (US)
lAD Institutional analysis and development framework
IGR Intergovernmental relations
IR International relations
LA Los Angeles
MLG Multi-level governance
N:INC Multinational corporation
MSA Multiple streams analysis
NEPA National Environmental Protection Act (US)
NHS National Health Service (UK)
NGO Non-governmental organizations
NPM New public management
OECD Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
PE Punctuated equilibrium (Theory)
PR Proportional representation (electoral system)
Quango Quasi-non-governmental organization
RCT Rational choice theory
SARS Severe acute respiratory syndrome
UK United Kingdom
UN United Nations
US(A) United States (of America)
USDA US Department of Agriculture
WM Westminster model
Xlll
