(Ebook) Understanding Policy Success Rethinking Public Policy 1st Edition by Allen McConnell ISBN 9780230239746 0230239749

1 Perspectives on Success: The State of the Discipline

Policy Evaluation and Improvement

Public Value

Studies of Success and Failure

Success

Failure

Promoting Good Practice in Policy-making and Programme Management

Political Strategy and Survival

Conclusion: Taking Stock of Existing Literature

2 Policy Success: Definitions and Dimensions

What Is Policy Success?

A foundationalist position: policy success as ‘fact’

An anti-foundationalist position: policy success as ‘interpretation’

Policy success: a realistic definition

The Three Dimensions of Policy Success

Process success

Programme success

Political success

Conclusion

3 Dissecting Success: The Spectrum from Success to Failure

The General Relationship between Success and Failure

Policy success

Durable success

Conflicted success

Precarious success

Policy failure

Processes, Programmes and Politics: From Success to Failure

Process: from success to failure

Programmes: from success to failure

Politics: from success to failure

Contradictions between the Three Dimensions of Success

Good process versus bad programmes

Good programmes versus bad politics

Good politics versus bad programmes

Conclusion

4 Complexity: The Problems of Identifying and Measuring Success

Complicating Factors

Success for whom?

Partial achievement of a goal

Weighing-up multiple objectives

Reconciling contradictory objectives

Factoring-in unintended consequences

What if success is greater than planned?

Difficulty in isolating the policy effect

What would have happened if the policy had not existed?

Dealing with hidden agendas and lack of evidence

Assessing short-term versus long-term

Factoring-in spatial context

Weighing-up conflict between different outcomes in processes, programmes and politics

Practical Advice for Those Seeking to Assess whether a Policy is Successful

Appendix: A Ten-Point Framework to Help Guide Researchers in Assessing the Success or Otherwise of a

5 Framing Success: Claims, Counter-Claims and Agenda Impact

Who Claims Policy Success?

Unravelling the Discourse of Claims to Success (and Failure)

The multiple bases of success claims and counter-claims

Narratives of success

The Agenda Impact of Claims to Success

Communicating achievements

Ordering and stabilization

Legitimation

Deflection of criticism

Justifying continuity

Opening a window for reform

Closing a window for change

Conclusion

Appendix: Framing Success and Framing Failure - 2008 House of Commons Debate on the UK Labour Govern

6 Strategies for Policy-Making Success: Understanding Opportunities and Risks

Strategies for Policy Making Success

Striking a deal

Using warm, fuzzy, ambiguous language

Using evidence

Deliberating

Joining it up

Using executive muscle

Inwards transferring of ideas and practices from other jurisdictions

Innovating

Placing Success Strategies in their Context: Helping Explain Feasibilities and Risks

Mapping the contexts

An overview of feasible and risky strategies

Case Study 1: Gun Control Reform In Australia after the 1996 Port Arthur Massacre: Mapping Policy-ma

Case Study 2: The Poll Tax in Britain: Mapping Policy-making Contexts to Explain a Case of Policy-ma

Conclusion

Appendix: Differing Contexts and the Feasibility of Strategies for Policy Making Success

7 Strategies for Evaluating Success: Understanding Pay-Offs and Pitfalls

What Do Policy-makers Want to Achieve From Evaluations?

A Tight-Grip Policy Evaluation Strategy

Keeping tight control of the format of evaluations

Narrowing the parameters of investigation

Choosing evaluators who are most likely to produce the desired outcomes

Strategic use of funding and timescales

Specifying tools, techniques and methods

Intervening during the course of the evaluation

Restricting or blocking the release of the report

Spinning the report

Strategy: A Loose-Grip Approach to Policy Evaluations

Relaxing the format of the evaluation

Allowing wide parameters for investigation

Choosing evaluators who may be highly critical of government policy

Refusing to mould the evaluation through use of funding and timescales

Allowing substantial freedom in evaluation tools, techniques and methods

Resisting temptation to intervene during the course of the evaluation

Allowing full and widespread dissemination of the report

Resisting spin

Contexts in which Some Strategies are Riskier than Others

Mapping the contexts

An overview of feasible and risky strategies

Case Study: The 2002-06 Review of Public Administration in Northern Ireland: Mapping Policy Contexts

Conclusion

Appendix: Contexts and Feasibility of Tight-, Relaxed- and Loose-Grip Evaluation Strategies

8 Reflections: Cultivating, Sustaining, Learning From and Predicting Success

Introduction

Are the Conditions for Cultivating Success the Same in Different Policy Contexts?

An argument: conditions for success are universal

An argument: conditions for success are different in every context

An argument: success as familial

How Sustainable are Policy Programme Successes?

Factors helping sustain successful programmes

Factors hindering the sustainability of successful programmes

What factors help determine whether a policy success will be sustainable or unsustainable?

Are We More Liable to Learn from Successes or Failures?

A starting point: the nature of change and learning

Learning from success

Learning from failure

Learning from success and failure: a balance sheet

Can We Predict Policy Success?

An argument: prediction is desirable and feasible

An argument: prediction is foolish and impossible

An argument: we cannot predict but we can have foresight

Striking a balance

Conclusion

Conclusion: Rethinking Public Policy and Shining a Light in Dark Corners

Contemporary Models of the Policy Process: A Brief Summary

Policy cycle

Rational choice

New institutionalism

Groups and coalitions

Socio-economic models

The Policy Success Heuristic: A Summary

Policy Success: Shining a Spotlight in the Dark Corners of Public Policy

Good politics but bad policy

Symbolic/placebo policies

Quick fixes

Policy on the hoof

Hidden agendas

The Policy Success Heuristic: Adding Value to Established Policy Theories

The Policy Success Heuristic as a New Model of Public Policy

Bibliography

Index