Public Policy Drift Why governments must replace 'policy on the run' and 'policy by fiat' with a 'business case' approach to regain public confidence Institute of Public Administration Australia (IPAA) Public Policy Discussion Paper (original) (raw)

Modernising the Policy Process

Policy Studies, 2006

In an increasingly complex world of interrelated problems many governments have tried to modernise their institutional structures and the ways in which they go about making policy. In the UK and elsewhere this has been most apparent in the growing emphasis given to evidence-based policy making in contrast to faith-based approaches and the conviction politics of earlier periods. Much of the debate about the impact and indeed value of this apparently new approach has focussed on the supply side of the equation: on the utilisation of research evidence and how researchers might make their work more relevant and useful to policy makers. Less attention has been paid in these debates to the different ways in which the nature of policy and policy making is conceptualised and how this might affect the relationship between research and policy. This article takes forward this debate by critically reviewing the theorisation of the policy/ research relationship under three different conceptions of policy making: the stages model, the advocacy coalition framework and the argumentative turn. It considers the future of policy research via two questions: who should carry out policy research in which settings; and what skills do they need to do so more effectively?

Better Policy-Making

The speed of social change in Britain and rising expectations of Government on the part of the citizen call for more responsive, informed policy-making and more effective service delivery. By fostering a culture of continuous learning and knowledge sharing, CMPS helps public servants acquire the skills and tools they need to reform and modernise the country's vital public services and redesign them around the customer.

Policy capacity in disruptive times

Australian Journal of Political Science, 2019

In considering the widely held view that we have experienced an era of qualitative decline in policy provision, this paper briefly reviews four questions that appear to underlie such a view. Have there been identifiable transitions in deliberative processes, political practices and policy capacity in recent decades (and if so, what were the catalysts)? Has the relationship between policy practitioners and expert providers of policy advice changed (and if so, how)? Have channels of communication between the political/ policy community and the research community deteriorated (and if so, why)? Has the political appreciation of public concerns and the public understanding of policy imperatives diminished? We use these to frame the results of a workshop in which researchers, policy practitioners and service providers participated. Our objective is to identify systematically the origin of contemporary policy problems, foreshadowing four articles that illuminate instances of success and failure in disruptive times.

Shifting Policy Debates and the Implications for Governance

Policy-making is in a state of flux and governments are stressing the need for more integrated or "joined up" policies to deal with the complex issues now facing society. There is an ongoing policy revolution taking place at global, European, UK and regional levels but the buzz-words that are often used to describe this revolution -"Third Way", "joined-up policies", "what works" -are sometimes regarded with scepticism.