Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-r5fsc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-21T23:12:45.408Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Policy Learning and Failure

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 November 2008

Peter J. May
Peter J. May
Affiliation:
Political Science, University of Washington
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Multiple knowledges are available for utilisation in policy choice. The rank ordering of knowledges for use in decisionmaking is thus a fundamental predecision. This article shows how this predecision necessarily constrains the processes associated with a politics of ideas, using cases from American international commodity policy. Even when the supposed preconditions of this sort of politics are present, policy change did not occur when the proposed ideas arose from a knowledge accorded secondary status in policymaking circles. Several implications are discussed for the influence and the study of ideational politics. Ultimately, the politics of ideas, so often portrayed through cases of innovation, may be quite conservative, contained by knowledge hierarchies which reflect prior politicaxl circumstances.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Public Policy , Volume 12 , Issue 4 , October 1992 , pp. 331 - 354
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1992

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Argyris, Chris and Schon, Donald A. (1978) Organizational Learning: A Theory of Action Perspective. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley Publishing.Google Scholar
Barke, Richard (1985) ‘Policy Learning and the Evolution of Federal Hazardous Waste Policy‘, Policy Studies Journal vol. 14 (09): 123–31.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baumer, Donald C. and Van Horn, Carl E.The Politics of Unemployment. Washington, D.C.: Congressional Quarterly Press.Google Scholar
Bosso, Christopher J. (1988) ‘Transforming Adversaries into Collaborators‘, Policy Sciences vol. 21:3–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bosso, Christopher J. (1987) Pesticides & Politics, The Life Cycle of a Public Issue. Pittsburg, PA: University of Pittsburg Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bobrow, Davis B. and Dryzek, John S. (1987) Policy Analysis by Design. Pittsburg, PA: University of Pittsburg Press.Google Scholar
Browne, William P. (1990) ‘Organized Interests and Their Issue Niches‘, Journal of Politics vol. 52 (05): 510–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burby, Raymond with Cigler, Beverly A., French, Steven P., Kaiser, Edward J., Kartez, Jack, Roenigk, Dale, Weist, Dana, and Whittington, Dale (1991) Sharing Environmental Risks. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.Google Scholar
Campbell, Donald T. (1969) ‘Reforms as Experiments‘, American Psychologist Vol. 24 (04): 409–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carter, Luther J. (1987) Nuclear Imperatives and Public Trust: Dealing with Radioactive Waste. Washing-ton, D.C.: Resources for the Future.Google Scholar
Cook, Brian J., Emel, Jacque L., and Roger, E. Kasperson (1990) ‘Organizing and Managing Radioactive Waste Disposal as an Experiment‘, Journal of Policy Analysis and Management Vol. 9 (Summer 1990): 339–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Conlan, Timothy J., Wrightson, Margaret T., and Beam, David R. (1990) Taxing Choices, The Politics of Tax Reform. Washington, D.C.: Congressional Quarterly Press.Google Scholar
Coyle, Dennis and Wildavsky, Aaron (1987) ‘Requisites of Radical Reform: Income Maintenance versus Tax Preferences‘, Journal of Policy Analysis and Management Vol. 7 (Fall): 1–16.Google Scholar
Derry, David (1984) Problem Definition in Policy Analysis. Lawrence, Kansas: University of Kansas Press.Google Scholar
Deutsch, Karl W. (1966) The Nerves of Government. New York: The Free Press.Google Scholar
Dryzek, John S. (1990) Discursive Democracy: Politics, Policy, and Political Science. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Elmore, Richard F. (1987) ‘Instruments and Strategy in Public Policy‘, Policy Studies Review vol. 7 (1): 174–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Etheredge, Lloyd S. (1981) ‘Government Learning: An Overview‘, in SamuelLong, ed Long, ed. The Hand- book of Political Behavior, Vol. 2. New York: Plenum press: 73–161.Google Scholar
FennoRichard F., Jr. Richard F., Jr. (1989) The Making of a Senator, Dan Quayle. Washington, D.C.: Congressional Quarterly Press.Google Scholar
Greenberg, David H. and Robbins, Philip K. (1986) ‘The Changing Role of Social Experiments in Policy Analysis‘, Journal of Policy Analysis and Management vol. 5 (2): 340–62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goggin, Malcolm L., Bowman, Ann O'M., Leters, James P., and O'Toole, Laurence J. Jr., (1990) Implementation Theory and Practice, Toward a Third Generation. Glenview, IL: Scott, Foresman.Google Scholar
Hansen, Daniel (1991) ‘An Analysis of the Major Changes in U.S. Mental Health Policy from 1960–1985‘, Unpublished Ph.C. essay of distinction. Seattle, WA: Department of Political Science, University of Washington.Google Scholar
Heclo, Hugh (1974) Modem Social Politics in Britain and Sweden. New Haven: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Theodore, Heintz H. Jr, (1988) ‘Advocacy Coalitions and the OCS Leasing Debate: A Case Study in Policy Evolution‘, Policy Sciences Vol. 21: 213–38.Google Scholar
Holling, C. S., ed. (1978) Adaptive Environmental Assessment and Management. Chichester: John Wiley and Sons.Google Scholar
Ingram, Helen and Mann, Dean (1980) ‘Policy Failure: An Issue Deserving Analysis‘, in Ingram, Helen M. and Mann, Dean E., eds. Why Policies Succeed or Fail. Beverly Hills: Sage Publications: 11–32.Google Scholar
Jacob, Gerald (1990) Site Unseen, The Politics of Siting a Nuclear Waste Repository. Pittsburg, PA: University of Pittsburg Press.Google Scholar
Jenkins-Smith, Hank C. (1991) ‘Alternative Theories of the Policy Process: Reflections on Research Strategy for the Study of Nuclear Waste Policy‘, PS: Political Science and Politics Vol. 24 (06): 157–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jenkins-Smith, Hank C. (1990) Democratic Politics and Policy Analysis. Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole Publishing.Google Scholar
Jenkins-Smith, Hank C. (1988) ‘Analytical Debates and Policy Learning: Analysis and Change in the Federal Bureaucracy‘, Policy Sciences Vol. 21: 169–211Google Scholar
Jenkins-Smith, Hank C, Clair, Gilbert St. and Brian, Woods (1991) ‘Explaining Change in Policy Subsystems: Analysis of Coalition Stability and Defection Over Time‘, American Journal of Political Science Vol. 35 (11): 851–80.Google Scholar
Kelman, Steven (1981) ‘Economists and the Environmental Muddle‘, The Public Interest No. 64 (Summer): 106–23.Google Scholar
Kingdon, John (1984) Agendas, Alternatives, and Public Policy. Boston: Little Brown and Company.Google Scholar
Laumann, Edward O. and David, Knoke (1987) The Organizational State, Social Choice in National Policy Domains. Madison, WI: Uniersity of Wisconsin Press.Google Scholar
Levitt, Barbara and March, James G. (1988) ‘Organizational Learning‘, Annual Review of Sociology Vol. 14: 319–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lindblom, Charles E. (1990) Inquiry and Change, The Troubled Attempt to Understand and Shape Society. New Haven: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Lindblom, Charles E. (1959) ‘The Science of “Muddling Through”; ‘, Public Administration Review Vol. 29 (Spring): 79–88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Linder, Stephen H. and Peters, B. Guy (1989) ‘Instruments of Government: Perceptions and Contexts‘, Journal of Public Policy, 9(1): 35–58.Google Scholar
Majone, Giandomenico (1989) Evidence, Argument & Persuasion in the Policy Process. New Haven: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Majone, Giandomenico and Wildavsky, Aaron (1979) ‘Implementation as Evolution‘, in Pressman, Jeffrey and Wildavsky, Aaron, Implementation, 2nd Edition. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.Google Scholar
May, PeterJ. (1986) ‘Politics and Policy Analysis‘, Political Science Quarterly 101 (1): 109–25.Google Scholar
May, PeterJ. (1985) Recovering from Catastrophes: Federal Disaster Relief Policy and Publics. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.Google Scholar
McFarland, Andrew S. (1987) ‘Interest Groups and Theories of Power in America‘, British Journal of Political Science 17 (part 2): 129–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mucciaroni, Gary (1991) ‘Unclogging the Arteries: The Defeat of Client Politics and the Logic of Collective Action‘, Policy Studies Journal, vol. 19 (3–4): 474–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Neustadt, Richard E. and Ernest, May (1986) Thinking in Time, The Uses of History for Decision Makers. New York: Free Press.Google Scholar
Nownes, Anthony J. (1991) ‘Interest Groups and the Regulation of Pesticides‘, Policy Sciences 24 (02): 1–18.Google Scholar
Reich, Robert B. (1988) ‘Policy Making in a Democracy‘, in Reich, Robert B., ed. The Power of Public Ideas. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press: 123–56.Google Scholar
Rochefort, David A. (1988) ‘Policymaking Cycles in Mental Health: Critical Examination of a Conceptual Model‘, Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law Vol. 13 (Spring): 129–52.Google Scholar
Rose, Richard (1991) ‘What is Lesson-Drawing?‘, Journal of Public Policy Vol. 11 (01–05): 3–30.Google Scholar
Sabatier, Paul A. (1991) ‘Toward Better Theories of the Policy Process‘, PS: Political Science and Politics Vol. 24 (06): 147–56.Google Scholar
Sabatier, Paul A. (1988) ‘An Advocacy Coalition Framework of Policy Change and the Role of Policy-Oriented Learning Therein‘, Policy Sciences vol. 21: 129–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Salamon, Lester M., ed. (1989) Beyond Privatization: The Tools of Government Action. Washington, D.C.: Urban Institute Press.Google Scholar
Schneider, Anne and Ingram, Helen (1992) ‘The Social Construction of Target Populations: Implications for Politics and Policy‘. Tempe, AZ: College of Public Programs, Arizona State University.Google Scholar
Schneider, Anne and Ingram, Helen (1990) ‘Behavioral Assumptions of Policy Tools‘, Journal of Politics vol. 52 (2): 510–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schneider, Anne and Ingram, Helen (1988) ‘Systematically Pinching Ideas: A Comparative Aproach to Policy Design‘, Journal of Public Policy vol. 8(1): 61–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stone, Clarence N. (1985) ‘Efficiency versus Social Learning: A Reconsideration of the Implementation Process‘, Policy Studies Review vol. 4 (02): 484–96.Google Scholar
Stone, Deborah A. (1989) ‘Causal Stories and the Formation of Policy Agendas‘, Political Science Quarterly vol. 104 (2): 281–300.Google Scholar
Wildavsky, Aaron (1979) ‘Strategic Retreat on Objectives: Learning from Failure in American Public Policy‘. In Speaking Truth to Power. Boston: Little, Brown: 385–406.Google Scholar
Weiss, Janet A. (1989) ‘The Powers of Problem Definition: The Case of Government Paperwork‘, Policy Sciences Vol. 22 (05): 97–121.Google Scholar
Wilson, James Q. (1989) Bureaucracy. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar