Reconsidering Policy: Complexity, Governance and the State

The book reconsiders traditional policy-analytic concepts and re-develops and extends new ones to address the challenges and opportunities of a globalising and network-based policy world, in a melded approach defined as systemic institutionalism.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 256 pages
Publication date: 11 August 2021
Publisher: Bristol University Press

The contexts for developing and implementing policy have become increasingly complex and demanding for nation-states. However, policy studies have not adequately responded to the challenges and opportunities presented by these developments. While governance literature has highlighted a globalizing and network-based policy world, the role of politics and the state has been de-emphasized. This book aims to address this imbalance by reconsidering traditional policy-analytic concepts and re-developing and extending new ones in a melded approach defined as systemic institutionalism. This approach links policy with governance and the state, suggesting how real-world issues can be substantively addressed.

The traditional policy-analytic framework, which typically focuses on the state as the primary actor and policy as a top-down process, has limited its ability to understand the complex and interconnected nature of contemporary policy problems. Systemic institutionalism, on the other hand, recognizes the importance of multiple actors, networks, and institutions in shaping policy outcomes. It emphasizes the need to understand how policies are created, implemented, and contested within these complex systems.

One of the key insights of systemic institutionalism is that policy is not just a product of the state but is also shaped by a range of non-state actors, such as businesses, civil society organizations and society organizations, and international organizations. These actors have diverse interests and motivations, and their interactions and relationships shape the policy process. Systemic institutionalism also recognizes the importance of power and politics in shaping policy outcomes. Power refers to the ability of one actor to influence the behavior of another, and politics is the process by which decisions are made and policies are implemented. Systemic institutionalism suggests that power is not just a top-down process, but is also distributed and contested within these complex systems.

To address the challenges and opportunities presented by the complex and interconnected policy world, systemic institutionalism proposes a range of new concepts and approaches. One of these is the concept of policy networks, which refers to the complex web of relationships and interactions between different actors, institutions, and networks that shape policy outcomes. Policy networks can be both formal and informal, and they can be both horizontal and vertical. Formal policy networks, such as international organizations and intergovernmental committees.

Weight: 398g
Dimension: 156 x 235 x 18 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781447333166