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The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Interest Groups, Lobbying and Public Affairs
The policy cycle framework originates from the idea of organizing and ordering the complexity of policymaking. It is a heuristic tool through which different stages of the ongoing and never-ending dynamics of policy processes can be segmented and then analyzed. It was originally proposed by Lasswell (1956), the founder of modern policy analysis and public policy, and is still considered one of the essentials in the conceptual toolbox of policy scholars. The policy cycle – also called the “stages approaches to policy process” (De Leon, 1999) – does not have any explanatory relevance and is thus not at the theoretical core of public policy (where there is a richness of different theoretical frameworks). However, it is a powerful conceptual tool to simplify and make “workable” the complexity of policymaking. Overall, it holds a relevant descriptive capacity that is still useful, despite many critics having underlined that it risks oversimplifying the interconnected and intertwined density of the policy process flux. The cycle is usually divided into five stages: agenda setting, formulation, decision-making, implementation, and evaluation.
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The language of policy theory is often esoteric and often appears divorced from the ‘real world’, thus policy-makers and academics often hold different assumptions about the policy-making world based on their different experiences (Cairney 2013:1). Therefore, considerable debate remains over whether there is one coherent set of principles that can govern the study and understanding of what we call the public policy process (Birkland 2015:8). This paper therefore explores the ‘policy cycle’ in the study and understanding of policy-making. The endeavour is whether this approach illuminates or is an approximation of the reality of policy-making in the real world. Cairney (2012:6) argues that, “for many years, the academic approach in many introductory textbooks was to maintain a focus on stages as a way to introduce the discipline and arrange book chapters, and some books such as (Hogwood and Gunn 1984, Hill 2005) are more wedded to the stages format than others such as (Cairney 2012a, John 2012, Sabatier 2007)”. Nevertheless, the centre of argument for this paper is that, policy cycle prescribes the basis for policy analysis and the description of the policy-making process in theory, but in real practice policy-making does not follow clear cut and ordered stages. Thus the paper shall explore literature that interrogates beyond the stages heuristic, such as the complexity theory in policy making (Cairney 2013) among others, which seem to adequately illuminate messy policy-making processes in reality. Practical examples of policies shall be examined as the paper unfolds in a bid to shed more light on the above debate.
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An approach suggests authentic procedures and techniques for the solution of a specific problem. To analyze the policy-making process, various approaches, theories, and models have been introduced by social and political scientists. American political scientist Harold Laswell presented the term ‘Public Policy’ in 1951 initially. Laswell projected a multi-disciplinary innovative dexterous approach to control the political procedures of industrialized civilizations of Post-World War II. At present, the study of policy process and analysis has quickly established a higher level of theoretical framework commonly in the West. The theoretical approaches that are primarily connected with public policy formulation are rational-choice theory, incremental theory, policy output analysis, political system theory, and institutionalism, group theory, and elite theory. The cyclic/stages model offers a systematic framework for the examination of public policies. A reviewing study of theoretical approaches to study public policy was initiated, which explored the process of public policy as a cyclic model. The purpose of the study is to learn about the different approaches to study public policy. The finding indicates that the complex process of public policy formulation will relatively convert into the easiest mode by following the logical apparatus of the cyclic model. This paper recommends that the cyclic/stages model offers an upright design and methodical framework to examine public policies and could be used for data collection.
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This paper has been developed to guide a professional development exercise for the Association for Tertiary Education Management (ATEM) Developing Policy in Tertiary Institutions seminar. It focuses on the policy cycle employed by tertiary sector institutions to develop institutional policy. It is timely to revisit this issue in light of emerging requirements of the Tertiary Education Quality Standards Agency (TEQSA) regarding policy development, benchmarking, implementation, evaluation and review. The University of Melbourne Policy Development and Review Cycle is used as an organising construct to explore stages of an elongated, comprehensive policy cycle. This policy cycle includes: identification and confirmation; preliminary consultations; drafting; benchmarking; consultation; revision; compliance checking; endorsement; approval; communication and publication; implementation; implementation and compliance monitoring; implementation evaluation; triennial review. Following the lead of others in examining reasons for policy failure, this paper explores examples of poor policy practice in relation to various policy cycle stages. Revisiting the policy cycle will position policy practitioners and stakeholders to more ably implement institutional policy projects.
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