How decision-makers (“policy makers”) design/discover/decide
upon tools
Policy design is a specific form of policy formulation based on the
gathering and application of knowledge about policy tools to the
development and implementation of programmes aimed at the attainment of
desired policy ambitions. In a time when policymakers are often tasked
with developing innovative solutions to increasingly complex policy
problems, the need for intelligent design of policies and a better
understanding of the policy formulation processes they involve has never
been greater.
In general, a means-ends understanding of policy formulation permeates
the policy design orientation (Colebatch 2018). Although policy-making
does not always necessarily lend itself to or result in purely
instrumental thinking about policy issues, this instrumental orientation
is significant in that policy formulators operating in accordance with
its strictures are expected to base their actions on analyses which are
logical, knowledge and evidence-based (Bhatta 2002).
Conceptually, an instrumentally oriented policy design process begins
with an assessment of the abilities of different policy tools to affect
policy outputs and outcomes, and considerations of the availability of
the resources required to allow a policy to operate as intended. As
Linder and Peters (1991) noted, this involves a series of choices which
emphasize “not only the potential for generating new mixtures of
conventional solutions, but also the importance of giving careful
attention to tradeoffs among design criteria when considering instrument
choices” (p. 130).
Designing policies in this way requires an understanding of how the use
of specific kinds of instruments affects target group behaviour and
compliance with government aims (Weaver 2015) and knowledge of the many
constraints on tool use originating in the limits of existing knowledge
and prevailing government priorities and governance structures
(Torgerson 1986). It also requires both analytical and evidentiary
capacity on the part of the government as well as the intention to
exercise it (Howlett 2015). Whether or not policy-makers have these
capacities is an outstanding issue in the field which half the essays in
this special issue will address.