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.