From the ‘old’ to the ‘new’ policy design: design thinking beyond markets and collaborative governance

Abstract

Policy design as a field of inquiry in policy studies has had a chequered history. After a promising beginning in the 1970s and 1980s, the field languished in the 1990s and 2000s as work in the policy sciences focused on the impact on policy outcomes of metachanges in society and the international environment. Both globalization and governance studies of the period ignored traditional design concerns in arguing that changes at this level predetermined policy specifications and promoted the use of market and collaborative governance (network) instruments. However, more recent work reasserting the role of governments both at the international and domestic levels has revitalized design studies. This special issue focuses on recent efforts in the policy sciences to reinvent, or more properly, 're-discover' the policy design orientation in light of these developments. Articles in the issue address leading edge issues such as the nature of design thinking and expertise in a policy context, the temporal aspects of policy designs, the role of experimental designs, the question of policy mixes, the issue of design flexibility and resilience and the criteria for assessing superior designs. Evidence and case studies deal with design contexts and processes in Canada, China, Singapore, the UK, EU, Australia and elsewhere. Such detailed case studies are necessary for policy design studies to advance beyond some of the strictures placed in their way by the reification of, and over-emphasis upon, only a few of the many possible kinds of policy designs identified by the 1990s and early 2000s literature.

Policy Design and Non-Design: Towards a Spectrum of Policy Formulation Types

“…A roadmap for a new "policy design orientation" exists in studies undertaken in recent years into the formulation of complex policy mixes in fields such as energy and environmental policy, among others (Howlett, 2014a;2014b;Howlett & Lejano, 2013;Howlett, Mukherjee, & Woo, 2014). This new design orientation focuses attention on the construction of policy packages operating in complex multi-policy and multi-level design contexts which are expected to address multiple goals and objectives (del Rio & Howlett, 2013).…”

“…This new design orientation focuses attention on the construction of policy packages operating in complex multi-policy and multi-level design contexts which are expected to address multiple goals and objectives (del Rio & Howlett, 2013). It seeks to better describe the nature of the bundles or portfolios of tools which can be used to address policy problems and to help understand the interactive effects which occur when multiple tools are used over time (Doremus, 2003;Howlett, 2014b;Howlett, Mukherjee, & Woo, 2014;Jordan, Benson, Wurzel, & Zito, 2011;Jordan, Benson, Zito, & Wurzel, 2012;Yi & Feiock, 2012).…”

Difusión de la innovación: la red social y el enfoque de aprendizaje organizativo para la gobernanza de un equipo de liderazgo de todo el distrito

“…Aunque todos estos temas son importantes, se pasa por alto el aspecto esencial del progreso de mejora: el relacional. Los últimos itinerarios universitarios demandan una aproximación en red la gobernanza (Howlett, 2014;Vidovich y Currie, 2012). Este enfoque de red es fundamental en la medida en que atiende al aspecto relacional fundamental de la gobernanza necesario para la mejora (por ejemplo, la comunicación e interacción dentro y entre las unidades).…”

The role of e-participation and open data in evidence-based policy decision making in local government

“…Public sector policy making has come under increasing scrutiny in recent years due to topdown decision-making processes adopted by elected government representatives and the lack of associated transparency or evidence of value created through implemented policies (Howlett, 2014). In most representative democracies, public officials are elected by citizens on the basis of values, goals and policies put forward by these candidates during political campaigns.…”