Policy capacity: A conceptual framework for understanding policy competences and capabilities

Wu, Xun; Ramesh, M.; Howlett, Michael

doi:10.1016/j.polsoc.2015.09.001

Cited by 392 publications

(352 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…Policy capacity is a set of competencies and capabilities necessary to perform policy functions—making and implementing intelligent choices as well as steering and weaving together relevant processes . Policy capacity includes analytical (assessing and making informed decisions), operational (implementing the decisions taken), and political (interacting with other policy actors) capacity exercised at three levels—individual, organizational, and systemic .…”

Section: Effective Policy Design: What It Takes For a Policy To Be Efmentioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding public health insurance in India: A design perspective

Maurya

2019

Health Planning & Management

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Summary It is broadly accepted that health policy is crucially affected by contextual conditions. Yet, little is known about how the context limits the effectiveness of public health insurance (PHI) programs and the extent to which these limitations could be overcome. The objective of the paper is to address these issues on the basis of the examination of 17 PHI schemes introduced by federal and state governments in India since independence. Faced with the challenge of simultaneously expanding insurance coverage while containing costs, governments have overwhelmingly favored the latter. At the same time, governments have lacked the capacity to monitor performance, which has led providers to compromise quality in return for low payment rates. While there have been modest improvements in recent years, reform efforts have been hindered by contextual conditions that constrain the use of measures to control profiteering by for‐profit agencies. The paper argues that system‐wide data on the quality of providers (system‐level operational capacity) and the ability of public agencies to monitor quality and link it with payment (organizational‐level operational capacity) critically determined the program effectiveness. We demonstrate the interaction between contextual variables, program design elements, and policy capacity linking to performance, arguing for a broader approach to understand PHI performance. We extend the present frameworks on PHI effectiveness that have narrowly focused on the design of health financing functions without factoring unfavorable context and limited policy capacity in developing countries. The paper contributes to improving PHI performance operating in unfavorable contextual conditions in India and elsewhere.

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Section: Effective Policy Design: What It Takes For a Policy To Be Efmentioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding public health insurance in India: A design perspective

Maurya

2019

Health Planning & Management

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“…In this article, we aim to produce novel insights about policy capacity that is designed to deal with an uncertain future by analyzing the Dutch Delta Program. To build our framework for analysis, we now link the different approaches for dealing with deep uncertainty developed in the field of climate adaptation research to the interplays between the competencies of policy capacity (Wu et al, 2015). Analytical ⇔ operational Adaptive strategies for dealing with deep uncertainty require information about changing patterns in the system.…”

Section: Policy Capacity To Anticipate Success Amidst Uncertaintymentioning

confidence: 99%

Designing a century ahead: climate change adaptation in the Dutch Delta

Bloemen

Steen

Wal³

2018

Policy and Society

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This article examines policy capacity for dealing with the effects of climate change. The case under study is the Delta Program in the Netherlands; a large-scale policy program to prepare the country for current and anticipated effects of climate change that runs until 2050. Using a qualitative case study approach, we examine how the actors involved design analytical capacity, operational capacity and political capacity to deal with the uncertainty and complexity that are inherent in this policy field. The context of climate change necessitates policy capacity that anticipates effects that are in themselves uncertain and ambiguous, span over decades of time, and involve many stakeholders. Our analysis shows how policy capacity was designed to allow for present-day interventions, while also enabling adaptation to new and emerging developments overtime. We conclude our article with theoretical and practical lessons about policy capacity for dealing with long-term uncertainty and complexity.

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“…The issue of state capacity is increasingly noted by scholars of decentralization and indeed public policy and governance generally (e.g. see European Commission, 2005;Pierre and Painter, 2005;OECD, 2006;Christensen and Gazley, 2008;UNDP, 2010;Rotberg, 2014;Wu et al, 2015).…”

Section: Decentralization: Promises Pitfalls and Pathwaysmentioning

confidence: 99%

Autonomy and Performance: Decentralization Reforms in Zhejiang Province, China

Ramesh

2017

Public Admin & Development

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Summary Decentralization reforms rarely live up to the high hopes and expectations of the reformers for a variety of reasons rooted in actions and omissions of the governments pursuing it or in the context in which it is undertaken. The paper examines the experience of Zhejiang Province where decentralization was successful in achieving and indeed exceeding initial expectations. The remarkable feature of its reforms was ‘performance‐based’ decentralization wherein localities showing superior performance were awarded additional autonomy at a faster speed while the rest were given additional support to build their capacity for assuming more responsibility in the future. To understand the effects of this unique pattern of decentralization, the paper compares the performance of participating and non‐participating counties under five waves of reforms between 1992 and 2008, based on indicators such as gross domestic product, industrial output and local government revenue. It finds that performance‐based decentralization not only helped overcome the problem of capacity deficits but also fostered capacity in weaker counties to assume more autonomy in the future. The paper confirms that speed and sequence of transfer of autonomy and responsibilities to local governments are as important as the content of decentralization. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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Policy capacity: A conceptual framework for understanding policy competences and capabilities

Cited by 392 publications

References 13 publications

Understanding public health insurance in India: A design perspective

Understanding public health insurance in India: A design perspective

Designing a century ahead: climate change adaptation in the Dutch Delta

Autonomy and Performance: Decentralization Reforms in Zhejiang Province, China

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