Policy Learning and Policy Failure
Edited by
Claire A. Dunlop
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© Policy Press 2020
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
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ISBN 978-1-4473-5200-6 (HB)
ISBN 978-1-4473-5201-3 (ePdf)
ISBN 978-1-4473-5202-0 (ePub)
The right of Claire A. Dunlop to be identified as editor of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.All rights reserved: no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission of Policy Press.
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List of figures and tables vi
List of abbreviations vii
Notes on contributors viii
Acknowledgements x
- 1Policy learning and policy failure: definitions, dimensions and intersections
Claire A. Dunlop 1
- 2Pathologies of policy learning: what are they and how do they contribute to policy failure?
Claire A. Dunlop 23
- 3Overcoming the failure of ‘silicon somewheres’: learning in policy transfer processes
Sarah Giest 49
- 4Between policy failure and policy success: bricolage, experimentalism and translation in policy transfer
Diane Stone 71
- 5British Columbia’s fast ferries and Sydney’s Airport Link: partisan barriers to learning from policy failure
Joshua Newman and Malcolm G. Bird 93
- 6Policy failures, policy learning and institutional change: the case of Australian health insurance policy change
Adrian Kay 113
- 7Policy myopia as a source of policy failure: adaptation and policy learning under deep uncertainty
Sreeja Nair and Michael Howlett 133
Index 155
Figures
- 2.1Conceptualising knowledge modes as policy learning 27
- 2.2Expanding epistemic learning 29
- 3.1Learning processes during policy transfer 56
- 7.1Typology of uncertainties by options, outcomes and values 137
- 7.2Policy maker’s knowledge and comprehension matrix 138
- 7.3Different kinds of risk faced by policy makers and potential solutions 139
- 7.4Characteristics of different types of uncertainty 139
Table
- 2.1Organisational capacities and epistemic learning degeneration 31
| ACAP | absorptive capacity |
| ADCAP | administrative capacity |
| ALP | Australian Labor Party |
| ANCAP | analytical capacity |
| BBC | British Broadcasting Corporation |
| BC | British Columbia |
| BTB | bovine tuberculosis |
| CBA | cost-benefit analysis |
| COMCAP | communicative capacity |
| DEFRA | Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs |
| EBPM | evidence-based policymaking |
| EFRAC | Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee |
| EU | European Union |
| IBM | International Business Machines corporation |
| IMF | International Monetary Fund |
| IR | international relations |
| ISG | Independent Scientific Group |
| IST | Institute of Science and Technology |
| KAIS | Korea Advanced Institute of Science |
| LTV | Ling-Temco-Vought corporation |
| MAFF | Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food |
| MPA | Major Projects Authority |
| NASA | National Aeronautics and Space Administration |
| NDP | New Democrat Party |
| NFU | National Farmers Union |
| NGOs | non-governmental organisations |
| OECD | Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development |
| PFP | pay-for-performance |
| R&D | research and development |
| RBCT | Randomised Badger Culling Trial |
| RCT | randomised controlled trial |
| SMU | Southern Methodist University |
| SVM | Silicon Valley Model |
| TI | Texas Instruments |
| UC | Universal Credit |
| UK | United Kingdom |
| US | United States |
Malcolm G. Bird is associate professor of political science at the University of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. He is fascinated by the evolution of Canadian state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and the decision-making processes within Westminster Parliamentary systems. His research efforts focus on examining the modernisation of contemporary Canadian SOEs and how they have adapted their internal operations and governance regimes over the last thirty years. He marvels at the capacity of Canadian SOEs to balance diverse and often competing demands from numerous stakeholders as well as from their political masters. He holds a PhD in Public Policy and Administration from Carleton University.
Claire A. Dunlop is professor of politics at the University of Exeter, UK. A public policy and administration scholar, Claire’s main fields of interest include the politics of expertise and knowledge utilisation; epistemic communities and advisory politics; risk governance; policy learning and analysis; impact assessment; and policy narratives. Her recent co-edited volume (with Claudio M. Radaelli and Philipp Trein) is Learning in Public Policy: Analysis, Modes and Outcomes (Palgrave, 2018). Since 2014 she has been editor of Public Policy and Administration and in 2018 became a trustee of the UK Political Studies Association.
Sarah Giest is an assistant professor with the Institute of Public Administration at Leiden University, Netherlands. Sarah specialises in public policy analysis focusing on policy instruments and capacity in the innovation, technology and sustainability realm. This includes, for example, the use of big data for public climate change efforts or the capacity of government to innovate in urban settings. Her work has been published, among others, in Energy Policy, Environmental Science & Policy, Policy Sciences, and Public Administration. She is on the Editorial Board for Policy Design and Practice and member of the Young Academy Leiden.
Michael Howlett is Burnaby Mountain Professor and Canada Research Chair (Tier 1) in the Department of Political Science at Simon Fraser University, Canada. He specialises in public policy analysis, political economy, and resource and environmental policy.
Adrian Kay is an Honorary Professor at the Crawford School of Public Policy at the Australian National University where he was previously
Sreeja Nair is a research fellow at the Nanyang Environment and Water Research Institute, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore where her research focuses on bridging socio-cultural and political dimensions with technological aspects of water sustainability in Asia. Her research interests include policy design under uncertainty and impacts of environmental change on communities, focusing on water and agriculture sectors.
Joshua Newman is a senior lecturer in the College of Business, Government and Law at Flinders University in Adelaide, South Australia. His research interests involve the relationship between government and private sector organisations, including regulation, privatisation, and public-private partnerships. In addition, Joshua has written about research utilisation and evidence-based policy, policy outcomes and evaluation, and managing wicked policy problems. He is the author of Governing Public-Private Partnerships (McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2017).
Diane Stone is Dean of the School of Public Policy at the Central European University. In order to oversee the transition of the School from Budapest to its new home in Vienna, she has moved from her position in Australia as Centenary Professor in the Institute for Governance and Policy Analysis at the University of Canberra. Previously, she was a Professor of Politics and International Studies at Warwick University (1996–2019), a Professor of Politics at the University of Western Australia (2010–13), and a European Commission Marie Curie Chair (2004–08) at Central European University. Additionally, she worked at the World Bank, in the Secretariat that launched the Global Development Network in 1999, then became a member of its Governing Body (2001–05). Currently, Professor Stone is Consulting Editor of Policy & Politics as well as Vice President of the International Public Policy Association. Her most recent publication is Global Policy and Transnational Administration (OUP, 2019).
The chapters for this volume arise from a policy failure and learning workshop hosted by Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy (LKYSPP), National University of Singapore, 19–21 February 2014. All the authors wish to thank the workshop organisers – Michael Howlett, M Ramesh and Xun Wu – and all the other participants for their intellectual generosity and support. As editor, I want to extend my sincere thanks to all the anonymous referees whose comments inspired our authors and helped improve the chapters. The collection first appeared as an edited special issue of Policy & Politics (2017, volume 45, issue 1) and we thank the editorial team who made it such a rigorous and fun experience!
Claire A. Dunlop
Exeter, June 2019
