Chapter 8 Policy Implementation

8.1 概念界定Policy Implementation:The process whereby programs of policie

sare carried out; it denotes the translationof plans into practice.

8.2 三种研究路径Top-down

Concerned with how the implementing officials couldbe made to do their job

Bottom-upStart from the perspective of those affected by andinvolved in the implementation

Instrument choiceRegarded Implementation process as one in whichvarious tools of government were applied to concretecases in policy design

8.3 本章学习目的

In this chapter, we set out the factors that make policy implementation a difficult task and discuss the main perspective on the subject before examing the factors affecting the choice of instruments for implementing policy.

8.4 The realities of policy imiplementation

Distinct from the stated objectives and the procedures prescribed for achieving them.

8.4.1 原因分析：执行过程中的限制因素

Nature of the problemsThe circumstances surrounding themOrganization of the administrative apparatusPolitical and economic resourcesPublic support

8.4.2 The nature of the problemsTechnical difficulties during implementationThe diversity of problemsThe size of the target groupThe extent of the behavioural change the policy requires of target group

8.4.3 Context

Social conditionsEconomic conditionsThe availablity of new technology Political circumstances

8.4.4 Administrative apparatus

Different bureaucratic organizations within the government and at other levels of government ,each with its own interests, ambitions, and traditions that can hamper the implementation process.

8.4.5 看清现实，得出启示

Lead not only to a greater appreciation of the difficulties encountered in policy implementation, but also to attempts to design policies in a manner offering a reasonable chance of success in implementation

8.4.6 如何设计出一项比较利于执行的政策？

Decision-makers state the goals of policy and their relative ranking clearly.Policy must be backed by a causal theoryPolicy must have sufficient funds allocated to it for successful implementationPolicy should set out clear proceduresAllocate to an agency with relevant experience and commitment for implementing

8.5 Perspectives on policy implementation

Top-down approachBottom-up approach

8.5.1 Top-down approach

Assumption: View the policy process as a series of chain

s of command where political leaders articulate a clear policy preference which is then carried out at a increasing levels of specificity as it goes through the administrative machinery that serves the government.

8.5.2 该研究方法的具体操作

Start with the decisions of the governmentexamine the extent to which administrators carry out or fail to carry out the decisionsSeek to find the reasons underlying the extent of the implementation

8.5.3 该研究方法的缺陷

The most serious shortcoming: concerns its focus on senior decision-makers, and neglect of a focus on lower level officials.

senior decision-makers play only a marginal role in implementation compared to lower level officials and members of the public.

8.5.4 Bottom-up approach

Assumption: The success or failure of many programs

oftern depends on the commitment and skills of the actors at the bottom directly involved in implementing programs.

8.5.5 该研究方法的具体操作

Start with all the public and private actors involved implementing programsExamine their personal and organizational goals,their strategies,and the network of contacts they have built. Discover the goals,strategies,and contacts

in concrete programs.

8.5.6 该研究方法的优点

It directs attention to the formal and informal relationships constituting the policy networks involved in making and implementing policies.

8.6.1 Instrument choice

Focus: Why a government chooses particular instruments from among the many availableWhether any distinct patterns or styles of instrument choice can be discerned in the policy implementation process.

8.6.2 三个模型

Economic models (Deductive)Political models (Inductive)A synthetic model

8.6.3 Economic models

Assumption: Concerns what governments do or o

ught to do, rather than on empirical investigations into what they actually do.

8.6.4 两个经济学派观点

Welfare economists’ model: Treat the choice of instrument as a strictly technical exercisePermit greater scope for the use of compulsory and mixed instruments to correct market failure.

Neo-classical economists’ model

Rely on Public Choice theory to expain patterns of instrument use.Approve the use of compulsory and mixed instruments only for providing pure public goods, their use for any other reason is viewed as distorting the market process.

8.6.5 Political modelsBruce Doern model:

Assumption: all instruments are technically substitutable, in a liberal democratic society governments prefer to use the least coercive instrument and would move up the scale as necessary to overcome societal resistance to effective regulation.

8.6.6 Doern 模型存在的问题

No government has the complete range of instrument choice, subject to social and political constraints. Slow movement up the coercion scale does not conform to the empirical evidence. The idea of social resistance provoking governments to move towards more coercive instruments is also problematic.

8.6.7 Christopher Hood modelinstrument choice is not a technical exercise but a matter of faith and politics.The choice is shaped by resource constraints, political pressures, legal constraints, and the lessons learnt from past instrument failures.Normal patterns of government re-tooling: basing on information shift to on other resource, coercion to use of financial and organizational resource.Technological change may erode the usefulness of old instruments and lead to the application of new ones.

8.6.7 影响不同工具发挥效力的因素

The nature of the social groups they are intended to influenceThe size of the target group:the larger,the more likely government will use passive instrument.

8.6.8 Hood 模型未能解决的诸多问题

Why should governments inherently desire to use bureaucracy sparingly?Why should resources like treasure and organization be considered less replenishable?When it is apparent to most observers that the extended use of either propaganda or force has diminishing returns?

8.6.9 Linder and Peters model影响工具选择的因素：

Features of policy instruments: resource intensiveness, targeting, political risk, constraints on state activity.A nation’s policy style and political culture,

and the depth of its social cleavagesContext of the problem situationPreferences:based on their professional background, institutional affliation, and cognitive make-up.

8.6.10 比较分析三个模型Doern Model

Hood Model

Linder and peters model

Characteristics of the instruments

√

Nature of the problem √

Governments’ past experience

√ √

Decision-makers’ preference

√ √ √

Affected social groups’ reaction

√ √

共同的缺陷在于：不能充分将行为主体偏好的作用过程概念化

8.6.11 A synthetic model

The model combines the insights afforded by economists and political scientists into the reationales of instrument choice.

8.6.12 运用于该模型的四种政策工具

MarketFamily or communityRegulation,public enterprise,or direct provisionMixed instruments

8.6.13 A model of instrument preferences

complexity of the policy subsystem

State Capacity

high

Maket instruments

Regulatory Public Enterprise, or Direct Provision Instruments

high

lowVoluntary Community or Family Based Instruments

Mixed Instruments

low