Policy learning and policy failure: definitions, dimensions and intersections

2017/01/01 by Claire A. Dunlop · 4 citations
Social Sciences · #Public Policy and Administration Research

paper · doi:10.1332/030557316x14824871742750

openalex created_date 2016/12/08 · openalex publication_date 2017/01/01 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/25

Abstract

Policy failures present a valuable opportunity for policy learning, but public officials often fail to learn valuable lessons from these experiences. The studies in this volume investigate this broken link. This introduction defines policy learning and failure, and then organises the main studies in these fields along the key dimensions of: processes, products and analytical levels. We continue with an overview of the special issue articles, outlining where they sit in the wider literature and how they link learning and failure. We conclude sketching a research agenda linking policy scholars with policy practice.

Cited by

• Policy Learning, Policy Failure, and the Mitigation of Policy Risks: Re-Thinking the Lessons of Policy Success and Failure
• Policy Learning and Adaptation in governance; a Co-evolutionary Perspective
• How does policy learning take place across a multilevel governance architecture during crises?
• Political institutions, punctuated equilibrium theory, and policy disasters

Related

• Policy Learning, Policy Failure, and the Mitigation of Policy Risks: Re-Thinking the Lessons of Policy Success and Failure
• The lessons of failure: learning and blame avoidance in public policy-making
• The lessons of policy learning: types, triggers, hindrances and pathologies
• What is policy failure? A primer to help navigate the maze
• Policy Success, Policy Failure and Grey Areas In-Between