Policy Learning, Policy Failure, and the Mitigation of Policy Risks: Re-Thinking the Lessons of Policy Success and Failure

2021/12/31 by Ching Leong, Michael Howlett · 4 citations
Social Sciences · #Electoral Systems and Political Participation #Policy Transfer and Learning #Public Policy and Administration Research

paper · pdf · doi:10.1177/00953997211065344

openalex publication_date 2021/12/31 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/30

Abstract

Policy failures are often assumed to be unintentional and anomalous events about which well-intentioned governments can learn why they occurred and how they can be corrected. These assumptions color many of the results from contemporary studies of policy learning which remain optimistic that ongoing policy problems can be resolved through technical learning and lesson drawing from comparative case studies. Government intentions may not be solely oriented toward the creation of public value and publics may not abide by government wishes, however, and studies of policy learning need to take these “darksides” of policy-making more seriously if the risks of policy failure are to be mitigated.

Citations

• The structure of ill structured problems
• Managing the “hollow state”: procedural policy instruments and modern governance
• The lessons of failure: learning and blame avoidance in public policy-making
• Policy learning and policy failure: definitions, dimensions and intersections
• Policy success for whom? A framework for analysis

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