Essay on Policy Process Theories
The Stages-Heuristic theory is one of the highly influential frameworks for the study of the policy process, which was developed in the 1970s-1980s (Dudley, Parsons, Radaelli & Sabatier, 2000). According to this theory, the policy making process is divided into several stages. The stages of policy development include agenda-setting, policy formation, policy legitimation, policy implementation, and policy evaluation. One stage moves to the next stage. For example, agenda-setting stage involves the list of issues that require special attention of officials. Then, agenda-setting stage requires narrowing the list of issues or subjects in order to move to the next stage, from government agenda to the decision making agenda. This framework played an important role in transforming political theory research and provided an opportunity to analyze each stage of policy making process. Different factors can influence the policy making process within each stage. However, the Stages-Heuristic theory has been criticized severely because this theory does not provide causal drivers that “govern the process within each stage” (Gornitzka, Kogan & Amaral, 2006, p.18). This theory can be compared to the other dominant theoretical frameworks, such as Institutional Rational Choice model developed by Kiser and Ostrom in 1982. The strengths of this framework as compared to the Stages-Heuristic framework include the focus on institutional rules, which may change the behavior of individuals and the close relationships between institutions. Institutional Rational Choice model has become rational choice theory, which makes the policy process the so-called ‘bargaining game’ between individuals or parties. This framework assesses public policy as a set of the proper institutional arrangements, which consist of certain rules and norms that shape the interactions and strategies of actors. The weakness of this framework is that it can be applied to some specific context, providing the effects of various beliefs systems on institutions and policy process.
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