Policy cycle

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The policy cycle (also: policy-cycle ) is from the American US political science derived model that the political process , divided into several usually six or seven steps. It was first formulated in 1956 by the political scientist Harold Dwight Lasswell . This approach was then taken up and further developed in German political science.

The following phases of the policy cycle can be distinguished:

  • Problem definition : The cycle of a political program (function, organization, policy area, program) begins at the moment when the decision is made to deal with a problem at all. According to Gabriel Almond , this phase is ideally initiated by interest groups or other social support groups.
  • Agenda Setting or problem theming : In a next step the previously defined problem is on the political agenda ( agenda set). In the classic case, this is done by political parties who, usually through their chairmen, introduce certain political-field-dependent proposals into the discussion at party conferences, in position papers, press releases or statements. A political problem can also be put on the agenda, for example, due to changed framework conditions, fixed deadlines or media pressure. The agenda setting is used to investigate which actor provides selected topics with publicity in the political discussion. Who is the initiator of certain policies, who brings specific issues to the political agenda?
  • Policy implementation : If a certain topic manages to get to a place on the political agenda where changed legislation appears necessary, a decision-making process takes place between relevant actors, i.e. mostly those who are actually involved in a final decision become. After the problem has been presented and discussed, a political decision is made, depending on the distribution of power between the various interests and the structure of the institutions in which these votes and the final decisions take place. This point is also referred to as policy formulation in German-language literature.
  • Implementation : Once a decision has been made, it is then transformed into law; any adjustments to other laws are made so that the new law can be integrated into the legislation free of contradictions. This also includes the application of the new legislation on advisory and adoptive powers, in terms of content and form ( legislative ), to the subordinate powers ( executive and judicial ).
  • Evaluation : In the course of its application, enforcement administrations and the judiciary (e.g. through court rulings in the area concerned or on the basis of this law) determine whether and to what extent the law brings with it certain deficiencies that the legislature did not foresee or that are in the Have shown the course of execution to be particularly problematic.
  • Re-definition or termination : this is where the policy cycle comes to an end. If the evaluation reveals a need for change, i.e. if the topic is put on the agenda again, a new process leads to the amendment of the existing or the creation of new regulations. Otherwise, however, a political program can also be terminated, with possible advantages in the form of cost savings or the reduction of bureaucracy being offset by a number of obstacles.

Benefits of the policy cycle and criticism

  • In political science research, the model of the policy cycle is primarily used for the analytical structuring of the political process, i.e. a clear, complexity-reducing representation of a program-setting process that in reality can appear complex and, especially with regard to actors and program content, nested and running in parallel. Building on the phases of the policy cycle, various sub-disciplines of policy field research emerged in the 1960s and 1970s, for example implementation research or evaluation research.
  • The policy cycle also enables a more detailed analysis of content-related issues within individual phases.
  • It also serves as a guideline for an ideal political process in terms of normative and democratic theory .
  • Disadvantages arise if the model-like process is seen as a reflection of political reality. In reality, the individual phases are often not clearly distinguishable, overlap or run simultaneously.
  • The initial problem definition is also difficult because problems cannot be objectively identified. In the policy cycle, however, an existing problem is assumed and the process of problem perception is ignored.

An application example from German political science is the analysis of the development of EADS by means of the political cycle by Bockstette.

literature

  • Paul Ackermann et al. (Ed.): Political didactics in a nutshell. Planning questions for political education. Wochenschau Verlag, Schwalbach 1994.
  • Werner Jann, Kai Wegrich: Phase models and political processes: The policy cycle. In: Klaus Schubert, Nils C. Bandelow (Hrsg.): Textbook of the political field analysis . Munich / Vienna 2003, pp. 71–105.
  • Peter Massing : Paths to the Political. In: Peter Massing, Georg Weißeno (Hrsg.): Politics as the core of political education. Ways to Overcome Non-Political Political Education. Leske + Budrich, Opladen 1995.
  • Judith V. May, Aaron B. Wildavsky (Eds.): The Policy Cycle . Beverly Hills, London 1978.
  • Jörg Steinhaus: Laws with an expiry date - an instrument for reducing bureaucracy? Norderstedt 2008, ISBN 978-3-8370-7076-7 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Harold Dwight Lasswell: The decision process: seven categories of functional analysis. Bureau of Governmental Research, College of Business and Public Administration, University of Maryland, 1956.
  2. ↑ Buonanno, L. & Nugent, N .: POLICIES AND POLICY PROCESSES OF THE EUROPEAN UNION . Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke Hampshire 2013.
  3. ↑ Carsten Bockstette: Corporate interests, network structures and the emergence of a European defense industry. A case study using the example of the establishment of the European Aeronautic, Defense and Space Company (EADS). Dr. Kovač Verlag, Hamburg 2003, ISBN 3-8300-0966-6 .

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