The politics of policy design

This chapter examines how politics has been accounted for in theories of policy design. It discusses how politics has been theorized in differing ways in the policy design literature, uncovering different conceptualizations of policy design as: a) an exercise separated from politics; b) rational planning that includes politics; c) democratic politics; d) an expression of social power; e) ideational politics; and f) a concept that intrinsically represses the political. In reviewing these positions, the chapter touches on various meta-theoretical bases upon which these different views of policy design are premised. A heuristic is developed that maps the policy design–politics relationship, positioning the various perspectives in a figure expressed along two vectors, politics (from politicized to technocratic) and policy design (from a stage in the policy process to a form of activity). It also distinguishes orientations towards scholars or practitioners. The heuristic is then used to consider theoretical cross-fertilizations that might advance research on policy design by incorporating politics more thoroughly. Some perspectives will not combine well due to fundamental conflicts of presuppositions. Productive research directions suggested are to study the power effects of polity structure, policy regimes and governing institutions on policy design; the properties of effective designs in multi-level governance systems; the relational social power of policy tools; and a reflexive, critical policy design studies.