Policy in question: from problem solving to problematology

Harold Lasswell's 'problem orientation' is the keystone in his concept of the 'policy sciences'. However, many critics have since rejected his view of policymaking as a problem solving science. I explain and critique Lasswell's problem orientation in a new way, in terms of his scientific conception of problem and solution. Lasswell derived his vision of the policy sciences from Dewey's conception of knowledge as problem solving. Lasswell modified Dewey's pragmatism by proposing a policy sciences composed of two separate poles, the scientific study of problems and policymaking around these problems. These were synthesized in a larger scientific perspective, the 'problem orientation'for the policy sciences. However, this synthesis is neither scientific in theory nor in practice. The link between the two poles is contingent, rather than necessary. Lasswell suppressed the problematic to cast policy science as a non-political politics. The relationship between the two poles, and the problem orientation in general, should be theorized as contingent and political.

The concept of policy problem informs the scholarly study of policymaking as well as policy practice. But the problem solving theory of policymaking has many conceptual shortcomings. The problem solving concept is flawed because it defines complex problems univocally, obscuring differences of opinion; focuses on problem solving at the expense of problem setting; and represents the policy process scientifically to disguise and/or suppress the contingent nature of political reasoning. The propositional basis of theories of the policy process excludes problematicity and produces a fragmented theory which misrepresents the political nature of policymaking. By building upon an epistemology of questioning we can address these shortcomings by revising and expanding the problem concept in policy theory. Such a conception implies that policy studies is not distinctive because it is applied and should therefore be integrated with political theory.

2013

This draft article develops a theory and practical guidelines for policy design and policy formulation as a set of heuristics for 'taming' wicked problems. In doing so, it shows how argumentative or interpretive policy analysis may be practiced. Using a socio-cognitive theory of problem processing, it shows how policy design is a succession of problem sensing, problem categorisation, problem decomposition, and problem definition (as political choice). For each of these stages, appropriate heuristics can be specified that will induce though habits and styles for solid policy designs. The draft article also pays attention to frequently overlooked aspects of policy formulation processes, like the politics of design, of public involvement, and timing.

1983

Co-authored with Barbara Bardes and published as an introduction to policy analysis for undergraduates in 1983. This version scanned in 2022 under Creative Commons 4.0 non-commercial use license requiring attribution.

This paper re-examines the connection between problems and solutions in policy theory, starting from the constant tension in policy analysis between policy and politics. Politics is often seen as the enemy of good policy because the political work that has to be done in the course of coming to a decision is usually downplayed in favour of an allegedly rational connection between problem and solution. Noting that the activity of making connections is clearest at times of institutional ambiguity, the paper analyses the decision making process in the Great Bear Rainforest dispute in coastal British Columbia, drawing on concepts from ordinary language philosophy and the historiography of political thought.

This article places Michel Foucault’s concept of problematization in relation to educational policy research. My goal is to examine a key assumption of policy related to “solving problems” through such technologies. I discuss the potential problematization has to alter conceptions of policy research; and, through this discussion, I provide a set of alternative pragmatics with which to conduct research for, and on, education policy.

Policy Studies Journal, 2009

The field of policy theory abounds with numerous theories, with each theory having a set of practitioners that are working independently of the others. Resolving conflicts among policy theories as a result is difficult. This essay has a more modest goal of posing some questions and suggesting some avenues for future research. Key points include defining the purpose of policy theory, incorporating management into our theories, making strategic choices about areas of study, addressing the parsimonycomprehensiveness tradeoff, and providing a more nuanced role for institutions.

International Series in Operations Research & Management Science, 2012

In this article, we intend to take a few steps to mending the disconnect between the academic study of policy processes and the many practices of professional and not-so-professional policy work. We argue, first, that the " toolkit " of academically warranted approaches to the policy process used in the representative mode may be ordered in a family tree with three major branches: policy as reasoned authoritative choice, policy as association in policy networks, and policy as problematization and joint meaning making. But, and this is our second argument, such approaches are not just representations to reflect and understand " reality ". They are also mental maps and discursive vehicles for shaping and sometimes changing policy practices. In other words, they also serve performative functions. The purpose of this article is to contribute to policy theorists' and policy workers' awareness of these often tacit and " underground " selective affinities between the representative and performative roles of policy process theorizing.