1. Chapter 20: Policy-making by Christoph Knill and Jale Tosun
Caramani (ed.) Comparative Politics
Section V: Public policies
Chapter 20: Policy-making by Christoph Knill and Jale Tosun

2. Chapter 20: Policy-making Introduction (1/1)
Conceptual models of policy-making
Analysing policy-making as a process: the policy cycle
The importance of institutions, framing, and policy styles
The role of international factors for domestic policy-making
Policies: Government statements of what it intends to do, including law,
regulation, ruling, decision, or order (Birkland 2001).
Public policy: A more specific term, which refers to a series of actions
carried out to solve societal problems (Newton and van Deth 2005).
Public policies are the main output of the political system.
By analysing the policy-making process, we gain a fuller understanding of
the causes and consequences of policy decisions.

3. Chapter 20: Policy-making Conceptual models of policy-making (1/3)
Introduction
Conceptual models of policy-making
Analysing policy-making as a process: the policy cycle
The importance of institutions, framing, and policy styles
The role of international factors for domestic policy-making
There are several complementary models of policy-making that clarify the
relationship between politics and public policies:
Institutional model:
Public policies are determined by institutions, especially the relationship between the executive and the legislative power
Public policies are formulated and implemented only by the executive and the legislative
Policy-making seen as smooth technical process

4. Chapter 20: Policy-making Conceptual models of policy-making (2/3)
Introduction
Conceptual models of policy-making
Analysing policy-making as a process: the policy cycle
The importance of institutions, framing, and policy styles
The role of international factors for domestic policy-making
Rational model:
How can “optimal” policy decisions be reached?
Assumption of rational actors
Bayesian learning
Starting point for public choice / game theory
Incremental model:
Response to the rational model: Concept of “bounded rationality”
Limited changes to existing policies, incremental policy-process
No ideal, but realistic description of policy-making

5. Chapter 20: Policy-making Conceptual models of policy-making (3/3)
Introduction
Conceptual models of policy-making
Analysing policy-making as a process: the policy cycle
The importance of institutions, framing, and policy styles
The role of international factors for domestic policy-making
Group model:
Public policies are the result of an equilibrium reached in interest group struggle
Policy-makers are constantly responding to group pressures
Policy-changes triggered by changes in relative strength between interest-groups
Elite model:
Policy-making is determined by preferences of governing elites
Elites shape public opinions

6. Analysing policy-making as a process: The policy cycle (1/4)
Chapter 20: Policy-making
Analysing policy-making
as a process: The policy cycle (1/4)
Introduction
Conceptual models of policy-making
Analysing policy-making as a process: the policy cycle
The importance of institutions, framing, and policy styles
The role of international factors for domestic policy-making
Considering the main features of policy-making:
Multiple constraints
Various policy processes
Infinite cycle of decisions and policies
It is convenient to analyse policy-making as a policy cycle.
The policy cycle (or process model):
The policy-process is modelled as a series of political activities:
Agenda setting
Policy formulation
Policy adoption
Implementation
Evaluation

7. Analysing policy-making as a process: The policy cycle (2/4)
Chapter 20: Policy-making
Analysing policy-making
as a process: The policy cycle (2/4)
Introduction
Conceptual models of policy-making
Analysing policy-making as a process: the policy cycle
The importance of institutions, framing, and policy styles
The role of international factors for domestic policy-making
Agenda setting:
The identification of a public problem:
Systemic agenda: All societal problems that demand public attention
Action agenda: Problems that are up for serious consideration of decision-makers
Agenda setting is done by different actors:
Public officials
The bureaucracy
Mass media
Interest-groups
Political parties and scientific communities
Agenda-setting is an important source of power  first mover
advantage

8. Analysing policy-making as a process: The policy cycle (3/4)
Chapter 20: Policy-making
Analysing policy-making
as a process: The policy cycle (3/4)
Introduction
Conceptual models of policy-making
Analysing policy-making as a process: the policy cycle
The importance of institutions, framing, and policy styles
The role of international factors for domestic policy-making
Policy formulation:
The definition, discussion, acceptance, or rejection of feasible courses of action for coping with policy problems
Deals with the elaboration of alternatives of action
c) Policy adoption:
The formal adoption to take on a policy
Policy adoption is determined by a number of factors, of which two are particularly important:
The expected costs/benefits of the policy
Reduction of the set of feasible policies by the necessity to build majorities (veto players)

9. Analysing policy-making as a process: The policy cycle (4/4)
Chapter 20: Policy-making
Analysing policy-making
as a process: The policy cycle (4/4)
Introduction
Conceptual models of policy-making
Analysing policy-making as a process: the policy cycle
The importance of institutions, framing, and policy styles
The role of international factors for domestic policy-making
Implementation:
The conversion of new laws/programs into practice
The “black box” between policy adoption and policy outcomes
Quality of implementation depends on:
Policy type
Available resources for implementation
Federal or unitary state
Role of top bureaucrats (bureaucratic drift)
Evaluation:
Carried out to measure policy efficiency and effectiveness
Provides a feedback loop  powerful tool of policy-making process

10. The importance of institutions, framing, and policy styles (1/4)
Chapter 20: Policy-making
The importance of institutions,
framing, and policy styles (1/4)
Introduction
Conceptual models of policy-making
Analysing policy-making as a process: the policy cycle
The importance of institutions, framing, and policy styles
The role of international factors for domestic policy-making
The role of institutions:
The main institutions are:
Electoral system
Executives and legislatives
The relationship between executive/legislative is of crucial importance in
policy-making. Lijphard (1999) differs between two types of democratic
systems:
Majoritarian systems (fusion of power between executive and legislative power)
Consensus democracies (sharing power, balancing executive and legislative power)

11. The importance of institutions, framing, and policy styles (2/4)
Chapter 20: Policy-making
The importance of institutions,
framing, and policy styles (2/4)
Introduction
Conceptual models of policy-making
Analysing policy-making as a process: the policy cycle
The importance of institutions, framing, and policy styles
The role of international factors for domestic policy-making
The role of cognitive and normative frames:
Cognitive frames: Schemes through which actors view and interpret the world
Normative frames: Values and attitudes that shape actors views
Normative and cognitive frames enable and constrain policy-making.
Certain actors have a privileged role in policy-making as they generate and
diffuse cognitive frames (mediators or policy-brokers).

12. The importance of institutions, framing, and policy styles (3/4)
Chapter 20: Policy-making
The importance of institutions,
framing, and policy styles (3/4)
Introduction
Conceptual models of policy-making
Analysing policy-making as a process: the policy cycle
The importance of institutions, framing, and policy styles
The role of international factors for domestic policy-making
National policy styles:
Like the policy cycle, the concept of policy styles also serves as a useful
heuristic tool for identifying common policy-making patterns among
countries.
The main idea is that nations matter for policy-analysis.
However, empirically, there is a remarkable intra-national variation of
policy styles.

13. The importance of institutions, framing, and policy styles (4/4)
Chapter 20: Policy-making
The importance of institutions,
framing, and policy styles (4/4)
Introduction
Conceptual models of policy-making
Analysing policy-making as a process: the policy cycle
The importance of institutions, framing, and policy styles
The role of international factors for domestic policy-making
There are several typologies of policy styles. According to Knill (1998)
national policy styles are defined by two dimensions:
State intervention:
Hierarchical vs. self-regulation
Substantive vs. procedural regulation
Detailed requirements vs. open regulations
Administrative interest intermediation:
Formal vs. informal / legislative vs. pragmatic
Open vs. closed relationships between administrative and social actors

14. The role of international factors for domestic policy-making (1/4)
Chapter 20: Policy-making
The role of international factors
for domestic policy-making (1/4)
Introduction
Conceptual models of policy-making
Analysing policy-making as a process: the policy cycle
The importance of institutions, framing, and policy styles
The role of international factors for domestic policy-making
International factors also have an influence on domestic policy-making.
Theories of policy diffusion:
Analysis of the spread of policies across political systems from a general perspective
Diffusion mainly affects the stage of agenda-setting, less policy-formulation
Theories of policy transfer:
- Analysis of singular processes of bilateral policy exchange
Governments do not learn randomly about policy practices, but through common affiliations, negotiations and institutional membership.

15. The role of international factors for domestic policy-making (2/4)
Chapter 20: Policy-making
The role of international factors
for domestic policy-making (2/4)
Introduction
Conceptual models of policy-making
Analysing policy-making as a process: the policy cycle
The importance of institutions, framing, and policy styles
The role of international factors for domestic policy-making
Policy convergence:
Any increase in the similarity between one or more characteristics of a
certain policy across a given set of political jurisdictions (Knill 2005).
Theories of policy diffusion and transfer describe a process that
might result in policy convergence. Since national policy processes
are different, convergence is not necessarily the case.

16. The role of international factors for domestic policy-making (3/4)
Chapter 20: Policy-making
The role of international factors
for domestic policy-making (3/4)
Introduction
Conceptual models of policy-making
Analysing policy-making as a process: the policy cycle
The importance of institutions, framing, and policy styles
The role of international factors for domestic policy-making
Mechanisms behind internationalization:
Imposition:
External political actor forces a government to adopt a certain policy
International harmonization:
Member states engage voluntarily in international cooperation (negotiated transfer)
Regulatory competition:
Homogenization as a result of competitive pressures (race to the bottom or race to the top)
Transnational communication:
Mechanisms purely based on communication (drawing from available experience)

17. The role of international factors for domestic policy-making (4/4)
Chapter 20: Policy-making
The role of international factors
for domestic policy-making (4/4)
Introduction
Conceptual models of policy-making
Analysing policy-making as a process: the policy cycle
The importance of institutions, framing, and policy styles
The role of international factors for domestic policy-making
Empirical illustration:
Policy diffusion:
Climate policy instruments (e.g. emission trading systems) mainly through international harmonization
Policy transfer:
CEECs refugees policies through imposition by EU
Policy-convergence:
Environmental policies, mainly driven by transnational communication