Tackling 21st Century policy implementation challenges – setting the scene

This paper is designed to set the scene for the panel: Public Sector Implementation: trends and futures Implementation remains a vexed issue in the policy literature, lacking clarity around issues such as what is meant by... [ view full abstract ]

This paper is designed to set the scene for the panel: Public Sector Implementation: trends and futures
Implementation remains a vexed issue in the policy literature, lacking clarity around issues such as what is meant by effective implementation and who should be involved in this process. Despite this, policy implementation has received very little attention in the last 10-20 years. During this time, arguably the context of implementation has become even more contested and complex than when this work began in the 1970s. Public service contexts have become increasingly complex over the past several decades such that the implementation of almost any policy requires actions and engagement across multiple organisational domains with government, public, private and community partners (Klijn and Koppenjan, 2000; Rhodes 2007).

Policy implementation requires actions and engagement across multiple organisational domains with government, public, private and community partners. However, research continues to adopt an instrumental, compliance focused approach failing to analyze the role of organisational and individual capacity in implementation effectiveness (Hill and Hupe, 2009). This approach misses the complexity that has emerged in the implementation space. The ramifications of this significance of this gap in knowledge can be seen in recent high-profile policy failures with the OECD (2010) noting that implementation issues abound internationally.

In this introductory paper we will review the current implementation literature and determine the core themes. From this we will consider the current research in the panel papers and then work together determine what a new research agenda might look like that would offer opportunities for new way of thinking.

Klijn, E-H. and Koppenjan, J. (2000). Public Management and Policy Networks. Public Management 2:437–454.

Rhodes, R.AW. (2007). Understanding Governance: Ten Years On. Organization Studies 28:1243–1264.

Hill, M. and Hupe, P. (2009). Implementing Public Policy, Second Edition. Sage, London.
OECD (2010). Making Reform Happen: Lessons from OECD Countries. OECD, Paris.