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The classic way to study policymaking is to break it down into stages.
Although this stages have changed over the years, and vary by country, the basic ideas remain the same:
Simplify a complex world by identifying its key elements.
How to make policy, to translate public demands into government action.
The policy cycle divides the policy process into a series of stages, from a notional starting point at which policymakers begin to think about a policy problem to a notional end point at which a policy has been implemented and policymakers think about how successful it has been before deciding what to do next.
It is simple and understandable.
It can be applied to all political systems and
The emphasis on cycles highlights fluid policymaking.
There is also a wide range of important studies (and key debates) based on the analysis of particular stages – such as the top-down versus bottom-up approaches to the study of policymaking.
However, the stages approach is no longer central to policy studies, partly because it does not help explain what it describes, and partly because it oversimplifies a complex world.
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