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An introduction to policy and policy development
Published in Mark Zacharias, Jeff Ardron, Marine Policy, 2019
Policy analysis is an extensive yet ill-defined topic. It encompasses all aspects of how problems are identified, decisions are made, responses are implemented and outcomes are measured. Simply stated, policy analysis is the business of improving decision-making. Policy analysts are expected to understand the intricacies, complexity and political context of their topic areas. While developing viable alternatives to the status quo, they need to understand and be able to communicate the implications of their solutions. Often, they must provide cost-benefit analyses to their alternatives and then recommend a feasible course of action. As a core function of all governments, policy analysis also applies to any organization that establishes programs intended to resolve social, economic or environmental problems and can be undertaken by any member of the organization, whether internal or external to it.
Engineering: Making Hard Decisions Under Uncertainty
Published in John X. Wang, Decision Making Under Uncertainty, 2002
The typical use of systems analysis is to guide decisions on issues such as national or corporate plans and programs, resource use and protection policies, research and development in technology, regional and urban development, educational systems, and other social services. Clearly, the nature of these problems requires an interdisciplinary approach. There are several specific kinds or focuses of systems analysis for which different terms are used: a systems analysis related to public decisions is often referred to as a policy analysis. A systems analysis that concentrates on comparison and ranking of alternatives on basis of their known characteristics is referred to as decision analysis.
Water, Economics, and the Nature of Water Policy Issues
Published in Robert A. Young, John B. Loomis, Determining the Economic Value of Water, 2014
Robert A. Young, John B. Loomis
Formal policy analysis is, by definition, normative. Questions of ought or should reveal dissatisfaction with the current state of affairs, and identify a policy problem. Moreover, normative criteria are a necessary basis for identifying an “improved” policy. Policy analysis presupposes ethical principles that provide a standard of evaluation for existing and proposed policies. The normative branch of economics is called welfare economics. It combines value judgments regarding the nature of the desirable organization of society with positive studies of empirical economic regularities to develop policy recommendations.
Scientific integrity, public policy and water governance in the Murray-Darling Basin, Australia
Published in Australasian Journal of Water Resources, 2021
Matthew J. Colloff, R. Quentin Grafton, John Williams
This is a set of processes used to aid public policy problem solving and decision making (Daniell, Morton, and Rios Insua 2016). Activities include setting the agenda and establishing priorities; analysis to improve understanding of the issues, evaluation of alternative options and research to clarify facts and interests; policy decision making, based on analysis, a choice of options is specified and made; policy implementation, whereby resources and regulations for implementation are established and monitoring, evaluation and adaptation to determine whether implementation needs to be adapted (Daniell, Morton, and Rios Insua 2016, Figure 1 therein). The activities of policy analysis and policy analytics determine the roles available to scientists, including knowledge generation, policy evaluation, creating new and innovative policy options and advocating for them, as well as validating or refuting the underlying processes, assumptions and projections.
Policy factors explaining the failure of delegated management in water supply: evidence from Ghana
Published in Water International, 2019
Silas Mvulirwenande, Uta Wehn, Guy Alaerts
Policy analysis as a field of study focuses on understanding the process through which policy ideas on how to resolve social problems are turned into action (Birkland, 2010). A policy process is usually conceptualized as involving various interdependent steps which are cyclical in nature (Howlett & Ramesh, 2003; Moran, Rein, & Goodin, 2008). At present, there seems to be consensus in the policy research community on five major stages in the process: agenda setting – recognition of a problem that need to be addressed; policy formulation – proposal of several possible solutions to the problem; decision making – choice of the solution to be implemented; policy implementation – execution of the selected solution; and policy evaluation – assessing the results and impacts of the policy, which can lead to termination or adaptation of policy or associated programmes (Figure 1).
A review of emerging strategies for incorporating climate change considerations into infrastructure planning, design, and decision making
Published in Sustainable and Resilient Infrastructure, 2023
For decision making, actions and needs arise out of the policy analysis. Consideration of climate data/projections and the establishment of risk and performance-based approaches can play a vital role in updating policies and regulations for changing and uncertain conditions. Well informed selection of adaptation strategies can be supported by the development of guidelines and pathways for the implementation of alternative design paradigms (e.g., safe-to-fail, risk-based design, modular systems). There is also opportunity for advancing approaches for evaluating the timeliness of decisions, i.e., consideration of differences in costs and performance if infrastructure adaptation strategies are implemented before, during, or after disruptive events.