PUBLIC POLICY MANAGEMENT AS A DEVELOPMENT TOOL 1

Public Policy Management as a Development Tool: A Case Study of Europe

Okino Aloysius Adeiza

Doctorate Degree Application Research Proposal

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Abstract

The significance of public policy for national security, stability and development is an

established fact. Further, existing evidence has identified poor governance as the main hindrance

to development especially poverty eradication, thus reinforcing the need for effective and

efficient public policy management practices. However, even as states across the world have

embraced this key role of public policies, scholarship and research efforts have primarily focused

their attention on answering questions of policy effectiveness and success or understand how

state machinery and political actors interact to engender public actions. The proposed research

seeks to address this knowledge gap by documenting how public policy management can be used

as a tool for driving development by using Europe as a case study.

Research Title

Public Policy Management as a Development Tool: A Case Study of Europe

Background

As the 2015 target date of the Millennium Development Goals approaches, a renewed

interest has emerged in the challenges experienced by countries in the struggles against global

poverty. The 2014 United Nations Millennium Development Goals Report states that significant

progress has been made by nations around the world towards the accomplishment of these goals,

especially in the reduction of global poverty rates (United Nations, 2014). Leading organizations

such as the UN and the World Bank have cited the role of additional aid resources in hastening

the speed of development and accomplishment of the MDGs. However, beyond the amount of

development spending, an increased focus has shifted to quality issues, primarily the significance
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of effective use of resources. Scholars in political and social science contend that the process of

achieving the MDGs has been hugely encumbered by poor governance characterized by

widespread inefficiency, wrong-headed priorities, poor economic policy choices and absolute

corruption. Specifically, scholars argue that enhancing the efficiency of public spending on

social objectives is crucial to the development process especially in developing nations.

According to Ody et al. (2006), the public sector in most developing countries cannot relied upon

to transform itself in isolation. Rather, it requires a critical stimulus in the form of informed

domestic public opinion (Ody, Griffin, Ferranti, Jacinto, & Warren, 2006). Public policy

management offers a solution to this problem.

Problem Statement

A large portion of scholarship in the area of public policy, has been dedicated to

addressing two key issues: (i) the elements that affect successful legislative policy adoption; and

(ii) the issues that impact policy outcomes (Hicklin & Godwin, 2009). Notably, an examination

of existing policy theory shows that the large portion of the focus is mainly placed on the first

issue to explain policy adoption and change. Fundamentally, existing policy theories that

explicate the policy process are exclusively dedicated to design and implementation of policy

instruments, based on assumptions regarding policy implementation and effectiveness. Arguably,

extant scholarship and literature regarding policy design and adoption has made significant

progress in the comprehension of the role played by values, information, and institutional politics

on the successful implementation of certain policy instruments. Inherent in these efforts is the

hypothesis that policy actors are more concerned with the implementation of certain policy

instrument, because the espousal of that specific policy will engender policy outcomes that will

maximize the intended goal (Sapru, 2011).

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However, policy scholarship has ignored to a large extent the role public policy

management plays in development. This is evidenced by the fact that a cursory search of all

available literature on the subject of public policy management reveals no articles that

exclusively enumerate the effectiveness of public policy as the driving tool for development.

This gap in knowledge is attributable to the fact that policy scholars are almost exclusively

occupied with the link between policy implementation and policy outcomes and leave such

questions as the effects of policy management to formal theorists, policy economist or scholars

in public administration. Notably, the policy research community is mostly concerned with

answering questions of policy effectiveness and success or understand how state machinery and

political actors interact to engender public actions (Basheka, Namara, & Karyeija, 2012). The

proposed research seeks to address this knowledge gap by documenting how public policy

management can be used as a tool for driving development.

Research questions

The pivotal point of this research is to determine how public policy management acts as a

tool for driving development. Accordingly, the research will be guided by the following research

questions:

(i) What is the contribution of public policy management to the development process?

(ii) In what ways has public policy management as a process facilitated societal

transformation?

(iii) How does public policy management contribute to the creation and implementation of

desirable outcomes?

Literature Review
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Political and institution arrangements in a state are the most critical elements of a well-

functioning government. Where they are well managed and instituted, these elements can help

state develop trust among its citizens. Indeed, as mentioned before, extant literature has shown

that citizens in nations across the world have lost trust and confidence in the public sector

(Basheka, Namara, & Karyeija, 2012). In the modern society, trust in systems and institutions

has become increasingly precarious and because government business is founded on policy

formulation and adoption, the decline of trust in the public sector is understood to infer the

failure of the state in public policy management. This decline of trust and supposed failed

governance has been pinpointed as the leading cause for slowed progress in the achievement of

the MDGs, especially, poverty eradication. Blaug, Horner and Lekhi (2006) state that public

policies are central to driving accelerated and sustained productivity growth in developing

nations. However, this is only possible if the policies created are effective and achieve their

intended outcomes (Blaug, Horner, & Lekhi, 2006). As mentioned in the introduction, public

policy management can be useful in restoring trust in the public sector and subsequently,

facilitate the development process

Sapru (2011) opines that public policy management is concerned with managing the

policy formulation and implementation process to guarantee that it generates high quality and

efficient policies (Sapru, 2011). Lynn (1987) in the book Managing Public Policy states that

public policy management is typically “the outcome of executive effort aimed at affecting

governmental outcomes by influencing the processes that formulate and execute government

activity” (Lynn, 1987, p. 19). According to Pollitt (2013) through public policy management

governments can successfully implement reforms in the public sector that are aimed at increased

effectiveness, efficiency and value for money to satisfy the needs of constituents in a
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progressively uncertain, complex and unpredictable world (Pollitt, 2013). Through public policy

management strategies, both government and non-government actors can influence the

formulation of sound and effective public policies as well as regulatory and legislative practices.

In this way, public policy management supports the creation of democratic, collaborative

environments that are vital for the development process of any country.

Methodology

To achieve the research objectives, the current research will adopt a qualitative research

design. The decision to use a qualitative research design is informed and influenced by the nature

of the research question. According to Creswell (2014), a qualitative research approach is

concerned with developing meaning and explanations for social phenomena. Qualitative research

is often focused on the quality and the consistency of experience, instead of the documentation of

the cause-effect relationships, among phenomena (Creswell, 2014). The qualitative data and its

analysis provide an exhaustive exploration of the views of participants for an in-depth

understanding of the research problem (Creswell, 2014).

In its methodology, the study will use the case study approach which is mainly concerned

with describing or interpreting conditions, events situations or circumstances occurring in the

present. Case studies are used to interact with and report on the complexities of social activity so

as to develop an understanding of phenomena in social settings. Essentially, case studies entail a

contextual examination of phenomena and their relationships.

The researcher will use Europe as a case study mainly because of the significant progress

that has been made in the public sector in Europe, in the last three decades. According to Pollitt

and Bouckaert (2011), over the last thirty years, the public policy landscape in Europe has been

centered on public sector reforms. Essentially, governments in Europe have adopted a range of
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initiatives aimed at improving the management of public institutions so as to enhance the

effectiveness and efficiency with which crucial public services are provided (Pollitt &

Bouckaert, 2011). Additionally, public organizations all over Europe have been the subject of

extensive management reforms and are increasingly expected to develop and implement various

strategies that enable them to respond efficiently to intractable and complex social problems

(Andrews, Downe, Guarneros-Meza, Jilke, & Van de Walle, 2013). In light of all these efforts

and the significant progress made in public policy management, Europe qualifies as an

appropriate case study for determining how public policy management can be used as a tool for

development.
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References

Andrews, R., Downe, J., Guarneros-Meza, V., Jilke, S., & Van de Walle, S. (2013). Public

Management Reforms and Emerging Trends and Effects on Social Cohesion In Europe.

Cardiff: Coordinating for Cohesion in the Public Sector of the Future (CCOPS) Project.

Basheka, B., Namara, R., & Karyeija, G. (2012). What Constrains Efective Public Policy

Management in Uganda? International Journal of Policy Studies, 3(1), 1-18.

Blaug, R., Horner, L., & Lekhi, R. (2006). Public value, politics and public management: A

Literature Review. London: The Work Foundation.

Creswell, J. W. (2014). Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods

Approaches. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.

Hicklin, A., & Godwin, E. (2009). Agents of Change: The Role of Public Managers in Public

Policy. The Policy Studies Journal, 37(1), 13-20.

Lynn, L. (1987). Managing Public Policy. Boston, MA: Little Brown.

Ody, A., Griffin, C., Ferranti, D., Jacinto, J., & Warren, N. (2006). Enhancing Development

through Better Use of Public Resources: How Independent Watchdog Groups Can Help.

Brookings Policy Brief Series, #157.

Pollitt, C. (2013). Context in Public Policy and Management: The Missing Link? Northampton,

MA: Edward Elgar Publishing.

Pollitt, C., & Bouckaert, G. (2011). Public management reform: A comparative analysis - New

Public Management, governance, and the Neo-Weberian state. Oxford: Oxford

University Press.
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Sapru, R. (2011). Public Policy: Art and Craft Of Policy Analysis. New Delhi : PHI Learning

Pvt. Ltd.

United Nations. (2014). Millennium Development Goals Report 2014. New York: United

Nations.