Why policies succeed or fail: the importance of 'policy consonance'
This article takes stock of the literature on policy success and policy failure. The huge amount of studies on the subject does not provide a clear and agreed answer to the question: what determines the success or failure of a policy?The paper attempts to answer this question by introducing the anal...
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| Udgivet i: | URI:https://journals.openedition.org/irpp, |
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| Hovedforfatter: | |
| Format: | Article ou chapitre numérique |
| Sprog: | Anglais |
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International Review of Public Policy
2025
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| Online adgang: | Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM |
| Summary: | This article takes stock of the literature on policy success and policy failure. The huge amount of studies on the subject does not provide a clear and agreed answer to the question: what determines the success or failure of a policy?The paper attempts to answer this question by introducing the analytical scheme of the 'policy pentagram'. The proposed framework conceives of public policies as consisting of five basic components: 1) policy goals; 2) policy instruments; 3) the organizational structure in charge of implementation; 4) the recipients of the policy; 5) policy communication.For a policy to be successful, there must be 'consonance' between its five components. Consonance does not indicate generic compatibility or the absence of contradictory elements: it indicates synergy and a high degree of complementarity between policy components, which thus end up mutually reinforcing each other. To show the practical usefulness of the policy pentagram framework, a concrete example is given: the experience of the Bologna breast milk bank. |
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