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Policy Cycle

Like astronomy (solar cycles), biochemistry (DNA sequences), or economics (Kondratiev cycles), political scientists also use cyclical reasoning. In the field of policy analysis, a cycle refers to the set of constituent phases of a policy. These elements follow one another according to an invariable order and recur in accordance with the renewal of public policies. The concept of policy cycle is an intellectual tool that constitutes neither a method nor a theory. This means that the choice of the theoretical point of view is crucial because it determines the form and the substance of policy cycles.

Features of Policy Cycles

From an ontological perspective, a policy cycle is made up of three complementary characteristics. First, it is linear in the sense that its different steps are chronologically consecutive. These stages act as categories that constitute the whole policy. They are jointly exhaustive and mutually exclusive. Their evolution is ruled by a relation of necessity and not by a causality effect. Second, a policy cycle is recurrent because it repeats itself when a policy is implemented. Thus, the end of a cycle is always the beginning of another cycle. This feedback capacity engenders the emergence of policy loops that are free from temporal and spatial contingencies. The analysis of policy cycles fits all types of public policies (social, industrial, etc.) irrespective of their context and allows these patterns to be compared by structural homology. Third, policy cycles have the same properties as fractals. Theoretically, the elements of a policy cycle can be infinitely divided into subelements. In practice, the only limit to this division lies in the analysis of the individual interests of the agents.

The policy cycle concept has three advantages. First of all, its linear feature imposes a certain order beyond the chaos of raw data. As it orders and organizes facts into hierarchies, it becomes a useful analytical tool. Second, recurrence facilitates the constitution of similar stages, which are the first step before elaborating unities of comparison. Finally, its fractal nature allows research to go beyond the conception of public policies as defined by the law. This sociological dimension allows the decision process black box to be opened. However, the qualities of the policy cycles model can also restrict analysis if they are considered from a rigid position. Actually, an excessively linear study can quickly become a teleological analysis. Indeed, a mechanistic vision of cycles introduces a metaphysical bias into the analysis. In the same way, the repetition of stages can create an illusion of homogeneity and overlook the specificity of local public policy implementation. Last, the division of cycles into stages and substages can favor the study of the form to the detriment of the substance by focusing on the structuring of the phases.

Related Concepts

Policy cycles are one of the first analytical tools of policy studies. Their nature is intimately connected to the context during which they emerged. Created in the 1950s in the United States by Harold D. Lasswell, policy cycles were durably influenced by the seminal works of the dominant functionalist and behaviorist authors of that time. This explains the universal vocation of the initial cyclical analysis. This innovation had great success in the academic community and led to an increase in cyclical analysis but also to a fragmentation of the original model. Some authors favored the openness of the cycle vis-à-vis the environment by integrating several peripheral agents at the risk of losing consistency, while others preferred considering a restrictive core of decisionmakers to keep more coherence to their work. Despite the vast quantity of literature regarding policy cycles, there is a relative consensus to consider the taxonomy of Charles O. Jones as the standard model. He divides a policy cycle into five phases: agenda setting, policy formulation, decision implementation, policy evaluation, and policy termination. This division is open to criticism. Nevertheless, it is relatively balanced and it permits the inclusion of nongovernmental actors in the agenda setting and implementation stages while maintaining sufficient coherence by limiting the study of governance processes through time and space.

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