Understanding Policy Decisions

The point of departure of the analysis is the recognition that major policy change is extremely difficult. However from time to time this actually happens and therefore it seems necessary to understand when and how this is possible. After a short excursus on the special characteristics of contemporary public policies, four different theoretical models of how decisions are taken are presented and discussed. The conclusion is the definition of a conceptual framework specifying which are the variables that influence policy outcomes and in particular the possibility to adopt non-marginal policy change.

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Authors and Affiliations

1. Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy Bruno Dente

1. Bruno Dente