ABSTRACT
This chapter starts by noting how a very distinct ive vein of ‘imple ment a tion’ studies developed towards the end of the twen ti eth century. It goes on to explore briefly how that work was concerned to make a clear distinc tion between policy formu la tion and imple ment a tion, and suggests that this is now a source of diffi culties. This leads natur ally into a consid er a tion of the ‘top down’ studies that partic u larly emphas ised that distinc tion. It is followed by an expos i tion of the ‘bottom up’ eval u ation of these studies. The next section, headed ‘Beyond the top down/bottom up debate’, provides an approach which then domin ates the rest of the chapter. It suggests a need for an aware ness that there is a complex mix of issues to be under stood about the differ ent ways actual policies are developed, about how they may best be studied, and about the norm at ive argu ments about who should be in charge which often domin ate (and obscure) discus sions about imple ment a tion. Subsequent sections then high light issues about vari ations in the ‘policy rule frame work’ and about ‘vari ations in the admin is trat ive system’.
