ABSTRACT
Implementation makes a policy happen; it gives a policy life. Policy formulation and adoption are necessary precursors, but implementation adds sufficiency. That may seem easy enough but several decades of research on policy implementation have demonstrated the complexity of putting policies into action. Few policies are self-implementing; most require concerted, coordinated action by actors other than those who adopted the policy. Implementation may stall, it may be diverted or subverted by implementors with conflicting interests, it may attenuate due to insufficient resources, or it may encounter any number of pitfalls. A flawed implementation process makes the accomplishment of policy objectives all the more difficult. Since the early 1970s, researchers have sought answers to a fundamental question: What makes implementation successful?
