ABSTRACT
The ocean policies and programs of governments deal with an enormously complex world where information is tentative and incomplete and yet is frequently so abundant as to overwhelm policy-makers. These policies and programs are the result of highly political policy-making processes involving numerous individuals with varying and conflicting interests. The modeling-through version of ocean policy-making processes is the one likely to be of greatest interest in the near future. Various management science analysis techniques are used in a modeling-through process, and the results of the problem-specific studies are used in a partisan manner. In comprehensive-integrating processes, the same management science analysis techniques are utilized to examine specific substantive problems as in a modeling-through process. In comprehensive-integrating processes there are structural differences in action channels which are aimed at systematically integrating the information and decision flows throughout the policy-making process. The unitary-rational-actor policy-making process ignores complexity resulting from levels of action, a plurality of policy-makers, and decomposition into subsystems and issue areas.
