ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the political and organizational contexts in which decisions are made regarding the choice of one or more instruments to address a condition presuming to require a policy response. It discusses two central themes. First, there is the matter of how the policy problem is understood and what resolution is desired. The definition of the situation as well as the presumed remediation or resolution shape the political and institutional options available to the policymaker. A causal analysis is essential to the selection of a policy instrument. Stated differently, what is the context in which the policymaker strives to pick the right instrument in the hope of achieving the desired effect. The second theme is that of the context for implementation. Once a policy instrument is selected, there is the matter of it being operationalized. The likelihood of successful implementation (or not) of a selected instrument plays back into the original selection process.
