ABSTRACT
The importance of implementation to policy success or failure is intuitively obvious. It matters little that the government has a clear notion of what should be done if the agency charged with implementing the law lacks the ability to actually do it. The goal of implementation is to achieve official policy objectives, to translate the intent of a formally adopted policy into action. Though one of the most complex areas in policy studies, implementation is the rare policy field where definitional issues surrounding the core concept under study are relatively straightforward. From the perspective of higher-level officials or institutions, then, the key issue is how to get lower-level officials and institutions to act in a manner consistent with that intent. The story of implementation research across the four generations ranges from excitement about the possibility of breaking new intellectual ground, to maturity and a more sober assessment of the intellectual challenges.
