ABSTRACT
The purpose of putting effort into good policy development processes is to ensure that as far as possible, good outcomes emerge. The empirical evidence is that commonly the policy process is initiated from within government. Policy environments are full of complexities, usually involving a diverse range of players coming from different perspectives and spawning a host of unexpected events. Experience shows that the normative sequence is easily disrupted. A common thread throughout the cases is the careful consideration given to the organisational structures within which much of the policy analysis occurred. The value of informal networks of key players at each stage in the policy development process has been noted in the literature and also appears in the following cases. Dalton makes this point well: Because people in organizations are involved in making policy, then the full range of organizational strategies are brought to bear. The chapter also presents an overview on the key concepts discussed in this book.
