Which of the following are features of Lindblom's method of successive limited comparisons? Select all that apply.

The test of a good policy is agreement on it among analysts and actors

Every possible consequence of every alternative is analysed

Values are fully clarified before any alternatives are examined

Assertion (A): Dror held that incrementalism is unsuited to societies seeking rapid development. Reason (R): Incrementalism is valid only when present policies are satisfactory, problems are continuous and means are stable — conditions such societies usually lack. Choose the correct option.

Both A and R are true, and R is the correct explanation of A

Both A and R are true, but R is not the correct explanation of A

Dror's normative-optimum model is distinctive because it:

Combines rational analysis with extra-rational elements such as intuition and judgement

Treats policy as the outcome of a "garbage can" of problems and solutions

Confines policy-making to small changes from the status quo

Combines rational analysis with extra-rational elements such as intuition and judgement

Rejects all rational analysis in favour of bargaining

Thomas Dye defined public policy as:

Whatever governments choose to do or not to do

The authoritative allocation of values for the whole society

Whatever governments choose to do or not to do

A purposive course of action followed by actors in dealing with a problem

A projected programme of goals, values and practices

In Dror's model, "metapolicymaking" refers to:

Policy about how policy is made — designing and improving the policy-making system itself

The implementation of policy by field agencies

Bargaining among interest groups over a single decision

Evaluation of a policy after it has ended

Policy about how policy is made — designing and improving the policy-making system itself

The phenomenological approach to public policy emphasises:

The meanings actors give to policies and the social construction of policy problems

Maximising economic efficiency through cost–benefit analysis

The sequence of stages from agenda to termination

Strict separation of facts from values and quantitative testing

Public Policy I: Nature, Scope and Importance; the Evolution of Public Policy and the Policy Sciences; Process, Positivist, Phenomenological, Participatory and Normative Approaches; the Models of Lasswell, Lindblom and Dror

Unit VIII opens: "Public Policy: Nature, Scope and Importance of Public Policy; Evolution of Public Policy and Policy Sciences; Public Policy and Public Administration. Approaches to Public Policy – Process Approach, Logical Positivism, Phenomenological Approach, Participatory and Normative Approaches. Theories and Models of Policy Making – Harold Lasswell, Charles Lindblom, Yehezkel Dror." The syllabus names three theorists, and they form an argument: Lasswell founded the policy sciences as a problem-oriented, multidisciplinary enterprise; Lindblom answered that real policy-making cannot be comprehensive and "muddles through" by small steps; Dror replied that muddling through is a recipe for inertia and proposed a normative-optimum model combining rational analysis with judgement. This chapter sets out the whole exchange and the approaches it sits within; the next takes institutions, analysis, implementation and constraints.

1. Nature, scope and importance; public policy and public administration

Classic definitions
Author	Definition of public policy
Thomas R. Dye	"Whatever governments choose to do or not to do" — so that inaction is also policy
David Easton	"The authoritative allocation of values for the whole society"
James E. Anderson	"A relatively stable, purposive course of action followed by an actor or set of actors in dealing with a problem or matter of concern"
Harold Lasswell and Abraham Kaplan	"A projected programme of goals, values and practices"
Carl J. Friedrich	A proposed course of action of a person, group or government within a given environment, providing obstacles and opportunities, to achieve a goal

Public policy is therefore goal-directed, made by authoritative public actors, a course of action rather than a single decision, and it can be positive (action) or negative (a deliberate decision not to act). Its scope covers substantive areas (economic, social, environmental, foreign, defence policy) and types — Theodore Lowi's distributive, regulatory and redistributive policies (later adding constituent policy), each with its own politics. Its importance lies in its being the link between the state's goals and citizens' lives. Public policy and public administration are intertwined: administration shapes policy through advice, data and discretion, and policy defines administration's tasks — which is why the old politics–administration dichotomy (Unit I) collapses precisely at the point of policy.

2. The evolution of public policy and the policy sciences

Harold D. Lasswell is regarded as the founder of the policy sciences. In "The Policy Orientation", his chapter in Daniel Lerner and Lasswell (eds.), The Policy Sciences (1951), he called for a new, applied discipline to supply the knowledge needed for decisions in a democracy — the "policy sciences of democracy", devoted to human dignity. He gave it four defining characteristics: it is problem-oriented (addressing real public problems rather than disciplinary puzzles), multidisciplinary (drawing on political science, economics, sociology, psychology, law), contextual (sensitive to time, place and the social process) and explicitly normative (concerned with values). He distinguished knowledge of the policy process from knowledge in the policy process, and his A Pre-View of Policy Sciences (1971) restated the programme.

The field grew in stages: the post-war demand for expertise and systems analysis (RAND); the "policy analysis" movement of the 1960s with PPBS and cost–benefit methods; the "discovery" of implementation failure in the 1970s; the rise of evaluation and evidence-based policy; and since the 1990s, attention to governance networks, deliberation and policy design. Yehezkel Dror, the Israeli scholar, built on Lasswell in Public Policymaking Reexamined (1968), Design for Policy Sciences (1971) and Ventures in Policy Sciences (1971), arguing for metapolicy — policy about how policy is made — and for improving the policy-making system itself.

3. Approaches: process, logical positivism, phenomenological, participatory and normative

Five approaches named in the syllabus
Approach	Core idea	Associated with	Criticism
Process (stages) approach	Policy as a sequence of stages — agenda setting, formulation, adoption, implementation, evaluation, termination	Lasswell's seven functions of the decision process; James Anderson; Charles Jones	A useful heuristic but not a causal theory; real policy-making is not neatly sequential
Logical positivism	Separate facts from values; test hypotheses empirically; use quantitative, "rational" analysis — cost–benefit, operations research, econometrics	The Vienna Circle; in administration, Simon's fact–value distinction	Values cannot be kept out; technocratic; neglects meaning and power
Phenomenological (post-positivist, interpretive)	Policy problems are socially constructed; understand the meanings actors give to policies, through interpretation and qualitative study	Edmund Husserl and Alfred Schutz; interpretive policy analysis (Dvora Yanow; Frank Fischer's argumentative turn)	Relativism; difficulty of generalising
Participatory	Citizens and stakeholders take part in defining problems and choosing solutions; deliberative democracy	Sherry Arnstein's "ladder of citizen participation" (1969); participatory planning and social audit	Slow; risk of capture by the articulate; tokenism
Normative	Ask what policy ought to achieve — justice, equity, rights, the public interest — and evaluate policy against ethical standards	Rawls's theory of justice; Lasswell's "policy sciences of democracy"; Dror's normative-optimum model	Disagreement over which values should prevail

Arnstein's ladder has eight rungs in three groups: non-participation (1 manipulation, 2 therapy), tokenism (3 informing, 4 consultation, 5 placation) and citizen power (6 partnership, 7 delegated power, 8 citizen control). It is the standard yardstick for asking whether a "participatory" exercise gives citizens real influence or only the appearance of it.

4. Theories and models of policy-making: Lasswell, Lindblom and Dror

Lasswell's decision process divides policy-making into seven functions: intelligence (gathering and processing information), promotion or recommendation (advocacy of alternatives), prescription (enactment of general rules), invocation (provisional characterisation of conduct under the rules), application (final characterisation and enforcement), appraisal (evaluation of success and failure) and termination (ending or modifying the rules). This scheme is the ancestor of every stages model since.

Charles E. Lindblom's "The Science of 'Muddling Through'" (Public Administration Review, 1959) contrasted two methods. The rational-comprehensive or "root" method clarifies values first, then surveys all alternatives, analyses all their consequences and chooses the one that maximises the values — impossible in practice because of limited information, time and intellectual capacity, and because values cannot be agreed in advance. The successive limited comparisons or "branch" method, which is how administrators actually work, intertwines the choice of values and the analysis of action; considers only a few alternatives that differ incrementally from existing policy; tests a "good" policy by agreement on it rather than by its fit with an objective; and proceeds by a succession of small steps that allow errors to be corrected. With David Braybrooke, in A Strategy of Decision (1963), he named this disjointed incrementalism; in The Intelligence of Democracy (1965) he argued that partisan mutual adjustment among many actors produces coordination without a central coordinator; and in "Still Muddling, Not Yet Through" (1979) he defended the argument against its critics.

Yehezkel Dror's critique, "Muddling Through — 'Science' or Inertia?" (Public Administration Review, 1964), argued that incrementalism is valid only under three conditions: that the results of present policies are satisfactory, that the nature of the problems is fairly continuous, and that the means available are stable. Where these fail — in developing countries seeking rapid change, or in crises — incrementalism becomes an ideology of inertia and conservatism that reinforces the status quo. Dror's alternative, set out in Public Policymaking Reexamined (1968), is the normative-optimum model: it combines rational analysis with extra-rational elements — intuition, judgement, creativity and tacit knowledge — which are legitimate parts of good policy-making; it seeks to optimise rather than merely satisfice; it is normative in prescribing how the policy-making system should work; and it emphasises metapolicymaking and feedback. He laid out eighteen phases in three stages: metapolicymaking (policy on policy-making: processing values and reality, identifying problems, designing and allocating resources to the policy system), policymaking (sub-allocating resources, establishing operational goals and values, preparing and evaluating alternatives, choosing the best), and post-policymaking (motivating execution, executing, evaluating), all connected by feedback.

Three models compared
Dimension	Rational-comprehensive	Incremental (Lindblom)	Normative-optimum (Dror)
Alternatives considered	All	A few, close to the status quo	A creative range, including radical ones
Role of values	Clarified first, then means chosen	Intertwined with analysis	Explicit, processed in metapolicy
Test of a good policy	Maximises the objective	Agreement among actors	Optimal, using rational and extra-rational judgement
Best suited to	Simple, well-defined problems	Stable pluralist democracies	Societies seeking deliberate change; crises
Main criticism	Impossible information demands	Conservative, inertia (Dror)	Vague about extra-rationality; demanding

⚠️ Who wrote the critique, and who proposed mixed scanning?

"Muddling through" is Lindblom's phrase for his own method (1959); the critique "Muddling Through — 'Science' or Inertia?" is Dror's (1964). A third position, mixed scanning, is Amitai Etzioni's (1967): a broad scan of the field for fundamental decisions combined with detailed incremental examination of selected areas — a middle way between the rational and incremental models. Questions often swap these three.

Key takeaways

Dye: policy is "whatever governments choose to do or not to do"; Easton: "the authoritative allocation of values"; Lowi: distributive, regulatory and redistributive policies.
Lasswell founded the policy sciences (1951): problem-oriented, multidisciplinary, contextual and normative — the "policy sciences of democracy".
The approaches are process, logical positivism, phenomenological, participatory (Arnstein's eight-rung ladder) and normative.
Lindblom (1959) replaced the rational "root" method with incremental "branch" comparisons judged by agreement; later, disjointed incrementalism and partisan mutual adjustment.
Dror (1964) called muddling through a recipe for inertia and proposed the normative-optimum model (1968), combining rational and extra-rational judgement across eighteen phases with metapolicymaking and feedback.

Practice questions (10)

Attempt each one before opening the answer. Every explanation names the tempting wrong option as well as the right one, because that is where marks are lost.

Who is regarded as the founder of the policy sciences?
1. Thomas Dye
2. Harold Lasswell
3. Amitai Etzioni
4. Charles Lindblom
Show answer
Answer: B — Harold Lasswell
Lasswell's "The Policy Orientation" (1951) launched the policy sciences as a problem-oriented, multidisciplinary, contextual and normative enterprise. Lindblom and Etzioni offered models of decision-making; Dye a famous definition.
"Muddling Through — 'Science' or Inertia?" (1964), which argued that incrementalism reinforces the status quo, was written by:
1. Yehezkel Dror
2. Amitai Etzioni
3. Charles Lindblom
4. Aaron Wildavsky
Show answer
Answer: A — Yehezkel Dror
Dror wrote the critique; Lindblom coined "muddling through" for his own incremental method in 1959; Etzioni proposed mixed scanning in 1967.
Which of the following are features of Lindblom's method of successive limited comparisons? Select all that apply.
1. The test of a good policy is agreement on it among analysts and actors
2. Every possible consequence of every alternative is analysed
3. Values are fully clarified before any alternatives are examined
4. Only alternatives that differ incrementally from existing policy are considered
Show answer
Answer: A — The test of a good policy is agreement on it among analysts and actors; D — Only alternatives that differ incrementally from existing policy are considered
The branch method considers incremental alternatives and judges policy by agreement. Clarifying values first and analysing every consequence are features of the rational-comprehensive root method that Lindblom rejected.
Assertion (A): Dror held that incrementalism is unsuited to societies seeking rapid development. Reason (R): Incrementalism is valid only when present policies are satisfactory, problems are continuous and means are stable — conditions such societies usually lack. Choose the correct option.
1. Both A and R are true, and R is the correct explanation of A
2. Both A and R are true, but R is not the correct explanation of A
3. A is true, but R is false
4. A is false, but R is true
Show answer
Answer: A — Both A and R are true, and R is the correct explanation of A
Both are true and R explains A: because Dror's three conditions for incrementalism rarely hold where rapid change is sought, he regarded muddling through there as a recipe for inertia.
How many rungs does Sherry Arnstein's ladder of citizen participation have? Type a number.
Numerical answer — type the value.
Show answer
Answer: 8
Arnstein's ladder (1969) has eight rungs grouped as non-participation (manipulation, therapy), tokenism (informing, consultation, placation) and citizen power (partnership, delegated power, citizen control).
Dror's normative-optimum model is distinctive because it:
1. Treats policy as the outcome of a "garbage can" of problems and solutions
2. Confines policy-making to small changes from the status quo
3. Combines rational analysis with extra-rational elements such as intuition and judgement
4. Rejects all rational analysis in favour of bargaining
Show answer
Answer: C — Combines rational analysis with extra-rational elements such as intuition and judgement
Dror treats intuition, judgement and creativity as legitimate parts of optimal policy-making alongside rational analysis. Bargaining and small changes describe incrementalism; the garbage-can model is Cohen, March and Olsen's.
Thomas Dye defined public policy as:
1. The authoritative allocation of values for the whole society
2. Whatever governments choose to do or not to do
3. A purposive course of action followed by actors in dealing with a problem
4. A projected programme of goals, values and practices
Show answer
Answer: B — Whatever governments choose to do or not to do
Dye's definition includes deliberate inaction. The second is Easton's, the third Lasswell and Kaplan's, the fourth Anderson's.
Which of the following are among Lasswell's seven functions of the decision process? Select all that apply.
1. Intelligence
2. Appraisal
3. Invocation
4. Satisficing
Show answer
Answer: A — Intelligence; B — Appraisal; C — Invocation
Lasswell's seven are intelligence, promotion, prescription, invocation, application, appraisal and termination. Satisficing is Simon's concept.
In Dror's model, "metapolicymaking" refers to:
1. The implementation of policy by field agencies
2. Bargaining among interest groups over a single decision
3. Evaluation of a policy after it has ended
4. Policy about how policy is made — designing and improving the policy-making system itself
Show answer
Answer: D — Policy about how policy is made — designing and improving the policy-making system itself
Metapolicymaking is the first of Dror's three stages: processing values and reality, identifying problems, and designing and resourcing the policy system. Implementation and evaluation belong to the post-policymaking stage.
The phenomenological approach to public policy emphasises:
1. The meanings actors give to policies and the social construction of policy problems
2. Maximising economic efficiency through cost–benefit analysis
3. The sequence of stages from agenda to termination
4. Strict separation of facts from values and quantitative testing
Show answer
Answer: A — The meanings actors give to policies and the social construction of policy problems
The phenomenological, interpretive approach studies how problems are constructed and understood. Fact–value separation and quantitative testing are logical positivism; the stage sequence is the process approach.