Does the policy cycle reflect the policymaking approach in Ghana?

• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/pa.2078
• Date: 01 August 2020
• Published date: 01 August 2020
• Author: Abdulai Kuyini Mohammed

ACADEMIC PAPER

Does the policy cycle reflect the policymaking approach

in Ghana?

Abdulai Kuyini Mohammed

Department of Political Science, University of

Ghana, Accra, Ghana

Correspondence

Abdulai Kuyini Mohammed, Department of

Political Science, University of Ghana, Legon,

Accra, P. O. Box LG 64, Ghana.

Email: zaayura@hotmail.com; mkabdulai@ug.

edu.gh

Based on two cases involving 60 interviews and secondary evidence, this paper

investigated whether Ghana's policymaking approach accorded with the policy cycle.

The evidence showed that the Ghana industrial policy was largely compliant with the

model. But the free senior high school policy bore little resemblance to it. Factors

that determined whether or not policymaking followed the policy cycle included the

salience of the issue, the sponsor of the issue, the political environment at the time,

and the timing of the introduction of the issue. Four conclusions can be drawn from

the Ghanaian evidence. First, the rough edges of the policy cycle can be trimmed and

applied as a best fit model rather than a best practice model in any jurisdiction. Sec-

ond, the policy cycle like other policy process theories should not be written off as

inappropriate or inefficacious simply because practice failed to adhere to one or two

out of the several elements of the theory. Third, an integrated policy process model

is likely to be more efficacious than a single one, but there is inattention to such an

idea. Finally, drawing lessons from policy process theories is a neglected area, which

needs to be emphasized.

1|INTRODUCTION

Public policy refers to “a series of intentionally coherent decisions

or activities taken or carried out by different public and sometimes

private actors…with a view to resolving in a targeted manner a prob-

lem that is politically defined as collective in nature”(Dupius &

Knoepfel, 2013: 24). Policy scholars assert that public policy is best

conceivedintermsofaprocess(Bridgman&Davis,2004;Howlett&

Ramesh, 2003). This is because policy decisions are not “something

confined to one level of organization at the top, or at one stage at

the outset, but rather something fluid and ever changing”(Gilliat,

1984, p. 345). Weible and colleagues agree, explicating that the pol-

icy process is the study of change and development of policy and

the related actors, events, and contexts (Weible, Heikklia, & deLeon,

2012). This process involves negotiation, bargaining, and accommo-

dation of many different interests, which eventually give it a politi-

cal flavor. These political interactions happen within a network

through which decisions flow, programs are formulated and

implemented, and interorganizational dependencies and interactions

take place. Thus, policymaking is not a simple but rather a complex

dynamic process involving series of actions and inactions of varie-

ties of groups with varieties of interests at different stages

(Rashid, 2014).

Due to the complex and dynamic nature of policymaking and the

amount of uncertainty involved in its development, many scholars and

practitioners have recommended that public policy should be studied

to better understand its various aspects, that is, the input and output

of policy, as well as the players and factors involved in its making. The

pursuit of these recommendations have resulted in the development

of various analytical models, approaches, and concepts, which could

be used to explain the policymaking process or the results or out-

comes of policies. These theories and models are necessary and useful

in guiding policy analysis, in helping to clarify and direct our inquiry

into policymaking, in facilitating communication, and in suggesting

possible explanations for policy actions (Bridgman & Davis, 2004;

Nowlin, 2011; Sabatier, 2007). To successfully make policy, we need

some guidelines, some criteria of relevance to focus our efforts and to

prevent aimless search through seemingly infinite volume of data. Pol-

icy concepts and theories give direction to our inquiry (Bridgman &

Davis, 2004).

Received: 3 September 2019 Revised: 21 November 2019 Accepted: 30 December 2019

DOI: 10.1002/pa.2078

J Public Affairs. 2020;20:e2078. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/pa © 2020 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd 1of15

https://doi.org/10.1002/pa.2078