Abstract
This chapter argues that the problems experienced during implementation and operation are in large part due to failings in legislature, discussing the role of ‘next-steps’ agencies, and how they moved the lines of accountability. It argues that the use of ‘next-steps’ agencies distorted our understanding and appreciation of the failure that took place when the Child Support Agency was in operation. The chapter then provides the conceptual background to this study’s approach to implementation and its relationship to policy formation and policy failure. The chapter is brief, this is because it argues that what have typically been argued to be implementation concerns, such as those raised within the idea of ‘perfect implementation’, should be seen as stemming from problems at other stages in the policy process. The chapter argues that instead of using the idea of ‘perfect implementation’, the criteria of ‘perfect legislation’ should be pursued.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
Whilst it was not possible to include all influential scholars due to the confines of this chapter, other scholars not discussed have been considered when developing our understanding and approach to implementation studies.
- 2.
- 3.
It should be noted that alongside the contribution made by Hogwood and Gunn (1984), there was significant contribution made by other scholars, such as Van Meter and Van Horn (1975), Sabatier and Mazmanian (1979, 1983), Mazmanian and Sabatier (1981), Hood (1976), Derthick (1972). Some significant scholars have been left out of our analysis in order to prevent an extensive account of the plethora of writings, yet their significance should be noted.
- 4.
This is similar in approach to Weber’s construction of an ideal-type model of bureaucracy, published after his death in his seminal piece Economy and Society (1922).
- 5.
Which as deLeon states, are often ‘lumped under the heading ‘top-down’ perspectives’ (1998, 316).
References
Bardach, E. (1977). The Implementation Game: What Happens After a Bill Becomes a Law. Cambridge: MIT Press.
Barrett, S. M., & Fudge, C. (Eds.). (1981). Policy and Action: Essays on the Implementation of Public Policy. London: Methuen.
Berman, P. (1978). The Study of Macro and Micro Implementation of Social Policy. Santa Monica, CA: Rand.
Deleon, P. (1998). Democracy’s Discontent: America in Search of a Public Philosophy. Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 16(2), 315–317.
Derthick, M. (1972). New Towns In-Town: Why a Federal Programme Failed. Washington, DC: Urban Institute.
Dorey, P. (2005). Policy Making in Britain: An Introduction. London: Sage.
Dunsire, A. (1978a). Implementation in a Bureaucracy. New York: St Martin’s Press.
Dunsire, A. (1978b). Control in a Bureaucracy. New York: St Martin’s Press.
Dunsire, A. (1995). Administrative Theory in the 1980s: A Viewpoint. Public Administration, 73(1), 17–40.
Elmore, R. F. (1980). Backward Mapping. Implementation Research and Policy Decisions. Political Science Quarterly, 94, 601–616.
Elmore, R. F. (1982). Backward Mapping: Implementation Research and Policy Decisions. In W. L. Williams (Ed.), Studying Implementation. Methodological and Administrative Issues. Chatham, NJ: Chatham Publishing.
Ferman, B. (1990). Implementation and the Policy Process: Opening up the Black Box. California: Greenwood Press.
Goggin, M. L, Bomen, A. O’M., Leicester, J. P., & O’Toole, L. J. (1990). Implementation Theory and Practise: Toward a Third Generation. Glen View: Scott Foresman/Little, Brown.
Gunn, L. (1978). Why Is Implementation so Difficult? Management Services in Government, 33(4), 169–176.
Hargrove, E. C. (1975). The Missing-Link: The Study of the Implementation of Social Policy. Washington: The Urban Institute.
Hargrove, E. C. (1983). The Search for Implmentation Theory. In Zeckhanser, R. J., & Leebaert, D. (Eds.), What Role for Government? Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
Harlow, C. (1999). Accountancy, New Public Management and the Problems of the Child Support Agency. Journal of Law and Society, 26(2), 150–174.
Hill, M., & Hupe, P. (2009). Implementing Public Policy (2nd ed.). London: Sage.
Hjern, B. (1982). Implementing Research: The Link Gone Missing. Journal of Public Policy, 1(3), 301–308.
Hjern, B., & Hull, C. (1982). Implementing Research as Empirical Constitutionalism. In B. Hjern & C. Hull (Eds.), Implementation Beyond Hierarchy. Amsterdam: Elsevier [Special issue of European Journal of Political Research], pp. 105–115.
Hjern, B., & Porter, D. O. (1981). Implementation Structures: A New Unit of Administrative Analysis. Organization Studies, 2(3), 211–227.
Hogwood, B. W. (1987). From Crisis to Compliancy? Shaping Public Policy in Britain. London: Oxford University Press.
Hogwood, B. W., & Gunn, L. A. (1984). Policy Analysis for the Real World. London: Oxford University Press.
Hood, C. (1976). The Limits of Administration. London: Wiley.
Lipsky, M. (1971). Street-Level Bureaucracy and the Analysis of Urban Reform. Urban Affairs Quarterly, 6, 391–409.
Lipsky, M. (1978). Standing the Study of Policy Implementation on Its Head. In W. D. Burnham & M. Weinberg (Eds.), American Politics and Public Policy. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Lipsky, M. (1980). Street-Level Bureaucracy: Dilemmas of the Individual in Public Services. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
Majone, G., & Wildavsky, A. (1978). Implementation as Evolution. In H. Freeman (Ed.), Policy Studies Review Annual 1978. Beverly Hills: Sage (Reprinted in Pressman and Wildavsky, 1984).
Marsh, D., & Rhodes, R. A. W. (Eds.). (1992). Policy Networks in British Government. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Mazmanian, D. A., & Sabatier, P. A. (Eds.). (1981). Effective Policy Implementation. Lexington, KY: Lexington Books.
O’Toole, L. (1995). Rational Choice and Policy Implementation, American Review of Public Administration, 25(1), 43–57.
O’Toole, L. J. (2001). The Theory-Practise Issue in Policy Implementation Research. Paper presented at the ESRC Seminar Series, Seminar Three, University of Cambridge.
Parsons, W. (1995). Public Policy: An Introduction to the Theory and Practice of Policy Analysis. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.
Pressman, J. L., & Wildavsky, A. (1973). Implementation (2nd ed.). Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
Pressman, J. L., & Wildavsky, A. (1984). Implementation (3rd ed.). Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
Ryan, N. (1995). Unravelling Conceptual Developments in Implementation Analysis: A Study of Australian Industry Policy. Public Administration, 74(4), 737–753.
Sabatier, P. A. (1986). Top-Down and Bottom-Up Approaches to Implementation Research: A Critical Analysis and Suggested Synthesis. The Journal of Public Policy, 6(1), 21–48.
Sabatier, P., & Mazmanian, D. (1979). The Conditions of Effective Implementation: A Guide to Accomplishing Policy Objectives. Policy Analysis, 5, 481–504.
Sabatier, P. A., & Mazmanian, D. (1983). Can Regulation Work? The Implementation of the 1972 California Coastal Initiative. New York and London: Plenum Press.
Smith, K. B., & Larimer, C. W. (2013). The Public Policy Theory Primer (2nd ed.). Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
Van Meter, D., & Van Horn, C. E. (1975). The Policy Implementation Process: A Conceptual Framework. Administration and Society, 6(4), 445–488.
Weber, M. (1922). Economy and Society. California: University of California Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
McCarthy-Cotter, L. (2019). Implementation and the 1991 Child Support Act. In: The 1991 Child Support Act. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-98761-3_7
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-98761-3_7
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-98760-6
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-98761-3
eBook Packages: Political Science and International StudiesPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)