Conflict As A Link Between Problem Structuredness And Policy Success

For over forty years, implementation research has struggled to explain why public policy seldom achieves what we expect from it. Too many relevant variables have been identified by researchers, making it almost impossible to make predictions based upon one, or a few of them. It is possible, however, to focus on a smaller version of the concept of implementation: not what is achieved (the policy results, which are largely determined by events exogenous to the way it is implemented) but how it is achieved. The model proposed here propounds looking at pace and variation, and how they are influenced by the interface between policy ambiguity and problem structuredness. Conflict is presented as a mediator between dependent and independent variables, and it is stated that general predictions are possible for pace and variation in inter-organizational implementation settings, for different combinations of problem structuredness and policy ambiguity.