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Social and Other Policy Considerations

The main emphases of research concerning social and other policies by Center researchers have addressed the coherence of policies and various aspects of the implementation of policies. Policy coherence is generally agreed as desirable, but the concept had not received much scholarly attention until Center researchers launched a series of projects that addressed factors that affect it. In addressing policy coherence for Arctic policies, the coherence of a range of social and other policies in recent decades in the United States , and the limits to a unified policy regime for homeland security, Center researchers have developed insights about the interplay of issues, interests, and ideas in affecting various facets of policy coherence.

Recent publications from this project include:

• “Policy Coherence and Policy Domains,” 2006. Policy Studies Journal 34(3): 381-403; Peter J. May, Joshua Sapotichne, and Samuel Workman.


• “Regional Policy Agglomeration: Arctic Policy in Canada and the United States,” 2005. Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis 7 (2): 121-136; Peter J. May, Bryan D. Jones, Betsi E. Beem, Emily A. Neff-Sharum, and Melissa K. Poague.


• “Policy Coherence and Component-Driven Policymaking: Arctic Policy in Canada and the United States,” 2005. Policy Studies Journal 33 (1): 37-63; Peter J. May, Bryan D. Jones, Betsi E. Beem, Emily A. Neff-Sharum, and Melissa K. Poague.

Policy scholars have studies various facets of policy implementation for which one puzzle is the reasons why the actions of those who are at the frontlines of policy delivery differ from the policy intentions of elected officials and bureaucratic superiors. Center researchers have undertaken studies of street-level bureaucratic behaviors under research projects funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation and as participants in a major study in Denmark of implementation of national employment policy reforms. These studies lead to insights about the role of commitment and capacity of policy implementers and factors that affect these.

Recent publications from this project include:

• “Politicians, Managers, and Street-Level Bureaucrats: Influences on Policy Implementation,” Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, Peter J. May and Soeren Winter (in press)


• “Interests and Implementation: Fostering Voluntary Regulation,” 2006. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory 16 (3): 329-349; Chris Koski and Peter J. May.


• “At the Regulatory Frontlines: Inspectors’ Enforcement Styles and Regulatory Compliance,” 2003. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory 13 (2): 117-139; Peter J. May and Robert S. Wood.


• “Policy Design and Implementation,” in B. Guy Peters and Jon Pierre, eds. Handbook of Public Administration. London: Sage Publications, 2003: 223-233.