Anticipatory Policymaking

When Government Acts to Prevent Problems and Why It Is So Difficult

af Rob A. (Bentley University DeLeo

Public policy analysts and political pundits alike tend to describe the policymaking process as a reactive sequence in which government develops solutions for clearly evident and identifiable problems. While this depiction holds true in many cases, it fails to account for instances in which public policy is enacted in anticipation of a potential future problem. Whereas traditional policy concerns manifest themselves through ongoing harms, "anticipatory problems" are projected to occur sometime i... (Læs mere)