Policy Capacity: Conceptual Framework and Essential Components

Abstract

Although policy capacity is among the most fundamental concepts in studying public policy, there are considerable disagreements on its conceptual definitions and few systematic efforts to operationalize and measure it. This chapter presents a conceptual framework for analyzing and measuring policy capacity under which policy capacity refers to the skills and resources that governments bring to policy-making. In it policy competences are categorized into three general types of skills essential for policy success—analytical, operational and political—and policy capabilities or resources are assessed at the individual, organizational and system levels. Policy failures often result from imbalanced attention to these nine different components of policy capacity. The conceptual framework presented in the chapter provides a diagnostic tool to identify capacity gaps and offer critical insights into strategies to overcome such gaps in professional behaviour, organizational and managerial activities, and the policy systems involved in policy-making.