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Module
5 Discussion Questions

Q. For the environmental issue you previously identified, name the one policy or policy

instrument, which is currently the most influential, or the most talked about?
9-12 December, 2013
A:

Q. Which actors are aligned with the goals of the policy, and which are not?

A:

6.1.3 What is policy analysis?

With a basic understanding of policies and policy instruments, what is policy analysis? It can be considered
any systematic analysis of any and all components of the policy process as illustrated (Figure 24) (Najam
2005). The policy process includes the formal activities of policy formulation and implementation of the

policy life cycle. Najam describes the policy process as consisting of three primary components: policy
choice, policy implementation and policy assessment (Najam 1995). With policy choice, government
and society are formulating the goal that should be achieved and the types of policy instruments that
could best achieve the goal. Following implementation of these instruments, assessment links policy
choice to implementation and asks if the original goal is being achieved, and if not, why not. All three
gears of the policy process need to move in order for policy to work (Figure 23).

Analysis of government policies is an inexact process wrought with uncertainties. It is, however, an
essential segment of social learning and adaptation that brings attention to the complex relationship
between decision making and environmental outcomes. Policy analysis is rarely exhaustive and in most
cases, cannot be prescriptive. It provides baseline information, points out major linkages between
decisions and environmental outcomes, and provides a starting point for consideration of more
sustainable policy options.

78 Integrated Analysis of Environmental Trends and Policies