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Series:   Elements in Public Policy

Public Inquiries and Policy Design

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 February 2024

Alastair Stark  and
Sophie Yates
Alastair Stark
Affiliation:
University of Queensland
Sophie Yates
Affiliation:
Australian National University, Canberra

Summary

Public inquiries regularly produce outcomes of importance to policy design. However, the policy design literature has largely ignored the many important ways that public inquiries can act as policy design tools, meaning the functions that inquiries can offer the policy designer are not properly understood. This Element addresses this gap in two ways. First, it presents a theoretical discussion, underpinned by international empirical illustrations, to explain how inquiries perform policy design roles and can be classified as procedural policy tools. It focuses on four inquiry functions – catalytic, learning, processual, and legitimation. Second, it addresses the challenge of designing inquiries that have the policy-facing capacities required to make them effective. It introduces plurality as a key variable influencing effectiveness, demonstrating its relevance to internal inquiry operations, the external inquiry environment, and policy tool selection. Thus, it combines conceptual and practical insights to speak to academic and practice orientated audiences.
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Keywords

public inquiriespolicy designpolicy learningpolicy toolsimplementation
Type
Element
Information
Series: Elements in Public Policy
Online ISBN: 9781009286879
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication: 23 May 2024

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