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The politics of strategy: why government agencies conduct major strategic reviews

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 May 2015

Jordan Tama
Jordan Tama*
Affiliation:
School of International Service, American University, USA E-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

In recent years, United States (US) policymakers have instituted quadrennial strategy reviews in several major policy areas. In this article, I examine why policymakers have initiated these large strategic reviews, and why a particular model for them has diffused from the US Defense Department to other government agencies. I find that policymakers have initiated the reviews principally to spur organisational change in agencies and influence the relationship between agencies and the Congress, and that policymakers have replicated the Defense Department’s review model because of that department’s strong political support. My findings suggest more generally that formal strategy activities are often driven more by legislative-executive and bureaucratic politics than by a search for new strategic ideas. Commonalities between the diffusion of quadrennial reviews in the US and the diffusion of other strategy and planning processes internationally underscore the broader applicability and significance of these findings.

Keywords

diffusiongovernment agenciesnational securitystrategystrategic planning
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Public Policy , Volume 37 , Issue 1 , March 2017 , pp. 27 - 54
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press, 2015 

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