Structural Explanations

This chapter examines: The main ‘structural’ sources of variation in the policy environment.The extent to which these factors ‘determine politics’ or represent the beginning of the ‘funnel of causality’.The extent to which policymakers are constrained by their economic environment, drawing on discussions of Marxism, globalization and studies of public expenditure.The extent to which policymakers are constrained by the structures of government, drawing on idea of ‘inheritance before choice in public policy’ and that most policy change is ‘policy succession’.Theories of complexity or complex systems.Our need to identify both the constraints of the policy environment and the ability of policymakers to influence, and make choices within, that environment.