Policy Process, Models of

Peter L. Hupe

The term model has multiple meanings. This being so in general, in political science the varying use of the term reflects the diversity of stances on philosophical and methodological issues in this discipline. In its most narrow definition, the term model stands for a mathematical formula. More broadly conceived, the term involves some kind of metaphor used to picture a phenomenon in social reality. In the study of government, both sorts of definitions occur, in several variants. All share the aim of offering a cognitive representation of real-world phenomena. The stages model of the policy process structures analytically the range of activities involved in the collective endeavors to turn public intentions into public achievements. In both the theory and the practice of modern government, this model—as it is called—has been widely adopted. Because of its prevalence, the stages model of the policy process is the point of departure in this ...

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