Policymakers

Cycle

The Althaus, Bridgman & Davis model is heuristic and iterative. It is intentionally normative (a guide to what policymakers should do), and not intended as a diagnostic or predictive model (a tool for explaining or forecasting what will happen). Policy cycles are typically characterized as adopting a classical approach, and tend to describe processes from the perspective of policy decision makers. Accordingly, some post-positivist academics challenge cyclical models as unresponsive and unrealistic, preferring systemic and more complex models. They consider a broader range of actors involved in the policy space that includes civil society organizations, the media, intellectuals, think tanks or policy research institutes, corporations, lobbyists, etc.