Study On The Appraisal And Choice Of Policy Instruments In Policy Networks

Policy instruments are the means or methods of goverments to achieve policy objectives. The choice and use of policy instruments is related to reaching policy goals. People have paid more and more attention to them. As Geelhoed Commission in Holland had asserted in its study in early 1980s :"the lack or insufficiency of the knowledge of policy instruments is an important reason contributing to policy failure."Therefore, it is vital to enhance the study of policy instruments. But the use of policy instruments has a close relationship with policy environment. Policy netwoks are the specific circumstance of the utilization of policy instruments. They influence the formation of policy issues, policy decision-making, implementation and changes, the scope of available instruments as well as their function. In fact, modern society is a pluralistic, complicated one. And the external environment governments face is very complex. Governments should take the feature of policy networks into consideration in the process of solving policy problems, choose appropriate instruments to deal with relevant policy problems. It is helpful from a perspective of policy networks to study policy instruments to recognise the environment of the use of policy instruments and to use them better.The thesis is devided into six parts: in the first part, the author introduces the background and significance of the topic, the contents and ways of the study, the current situation of internal and external relevant studies, the creative point and the lack of the study. The second part is the analysis of types of policy networks. By the retrospection of the ever studies, carefully analysing the feature of actors, the relationships between them, the structure of networks and the institutional character of networks, policy networks are classified as seven types on the basis of five standards. The third part is the study of the standards of the appraisal and choice of policy instruments. From five aspects , i.e., goal rationality, economy rationality, value rationality, feasibility and other, the appraisal standards of policy instruments are studied. And then the choice standards are also analysed from the following five aspects: publicity, appropriateness, sufficiency, response and visibility. In the fourth part, it is the study of the choice mechanism of policy instruments. According to the extent approaching to market, policy instruments are devided into market ones, non-market ones and mix ones. Then in accordance with the methods of Michael Hoelett and M.Ramesh, the author studies the coercing degree of each instrument. And then analyses the choice of policy instruments in different types of policy networks. The fifth part is case study. Through analysing the choice practice of policy instruments in our country's education policy and New Rural Cooperative Medical Scheme policy, the choice mechanism of instruments is illustrated to some extent. The last part is concluding remarks.At present, our country is in the process of social transition, and the society differentiates step by step, the plural feature of society is more and more obvious. Society governance needs more positive participation of Non-government and Non-profit Organizations, enterprises and citizens. In this situation, policy environment is becoming more and more important. The"Market"of the ever instruments that is characterised by"universal use"must be smaller and smaller in today and the future. Goverments should pay more attention to policy environment. And choose proper tools to solve public problems. Enhancing the study of the appraisal and choice mechanism of policy instruments is beneficial to increase our governments'policy capability, improve their performance and promote the construction of service government.