This model has been subject to considerable critique in recent years. A main
critique of the stages, or textbook model of policy making is that it implies that
policy making proceeds step by step, starting at the beginning and ending at the end.1
Critics point out that a policy idea may not reach every stage. For example, policy
ideas often reach the agenda, but move no further than that. Others argue that one
cannot separate the implementation of a policy from its evaluation, because evaluation
happens continuously as a policy is implemented. These critics suggest that the
stages model does not constitute a workable theory of how the policy process works.
(These critiques are taken up when we delve into advanced theories of the policy
process, including a discussion of what a theory means, in chapter 10.) But I used
the stages model to organize this book because it remains a remarkably helpful way
to structure our thinking about the policy process. As political scientist Peter deLeon
notes many scholars have written extensive studies that describe each stage of the
process.2 Thinking of policy making in stages is a way of organizing our thinking
and of isolating and understanding the most important elements of the process.