Policymaking is an extremely complex process, involving a wide range of actors and ideas. This chapter has attempted to provide some alternative approaches for understanding that process and evaluating the outcomes. Many of these themes are echoed in other parts of the book. For example, when discussing the agenda-setting process, we can see the importance of framing issues and hence can see how constructivist approaches to policy can be used. Likewise, the discussion of the evaluation of policy is closely related to the normative economic models discussed in this chapter. It is important, therefore, not to separate policy analysis from the understanding of substantive policy dynamics.

        It is also important not to separate conflict and political action from thinking about policy. Too often the search for optimal outcomes by policy analysts ignores the political debates and the deeply entrenched conflicts that define policymaking. Ultimately, public policy is, as Harold Lasswell argued, concerned with “who gets what,” and making those choices will provoke intense political activity. The institutions and processes of policymaking help to channel the demands of groups into effective action and enable government to make decisions in the face of those competing demands.

        Finally, these alternative conceptions of the policy process represent some of the richness of the discipline of political science, but they also represent some of the possible confusion. This is especially a problem if a student is seeking a single “right answer” and finds it frustrating that there may not be one. The availability of these multiple approaches does allow the student or the policy analyst to triangulate and to see what light each of several different approaches may shed on the policy process being researched. For example, institutions may matter, but the exercise of overt political power may matter as well. The use of these multiple lenses provides a richer view of the reality and, while providing no simple answer, helps us to understand how policy is made and what its effects may be.