Strategies for dealing with policy ambiguities
| Published date | 01 December 2023 |
| Author | Luke Fowler |
| Date | 01 December 2023 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/padm.12887 |
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Strategies for dealing with policy ambiguities
Luke Fowler
School of Public Service, Boise State
University, Boise, Idaho, USA
Correspondence
Luke Fowler, School of Public Service, Boise
State University, 1910 University Drive—MS
1935, Boise, ID 83725, USA.
Email: lukefowler@boisestate.edu
Abstract
Ambiguities often weave through policies, leading to
conflict and confusion over the intents and purpose of said
policy and how it may manifest in any specific instance.
Given that policy management is a core function for most
public service agencies, the challenges here are almost
universally experienced as public servants balance the
political, legal, and technical requirements of policies against
their functionality in practice. To this end, the authors use
a grounded theory approach to identify themes in how
practitioners cope with policy ambiguities. Relying on
data from program evaluation reports and interviews with
practitioners, the authors triangulate five themes: interpreta-
tion as a collaborative endeavor, teach people how to think,
processes simplify and guide, consistency comes from
horizontal communication, and policy interpretation evolve.
Conclusions arguethat ambiguity is a key theoretical and
practical challenge that impacts the quality and character of
democratic governance.
1|INTRODUCTION
Ambiguities often weave through policies, leaving both opportunities and responsibilities for public servants to make
decisions about how, what, when, where, or why the costs and benefits of policies are distributed to target
populations. Generally speaking, ambiguity exists where a phenomenon can be thought of in more than one way, so
that two or more reasonable people may come to differing conclusions about the meaning. In the context of policy,
ambiguities occur where policy statements (e.g., laws, court orders) may be interpreted differently by groups with
alternative perspectives, leading to conflict and confusion over the intents and purpose of said policy and how it
may manifest in any specific instance (Fowler, 2019; Zahariadis, 2003).
Take for example, the Clean Air Act's rules governing New Source Performance Standards and Routine Mainte-
nance of stationary sources that emit air pollutants; these rules create regulatory requirements for a new source
more stringent than those for existing sources. But, what exactly constitutes “new”and what constitutes “routine
Received: 9 March 2022Revised: 24 August 2022Accepted: 3 September 2022
DOI: 10.1111/padm.12887
1394 © 2022 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.Public Admin. 2023;101:1394–1407.wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/padm
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