Conundrums of government: the outer limits of policy analysis

Abstract

Conundrums have no solution. They are ambiguous, multifaceted, and do not lend themselves to quantitative assessment of their components. They produce shortfalls in policy accomplishments, and frustration among those charged with policymaking. To recognize the generality of conundrums is to prepare to cope with them. The use of the term coping is significant. The term implies something less than finding solutions to problems. Words like adaptation, managing, and dealing with appear in discussions of coping. It is inherent in the nature of coping strategies that they provide only partial and imperfect solutions to problems that are insoluble. Some of the strategies outlined here may actually make some aspects of a conundrum worse, even while they offer solutions to other aspects. The strategies include redefining a problem to put the focus on its soluble elements; entrepreneurialism; deviousness; breaking the rules; indirection; reform; and redundancy. In the final analysis, the quality of policy analysis and governmental performance is limited by conundrums. No matter how good the elected officials and civil servants, conundrums keep policymakers from knowing exactly what they are doing, force a certain amount of conjecture into their decisions, and encourage posturing and exaggeration as techniques of persuasion.