Resource Center

Purpose:
To analyze and manage the political dimensions of decision-making and public policy.

Description:
This tool provides practical advice in a logical and formal way on how to manage the political aspects of decision-making and public policy. A software package helps policy-makers improve the political feasibility of their policy. The software helps define five analytical steps: 1) The Policy: where you want to go, 2) The Players: political circumstances around the policy, 3) Opportunities and Obstacles to Change, 4) Strategies: designing and selecting methods for change, and 5) Impacts: how your strategies improve political feasibility.

Developed by:
Michael R. Reich and David Cooper [PoliMap] between 1995 and 1997.

Intended Users:
All types of organizations can use this tool including international agencies, municipal governments, private corporations, and private foundations. Intended for use as both an analytical and advocacy tool, to help individuals and organizations assess the political dimensions of producing changes, especially for situations that involve multiple players. Has been used at the national, institutional and programmatic levels, in both private and public sectors, in health and other fields, in both developed and developing countries. Staff members trained in policy analysis are the appropriate users of the tool, however, top decision-makers can use results of the analyses.

Application:
Tested and applied for health sector reform issues at the national level in Latin America, Europe, Asia, and Africa; for municipal health policy in the United States; for training health professionals in applied political analysis at institutions in Africa, Latin America, the United States, and Europe.

Advantages:
The analysis in PolicyMaker produces a series of tables and figures that systematically organize essential information about the policy process. These diagrams can be used in strategic planning for policy formulation and implementation, to assist in improving the political feasibility of policy. The results can help with: problem identification, policy-making process, implementation strategies, and enhanced impact of your policy.

Limitations:
PolicyMaker is based on a series of assumptions about the policymaking process and a series of judgments about the characteristics of players and impacts of strategies. As with any analytical method, the validity of the PolicyMaker analysis is limited by the quality of these assumptions and the judgments of the analyst.

Recommendations for Users:
To be used for situations that involve: multiple players with different interests and with different degrees of power; high stakes for the policy under consideration, so that the effort required to conduct an analysis will be worthwhile; complex problems where intuitive assessments are not adequate for producing strategies that are likely to succeed; technocrats who need assistance in understanding the political dimensions of a policy problem and who need assistance in designing political strategies.

Reports and Publications:
Reich, Michael R. (1996). “Applied Political Analysis for Health Policy Reform”, Current Issues in Public Health 2: 191-196.

Availability:
A software program and 126 page manual in English.

Contact Information:
Fax: 617-738-6240
Email: info@polimap.com
Website: www.polimap.com