Bounded rationality or policy fumble? Parliament and executive in the preparation of public policy

• Main Author: Kristinsson, Gunnar Helgi
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: Icelandic
• Published: Stjórnsýslustofnun 2013
• Subjects: Bounded rationality; agenda; analysis; decision making; Iceland; Scandinavia; Raunhæf skynsemi; dagskrá; greining; ákvarðanataka; Ísland; Skandinavía; Falla
• Online Access: https://ojs.hi.is/index.php/irpa/article/view/a.2013.9.2.1

The theory of bounded rationality regards rational policy making as a process which fulfils certain requirements with regard to agenda setting, fact finding and analysis and decision making which fulfils minimum requirements. This perspective is here applied to the preparatory stage of public policy in four states, i.e. Iceland and the three Scandinavian states. An interesting pattern emerges. With regard to agenda setting Iceland deviates from the other countries in that coordination and the setting of priorities is less the responsibility of the cabinet and more that of individual ministers and parliament. The development and analysis of policy alternatives is also less systematic in Iceland as may be seen among other things in a smaller volume of research. The premises on which policy is based are therefore generally not as clear as in the other cases. At the decision stage departures from the conclusions reached during the preparatory phase are much more common in Iceland than in the other states. The main conclusion is that policy making in Iceland deviates more from the premises of the theory of bounded rationality than in Scandinavia. Samkvæmt kenningum um raunhæfa skynsemi er litið á skynsamlega stefnumótun og ákvarðanatöku sem ferli af ákveðinni tegund þar sem hugað er að dagskrá, rannsókn og greiningu, og ákvörðun fullnægir lágmarksskilyrðum. Þessu sjónarhorni er hér beitt á undirbúning stefnumótunar í fjórum löndum, þ.e. Íslandi og Skandinavíuríkjunum þremur. Áhugaverður munur kemur í ljós. Hvað dagskrá stefnumótunarinnar varðar sker Ísland sig frá hinum löndunum á þann hátt að samþætting og forgangsröðun virðist í minna mæli hlutverk ríkisstjórnar en í hinum ríkjunum en falla meira í hlut einstakra ráðherra og þingsins. Þróun og greining stefnukosta virðist einnig ómarkvissari á Íslandi og rannsókn mála er ekki í eins föstum skorðum. Forsendur opinberrar stefnumótunar eru því almennt ekki eins ljósar eins og í hinum ríkjunum. Á ákvarðanatökustiginu er mun algengara á Íslandi en í hinum ríkjunum að ...