Deborah Stone and Nuances of Public Policy

In her book Policy Paradox: The Art of Political Decision Making, Deborah Stone unpacks what it means to approach difficult policy problems. The book is largely a refutation of the positivist movement policy science, which Stone describes as solutions to policy problems through “rationalist” projects. To proponents that say data alone can be used to solve problems, Stone states that data can only solidify or weaken the specified impacts of a policy. It does nothing to decide if those impacts are beneficial, or even wanted. To illustrate this problem, Stone create the term “policy paradoxes.” These are policy situations where impacts can be both positive or negative, depending on the perspective of the stakeholder. As an example, Stone uses the policy of rubble removal following Hurricane Katrina. This was a policy paradox because the rubble removal was beneficial for many businesses, who needed to clear the streets quickly before reopening. However, it was also harmful for families, who didn’t want their possessions buried in the rubble to disappear forever. Stone’s point is that in situations like these, data cannot help us. Data can tell us how quickly the rubble removal can occur, but it does nothing to decide whose perspective carries the most moral and social importance. 

In this, Stone’s book does a good job of explaining the nuances of public policy. It shows how public policy can be value based, with stakeholder stories serving as data points in and of themselves. However, a problem is that the book doesn’t offer much in terms of a solution. The sentiment is: things are more complicated than we thought, and yes, that means we no longer have a secure solution for these issues. This brings up a larger question in policy studies as a whole. The more people learn about both complex issues and human nature, it almost feels like we are moving away from success. Previous solutions aren’t as good as we thought, and with some issues, there seems to be no solution at all.

Against this cynicism, an idea is that we don’t need perfect solutions at all. Perhaps if perfect solutions are impossible, considering the existence of policy paradoxes, policy analysis is still justified in the creation of marginal improvements. Whatever it is, Stone’s book is more of an analysis of current reality, rather than an explanation of potential future solutions.