Executive policymaking during national crisis

Generally, there is a dearth of literature on Executive Policymaking in policy studies. In both presidential and parliamentary settings, it is taken for granted that the role of the executive is to implement policy. Thus, eforts to look into where the executive may be infuential in policy design are limited in policy debates. Executive policymaking is a loose concept despite its common practice, especially in the more presidential systems in Africa, Latin America and the United States. Executive policymaking featured strongly during the era of the development administration and one-party rule across Africa. However, it has often been more evident during the crisis and political transitions in modern political systems. This is because crisis comes with unexpected disruptions to the existing institutional processes. Besides, there is a lack of resources to efectively handle such an event, unclear institutional responsibility among government agencies and a lack of experience in dealing with the current situation. Also, there may be undivided pressures from both the citizenry and elites on the government to act.

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Published in: Routledge Handbook of Public Policy in Africa
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
See article on publisher's website: https://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9781003143840-30