ЦЕННОСТНИ ДИЛЕМИ НА ИЗГРАЖДАНЕТО НА КАПАЦИТЕТ ЗА ПРИЛАГАНЕ НА ПУБЛИЧНИТЕ ПОЛИТИКИ
VALUE DILEMMAS IN BUILDING POLICY IMPLEMENTATION CAPACITY

Summary/Abstract: Policy implementation, as a field of study, evolved under the sign of two competing view – those of the command and control orientation, or what came to be known as a top-down perspective, and the bottom-up orientation, whose point of view implementation succeeds only when those who are primarily affected are actively involved in the policy planning and execution. The problem here, of course, is the issue of expectations and their subsequent evaluation (and reformulation). The pivotal assumption in implementation is that policy makers can be of one mind when it comes to operationalizing a policy, for, otherwise, implementation becomes a battle to determine a correct reading of the mandate and its accurate execution. The core of the proposed idea is an explicit recognition that while conceptual clarity and empirical rigor are important goals of implementation theory, it is equally essential that such theory be based on democratic values. It’s suggested that more democracy is better than less; that is, more direct forms should be preferred unless there are strong and articulated reasons to avoid them. The following premise is stated: when a policy implementation strategy is designed, a democratic approach should be the preferred (i.e., default) option.

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