Atelier PACTE-LET

The problem of Time in policy change: a dia-synchronic perspective of the book-mark

To understand policy change, the researcher needs to integrate the variable of time because policy change is the dynamic between policy in two different periods. Change and Time are thus consubstantial concepts. To observe policy dynamics, we look at policy histories and observe variations in policy elements as if policy was a self-defining object. The punctuated equilibrium and the path dependency models often used to understand policy movements, like their physical science counterparts, attempt just this feat of observing and analyzing an object in motion. But the problem of these and other similar diachronic perspectives in the social realm is that they are too often contingent and reliant on the subjective observations of specific participants. This problem is often ignored in long-term policy studies since as the period under study lengthens, the influence of the subject (participant-observer) appears to lessen and has less influence on the object (policy) which can thus appear to have a more autonomous movement. The paper suggests, however, that the disappearance of the subject constitutes a paradox in both the punctuated equilibrium and path dependency models and proposes a new approach to policy dynamics which combines the diachronic perspective with the synchronic stake: a "dia-synchronic perspective of the mark-page" which is better able to shed light on the actual conditions and motives of policy change. 

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