Policy Dynamics in Contemporary Public Administration Studies: A Conceptual Analysis

Abstract

This paper aims to provide an overview based on the literatures regarding the
development of the study of policy dynamics research in the field of public administration. The study
aims to answer the research question, „What is the theoretical and conceptual framework of „policy
dynamics“ in the contemporary discourse of current public administration?“. The method used is a
bibliometric analysis and semi-systematic literature review in the form of a literature review of
international publications published between 1990 and 2020, sourced from the Google Scholar
database. The sixty articles that are most relevant in terms of Article title, Abstract, and Keywords
(journal articles: 55 papers and Conferences proceedings: 5 papers) are chosen for analysis. As a
result, policy dynamics can be grouped into three categories: policy dynamics as historical
institutionalism, policy dynamics as policy change, and policy dynamics as policy evolution. This
study concludes that policy dynamics is the evolution of policy changes, where these changes have
implications for the policies of a regime/government on institutions, actors, and systems within a
certain period. This concept manifests in the five new clusters in the definition of policy dynamics,
which include regime/government change, institutional change/transformation, changes in issue,
direction and content of policy, actor's role and existence, and policy object inputs and outputs.