Policy Termination

This chapter discusses major actors in policy termination, looks at reasons for and roadblocks to policy termination, and describes a model of policy termination. Politics aside, Congress has the tools necessary to justify policy termination. The Congressional Budget Office is always available to legislators and congressional committees and can be tasked to study specific policies or programs. The Court has been much more successful in using its power to protect individual rights and liberties in shaping termination decisions. Pressure groups are usually key actors in helping bureaucracies obtain resources. A bureaucracy would have little incentive to terminate anything that might negatively impact pressure group supporters. In describing or explaining policy termination, the narrative policy framework can be useful. The advocacy coalition framework model can be used to consider why policy termination might occur. According to policy punctuation theory, public policy stays fairly consistent over long periods of time.