8. The 'room for manoeuvre' model

This model has been influential in shifting attention from policy outcomes to the policy process itself, to what actually happens as policy is formulated and implemented. This shift in perspective is crucial because it opens up space to think about what is going on on the ground, in the board rooms, in the draft meetings, in the corridor, etc. As Clay & Schaffer put it, this provides a reality check which quickly shows that:

‘The whole life of policy is a chaos of purposes and accidents. It is not at all a matter of the rational implementation of the so-called decisions through selected strategies.’

In this situation, research has a chance to influence policy through taking advantage of the room for manoeuvre that policy makers and practitioners have. If there is a relatively large room for manoeuvre, then there is potentially (though not necessarily) a greater chance that research findings can be taken into account during the policy process and have an impact on what policy does.

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