Of the Saying to the Fact: How to Implement the Policies?

To study how to increase the ability to implement public policies, it is first essential to acknowledge that the public sector is endogenous to the implementation of policies. In the literature, the government that prescribes public policies and applies them has usually been considered an exogenous factor. It deemed reasonable that the government is frequently viewed as a "third party" that could adopt and implement any suggestion.

It is impossible to simultaneously define the best institutional framework for all policies in all countries and all regions. The best specific institutional framework cannot be defined in general for each sector/country. Moreover, the need for institutional change does not guarantee that the conditions are in place to achieve this. Therefore, is this not a prerequisite by itself?

The document proposes that political economy and the art of government should be based on a public policy approach, under which political, communications and management matters are considered simultaneously in the analytical phases of the origin, design, management and evaluation of each policy, thereby permitting a continuous increase in cooperation and coordination within the government.

In this context, reform of the Presidency of the Republic is essential. The considerable weight carried by the Presidency in Latin America does not always translate into a good decision-making system that permits adequate cooperation and coordination with the rest of the government and is, at the same time, attuned to the political and social system. If the President's time for decision-making is the asset that is in shortest supply in government, the most functional form of institutional development is required. Regarding the latter, the duties of the Office of the Public Policy Advisors to the Presidency of Chile are analyzed. Chile's experience may perhaps shed some light on the process, although it may fall to others to judge its results.

This study begins, in part one, by describing the problem: the weakness in policy implementation which -as argued in part two- can be overcome. For this, a public policy approach is required, as discussed in part three. This, in turn, makes it possible to determine the key factors in the process, which are analyzed in part four. Parts five through to six examine the importance of the strategic nucleus and the role of Presidential Public Policy Advisors. The last part offers some conclusions.