Strategy

Strategy

Redefining the Discourse of Effectiveness in Governance: The Transformative Role of Policy Design

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors
Bahram Akhavan Kazemi 1
Ali Manafi Verkiani 2
1 PhD, Professor, Department of Political Science, Faculty of Law and Political Science, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran.
2 PhD Student, Faculty of Law and Political Science, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran
10.22034/rahbord.2025.521532.1810
Abstract
Effective governance is a cornerstone of successful policymaking, yet conventional discourses on effectiveness often prioritize immediate results and quantitative indicators. Such approaches neglect the participatory, interpretive, and learning-oriented dimensions essential for sustainable and legitimate governance. This study reevaluates the concept of effectiveness by examining how policy design—understood as a reflexive, discursive, and capacity-building practice—can foster a paradigm shift in both the understanding and implementation of effective policies. Employing a discourse-oriented, interpretive methodology, the research integrates three complementary approaches: reflexive policy design, discursive analysis, and capacity enhancement strategies. Four major Iranian policies are analyzed: the National Development Plans, the Mehr Housing Project, the Preferential Currency Policy, and the Health Transformation Plan. The findings demonstrate that output-focused, rigidly designed policies frequently reinforce structural inefficiencies through discursive closure and limited institutional feedback. By contrast, the initial phase of the Health Transformation Plan illustrates how meaning-oriented design can foster discursive innovation, encourage alternative narratives, and enhance policy adaptability. The study concludes that overcoming Iran's persistent policy failures and governance legitimacy deficits requires moving beyond technocratic, engineering-based approaches toward a constructivist paradigm. Within this paradigm, policy design becomes a communicative act embedded in the discursive fabric of governance, fostering participation, dialogue, and institutional learning. Redefining effectiveness through such a lens offers a pathway to more inclusive, adaptive, and sustainable governance, with broader implications for contexts facing similar challenges.
Keywords
Output-Oriented Approach
Process-Oriented Approach
Policy Design
Meaning-Making
Discourse of Effectiveness

Subjects

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  • Receive Date 06 May 2025
  • Revise Date 28 May 2025
  • Accept Date 20 June 2025