From the Garbage Can Model to the Theory of Recycling: Reconsidering Policy Formulation as a Process of Struggling to Define a Policy Statement

Abstract

One of the main paradoxes produced by the garbage can model is the empirical observation that a proposal does not necessarily appear through problem-solving but by a coupling process where a proposal searches for a problem. This empirical observation looks like a paradox for those who consider that the meaning of a policy proposal is fundamental during the policy process. This article suggests a new way to combine the garbage can model with the argumentative turn by taking into account both of them: the coupling process between a solution and a problem highlighted by Cohen, March and Olsen and the gluing process that allows the argumentative strategy which contributes to give meaning to a proposal.