Policy Process Oriented Historical Relevance: Theoretical Construction and Application Scenarios

The classical policy process theory is either based on stage enlightenment,or guided by theoretical integration,or based on theoretical integration.A long-standing practical and theoretical issue that has not received sufficient attention is the historical correlation of policies in the policy process.The article starts from three dimensions: overall structure,key elements,and analytical paradigm of the historical correlation between policies in the policy process,and analyzes the theoretical construction of policy processes oriented towards historical correlations.Firstly,starting from the practical examination of historical correlations in public policies and the theory of historical institutionalism,the article proposes the concept of “Policy Dynamical System” to describe the historical correlation phenomena in the policy process.Secondly,the article explores the multiple feedback effects of historical correlations between policies in the policy process and the possibility of their adaptation in the Chinese context.Finally,the article depicts the general form of the dynamic process of policy historical correlation through a sequence of policy events.On this basis,the article further explains the potential application scenarios of policy process theory oriented towards historical relevance from the dimensions of power transmission and value mining: analyzing the characteristics of historical correlation between public policies using diachronic dependency networks,and exploring the value of historical correlation between public policies using key policy links.The policy process oriented towards historical relevance examines the feedback effect in the process of public policy from a diachronic perspective,which is conducive to developing the policy Process theory with Chinese characteristics and enriching the research content of policy science.