This article argues first that policy interventions addressing wicked problems are locked into a legacy epistemic focused on discrete problem identification and associated policy solutions, and second that such policy thinking will fail to adequately address global crises. The article critically visits Enlightenment rationality-inspired instrumentalism underlying the ongoing high-modernist and technocratic approach of policymaking, deriving a suite of recommendations based on a theoretical application of policy capacity.

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/25741292.2019.1622276

Hartley, Kris, Kuecker, G. and Woo, JJ. (2019). “Practicing Public Policy in an Age of Disruption.” Policy Design and Practice.