Thammasat University students who are interested in public management, policymaking, sustainability, social inequality, sociology, political science, and related subjects may find a newly available book useful.

Wicked Problems in Public Policy: Understanding and Responding to Complex Challenges is an Open Access book, available for free download at this link:

https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/53360

In planning and policy, a wicked problem is one that is difficult or impossible to solve because of incomplete, contradictory, and changing requirements that are often difficult to recognize. It refers to an idea or problem that cannot be fixed, where there is no single solution to the problem; the term wicked means resistance to resolution, rather than evil.

Because of complex interdependencies, trying to solve one aspect of a wicked problem may reveal or create other problems.

The TU Library collection includes several books about different aspects of public policy.

The book’s author is Professor Brian Head, who teaches public policy at the University of Queensland, Australia.

He suggests that standard public management responses to complexity and uncertainty (including traditional regulation and market-based solutions) are inadequate. Leaders often advocate and implement ideological quick fixes, but integrative and inclusive responses are increasingly being used to recognize multiple interests and complex causes of these problems. This book uses examples from a wide range of social, economic and environmental fields to develop new insights about better solutions, to gain broad stakeholder acceptance for shared strategies for tackling wicked problems.

Wicked problems were first discussed in social planning in the 1960s.

Researchers noted, among other observations:

• Solutions to wicked problems are not true-or-false, but better or worse.
• There is no immediate and no ultimate test of a solution to a wicked problem.
• Every solution to a wicked problem is a one-shot operation, because there is no opportunity to learn by trial and error, and every attempt counts significantly.
• Every wicked problem is essentially unique.
• Every wicked problem can be considered to be a symptom of another problem.
• The social planner has no right to be wrong, so planners are responsible for the consequences of the actions they generate.
• The problem is not understood until after the formulation of a solution.
• Solutions to wicked problems are not right or wrong.
• Wicked problems have no given alternative solutions.

Among examples of wicked problems are economic, environmental, and political issues. A problem whose solution requires a great number of people to change their viewpoints and behavior is likely to be a wicked problem. Therefore, many standard examples of wicked problems are in the areas of public planning and policy. These include global climate change, natural hazards, healthcare, the AIDS epidemic, pandemic influenza, international drug trafficking, nuclear weapons, homelessness, and social injustice.

These and other wicked problems have the following characteristics:

• The solution depends on how the problem is defined.
• Stakeholders have radically different world views and different frames for understanding the problem.
• The constraints that the problem is subject to and the resources needed to solve it change over time.
• The problem is never solved definitively.

A connection between wicked problems and design has often been discussed. Design problems are typically wicked because they are often poorly defined, with no predetermined way ahead, involve stakeholders with different perspectives, and have no obvious right or optimal solution. In this way, wicked problems cannot be solved by the application of standard or known methods; they demand creative solutions.

Wicked problems cannot be tackled by the traditional approach in which problems are defined, analyzed and solved in a set order. The main reason for this is that there is no clear problem definition of wicked problems.

In addition to no unique correct view of the challenge, wicked problems feature:

• Different views of the problem and contradictory solutions;
• Most problems are connected to other problems;
• Data are often uncertain or missing;
• Multiple value conflicts;
• Ideological and cultural constraints;
• Political constraints;
• Economic constraints;
• Consequences difficult to imagine;
• Considerable uncertainty, ambiguity;
• Great resistance to change; and,
• Problem solvers out of contact with the problems and potential solutions.

Professor Head notes:

The democratic context of policymaking is central to this book. It is about policy debates and stakeholders in democracies. And while all countries share some important common challenges in problem-solving and effective governance, this book has little to say directly about policymaking in authoritarian political systems and militarised autocracies. In democracies, most of the ‘big’ issues of modern life—social, economic, environmental, technological—are likely to be controversial. The big issues are indeed very real—they shape our lived worlds. Many of these issues seem messy and intractable. And in most cases, there are no ‘correct’ and comprehensive answers. Everyone has an opinion about some aspects of the problem, and about what needs to be done. This explains why commentaries on the big complex issues often come not from scholarly experts but from engaged practitioners—such as politicians, journalists, media celebrities, lobbyists, advocates, inventors, think tank analysts, planners and service delivery managers. They provide a range of insights, and simplifications, to make sense of these complexities. The big issues are framed, debated and managed by politicians and other powerful stakeholders. These practitioners do the key work of interpreting and deciding. They offer narratives about the nature of the problem and options for tackling the problem. They highlight their preferred normative stance (economic growth? social equity? ecological health? social stability?). Some are attracted to technological innovation to tackle key parts of the problem. Others want better social regulation and funding. The practitioners and stakeholders often disagree about what can or should be done. This is the everyday politics of wicked problems. These practitioners generally have few connections with the world of scholarly research. What, then, could be the contribution of research and analysis about wicked policy problems? Indeed, why write a book? This book is more about offering an approach to analysis and reflection rather than offering a set of policy solutions. Social scientists are not in the same business as political ideologues. Good social science research does not promote ready-made solutions and magical cures. Although good social science research inevitably embodies social values (such as the value of reducing avoidable harms), it is primarily focused on explaining past patterns and mapping future possibilities for improvement…

Arguing the case for policy improvement is always challenging, and requires continuous engagement with practitioners and stakeholders, and indeed with dissenters who promote different agendas. This is tough work, especially in a world swirling with ideological slogans, political myths, nostalgic remedies and panaceas.

(All images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)