Publication Type

Journal Article

Version

publishedVersion

Publication Date

4-2025

Abstract

The study of policy tools has been undertaken for several decades. This work has isolated and examined many different types of instruments or levers utilized by governments to implement their policies and examined in detail how they are arranged into mixes, packages, or portfolios of tools. However, recent developments in society and technology have highlighted the potential to use new or previously underutilized policy instruments for both traditional tasks and to address new challenges associated with emerging technologies and other contemporary issues. These tools include social media platforms, collaboration, behavioral insights, and data-driven approaches to policy-making and policy design using big data and artificial intelligence, among others. Like any other tool, however, each of these new tools has its strengths and weaknesses. This article addresses the promises and pitfalls of these new kinds of tools and assesses how their deployment and effectiveness can be understood using typologies and concepts developed to deal with traditional policy instruments.

Keywords

artificial intelligence, big data, collaboration, digital government, nudges, Policy tools

Discipline

Public Affairs, Public Policy and Public Administration

Research Areas

Political Science

Publication

Policy Design and Practice

Volume

8

Issue

1

First Page

121

Last Page

137

ISSN

2574-1292

Identifier

10.1080/25741292.2025.2495373

Publisher

Taylor and Francis Group

Copyright Owner and License

Authors-CC-BY

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

Additional URL

https://doi.org/10.1080/25741292.2025.2495373

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