It takes more than courage

Wouldn’t it be nice if you could just plan out a reform in an orderly, set way? The answer, of course, is yes. But, when you live in a democracy, things never work out that way in reality. Policy processes also never unfold in a linear fashion but, instead, often have the most diverse – and often unforeseeable – feedback loops. Still, many of the problems that cause reforms to fail can be spotted beforehand – and eliminated before causing failure. These guidelines are meant to help you do just that. They can assist you in determining where particular reforms stand, creating and expanding your options for implementing them, and planning them. Moreover, they discuss several examples of recent reforms in practical terms, asking: What went right? What went wrong? How could the reform process have been planned better? What are the key elements needed for a reform process to succeed? These reform strategy guidelines are mainly intended to be used by politicians who make decisions on a daily basis and who plan and implement reforms. Specifically, this document is aimed at: officials at the federal, state and municipal levels; representatives of political parties and factions; and decisionmakers and individuals working within state chancelleries, senate chancelleries, ministries and municipal administrations.