Iterative Storytelling in Public Policy: A Systems Thinking Approach

Abstract

This chapter claims that iterative storytelling is a critical function of public policymaking and can provide a systematic mechanism to better understand the how and why of public policies. Further, it is posited that if public policy scholars or practitioners can first tell a comprehensive story of their research, then they can build an appropriately bounded and useful model. Using system dynamics (SD), the essay argues that the “language and the thinking skills” of writing are analogous to the tools necessary to build models of complex public policy problems [Richmond, Barry (2004) An Introduction to Systems Thinking. 2011 STELLA Software Manual. ISEE Systems]. The essay also argues that the critical, sequential tasks for addressing complex public policy problems include (1) telling a comprehensive initial story, (2) building a model, (3) implementing the underlying model, and (4) continually updating the initial story as more information becomes available. The chapter presents public policy stories and demonstrates how to convert “policy modeling paragraphs” into SD causal loop diagrams and stock-and-flow models suitable for simulation and subsequent policy decision making using an international relations story and the Infinite Loop Phenomenology concept.