European Policy Analysis Volume 2, Number 1, Spring 2016 | Page 210

Juggling Multiple Networks in Multiple Streams

Figure 4. Ten issues in developing Health in All Policies (de Leeuw and Peters 2014)

We were commissioned by the
World Health Organization to develop a
tool that would guide the development
and application of Health in All Policies
(de Leeuw and Peters 2014). Through
discussions with key stakeholders around
the world we identified 10 issues that
need to be analysed and mapped in
order to enhance the feasibility of HiAP
development. We drafted a HiAP cycle
(Figure 4) for discussion with HiAP
experts, showing both the clockwise and
counterclockwise sequential options for
considering these options. The feedback
on the figure demonstrated that the
intuitive response to the graph was
to diligently follow each of the stages,

assuming there was a progressive logic to
them. At the same time, our panel agreed
that the reality is that “everything happens
at the same time.”

This is the essence of the critique
that has been voiced by political scientist
on the “stages heuristic” (Nowlin 2011;
Sabatier1999;2007a; 2007b)—that there is
no causality between the different stages,
and therefore stages heuristic models
defy theoretical testing mechanisms. The
stages heuristic is useful as a mnemonic
and an analytical visualization of elements
of the policy process, but does not
describe the complex interactions within,
between and beyond its different features.
Hassenteufel (2011) furthermore argued

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