Generally, policies require much effort, along with funding and public endorsement. For implementation to be successful, administrative capacity needs to be built and strengthened. An impediment that prohibits or restricts the implementation of a specific policy instrument is known as a barrier. In severe cases, these obstacles may cause some policy tools to be disregarded, which would make the following tactics much less successful. Among the most frequent barriers to policy implementation are legal, financial, and cultural barriers.
First, legal barriers include the absence of legal jurisdiction to administer a certain document and the division of legal obligations across departments, which restricts the city council’s capacity to apply the concerned instrument. For example, the Chinese government prohibits cryptocurrency policy development due to the illegal nature of such transactions in the country (Yen and Cheng, 2021). Furthermore, budget constraints that limit the total amount spent on the policy and financial constraints on certain mechanisms are a few examples of these. For example, such barriers impeded the implementation of policies on food labeling and restriction of unhealthy food advertising in Thailand (Phulkerd et al., 2017). Lastly, political and cultural barriers include cultural traits, such as views toward execution, that affect an instrument’s efficacy, as well as limitations imposed by interest groups and the absence of political or public support of an instrument. For example, a tobacco policy that was developed in Kenya in 2007 was negatively perceived by the public (Mohamed et al., 2018). As a result, such barriers can either impede or ban the policies.
Hence, policy implementation is a complex process that involves multiple barriers. Among such barriers are financial, legal, and cultural barriers. The former is the lack of funding that impedes the development of policy. Legal barriers involve the intricate nature of government laws. Lastly, cultural barriers include the lack of endorsement from the public. Such barriers can be seen in the tobacco policy in Kenya, the cryptocurrency policy in China, and the food labeling policy in Thailand.
References
Mohamed, S. F., Juma, P., Asiki, G., & Kyobutungi, C. (2018). Facilitators and barriers in the formulation and implementation of tobacco control policies in Kenya: a qualitative study. BMC Public Health, 18(1), 1-14.
Phulkerd, S., Sacks, G., Vandevijvere, S., Worsley, A., & Lawrence, M. (2017). Barriers and potential facilitators to the implementation of government policies on front-of-pack food labeling and restriction of unhealthy food advertising in Thailand. Food Policy, 71, 101-110.
Yen, K. C., & Cheng, H. P. (2021). Economic policy uncertainty and cryptocurrency volatility. Finance Research Letters, 38, 101-428.