The impact of learning on policy development in response to crisis.

In this paper, we review two significant events that were held up to the scrutiny of public inquiry in the UK. We suggest that outcomes of such reviews results in policy learning that is captured in new rules and regulations that may be more to do with learning lessons rather than creating the capacity to develop more effective practices. If policy learning is to become more effective, it has to grapple with the inherent difficulties associated with the idea that emergence and the capacity to take innovative, creative and effective action are at the heart of implementation, rather than the more simple objectification and institutionalization of norms.