Subgovernments and the Impact of Policy Fragmentation and Accommodation

For many years political scientists have utilized the subgovernment model of policy‐making to explain certain types of policy output. Recently a number of scholars have argued that the traditional conceptualization of subgovernments was simplistic and incomplete. They view subgovernments as a complex and integral part of the larger policy‐making environment. This paper examines this “new” subgovernment by analyzing its role in contemporary public policy‐making. If subgovernments have lost their autonomy and been exposed to the complex demands of the larger political system, what impact does this have on policy outputs? Relying upon the literature on subgovernments and their principal components, the paper offers an interpretation of how subgovernments have potentially expanded their influence on public policy as a result of two contemporary developments: policy‐making fragmentation, and the accommodation of policy outputs.