Political feasibility analysis is used to predict the probable outcome of a proposed solution to a policy problem through examining the actors, events and environment involved in all stages of the policy-making process.
One common mistake is widespread in practice that feasibility becomes a dominant criterion of preferable alternative.
"[7] As every policy problem differs from the next, so do the elements involved in a political feasibility analysis.
David Weimer and Aidan Vining argue that in practice analysts should answer the questions iteratively, “moving among them as (the analyst) learn(s) more about the political environment,[9]” meaning that what happens at one stage of the process of identifying political feasibility can affect earlier stages.
In this step, the analyst outlines political scenarios surrounding the proposed policy.
Identifying key stakeholders is a crucial step forward on your way to putting a policy into action.
The list of resources identified by political scientists (material, symbolic, physical, position, information, and skills) satisfy motivations.
[10] Once the necessary information has been collected and an adequate description of the political climate has been provided, the analyst can offer an estimation of levels of support/opposition for the proposed policy.
This includes identification of possible areas of political consensus and conflict, essentially determining what is necessary for the policy to gain the support for enactment and implementation.
[8] In 1999, Harvard University professor Michael Reich introduced a prototype Windows-based software program for "computer-assisted political analysis" (CAPA) called PolicyMaker.