Policy termination: uncovering the ideological dimension

deLeon and others assert that progress in policy termination research requires an emphasis on political-ideological reasons for termination. One obstacle to pursuing this line of inquiry is that cases of successful policy termination are relatively rare. As a useful alternative, one could examine cases in which ideology has apparently prevented a strongly indicated policy termination. An example is the Israeli Labor government's decision to bail out Israel's failing kibbutzim (collectives) despite severe budget pressures and the near-certainty that some kibbutzim will still not become self-supporting. Labor will not terminate its policy of support because, although the kibbutzim's direct political power is diminished, they retain substantial moral authority as past nation- builders and as embodiments of Labor's socialist/humanist ideals. Anomalous non-terminations such as this should offer rich possibilities for policy termination research.