As part of Harold D. Lasswell’s policy sciences, the decisions functions emerged to explore and understand comparative policy processes. The decision functions specified different categories of purposes, roles, and responsibilities performed, to various extents and ways, by all governments. These included intelligence, recommendation, prescription, invocation, application, appraisal, and termination. Additionally, the decision functions were not necessarily sequenced or in any government unit. Over time, the decision functions morphed in meaning and use, eventually supplanted by the policy cycle. This commentary digs up and polishes the decision functions and argues for their inclusion in contemporary policy process theories and research. We end with new questions and paths for advancing knowledge and contributing to Lasswell’s vision in realizing greater human dignity.

作为 Harold D. Lasswell 政策科学的一部分，决策职能的出现是为了探索和理解比较政策过程。决策职能规定了所有政府以不同程度和方式履行的不同类别的目的、角色和责任。这些包括情报、推荐、处方、调用、应用、评估和终止。此外，决策职能不一定是按顺序排列的，也不一定在任何政府单位中。随着时间的推移，决策功能在含义和用途上发生了变化，最终被政策周期所取代。本评论挖掘并完善了决策功能，并主张将其纳入当代政策过程理论和研究。