Is Public Policy Truly an Unruly Horse?

What constitutes public policy has remained an unsettled question both in local and global policy making and implementation. Although, the concept of public has always been relied on by authorities to justify virtually every act of government both justifiable and the unjustifiable, however, they have not deemed it necessary yet, to provide an explanation as to how such policies will benefit the larger public. It has also become commonplace for the courts to strike down certain laws, invalidate customary rules, set aside Arbitral awards or even declare commercial agreements unenforceable on the ground that they are offensive to public policy. This has further been exacerbated by the fact that the concept has so far not gained a precise definition which can be said to hold true for all situations, thus, its meaning, nature and scope have remained shrouded in secrecy. This has prompted some scholars and judges to tag the concept of public policy an “Unruly Horse”, due to the lack of a uniformed or watertight yardstick for determining what constitutes public interest in each particular situation and the tendency for the concept to be exploited for self serving purposes. This article argues in favour of the school of thought that regards public policy as an unruly horse. Paragraph 1 gives a detailed introduction of the work, paragraph 2 examines and clarifies the theory around public policy being an unruly horse, paragraph 3 justifies the argument around the unruly horse theory of public policy, while paragraph 4 concludes this essay and makes recommendations.