Reform
“Reform” is often invoked as a promise of change after failure becomes visible. In practice, many reforms alter surface features while leaving the underlying decision rules and power structures intact.
Definition
Reform refers to deliberate changes to existing rules, processes, or institutions intended to modify how a system operates.
Technical meaning vs common usage
Technical meaning:
A targeted adjustment to system design—such as rules, incentives, authorities, or procedures—implemented within an existing institutional framework.
Common usage:
Any change framed as improvement, regardless of whether core mechanisms are altered.
How the term gets stretched or misused
Used to describe symbolic changes without shifting authority
Applied to outputs or messaging rather than decision rules
Treated as synonymous with progress or success
Framed without specifying what mechanisms are being changed
Where the power sits
Power in reform sits with those who control which levers are on the table. Legislators, regulators, executives, and institutional leaders decide whether reform touches incentives, enforcement, funding, or authority—or whether it is limited to procedures, reporting, or optics. These choices determine whether reform changes outcomes or stabilizes the status quo.
This does not mean…
All change is structural
Reform guarantees different outcomes
Intent translates into impact
Systems are redesigned from scratch
Why precision matters
When reform is treated as synonymous with improvement, failure is attributed to implementation rather than design. Precision forces attention to what is being changed and what is not, explaining why repeated reforms can coexist with persistent problems.
Neutrality note
This definition describes reform as a process of modifying existing systems, not as an endorsement or critique of specific reform agendas, policy goals, or outcomes.
Related HISW
Words Matter: Regulation, Oversight
Sources
Sources below explain reform as a mechanism for altering institutional rules and processes.
Congressional Research Service — Statutory Interpretation and Institutional Change (2020) https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R45153
Government Accountability Office — Designing and Evaluating Policy Changes (2019) https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-19-203