Previous implementation studies by Rein and Rabinovitz, Berman, Bardach, and Van Meter and Van Horn, provide a reasonable overview of policymaking in terms of its complexity and the variety of factors that can either assure or impede successful implementation. A new second generation framework for analysis of the implementation process is suggested which more clearly identifies the factors which affect the achievement of statutory objectives. This framework distinguishes three broad categories of independent variables: the tractability of the problem, the ability of the statute to structure the implementation process, and the net effect of a variety of political variables on the balance of support for statutory objectives. Any of the variables associated with these categories may affect the implementation process at any of its five stages. These stages are the policy outputs or decisions of the implementing agencies, the compliance of target groups with those decisions, the actual impacts of agency decisions, the perceived impacts of those decisions, and the political system's evaluation of a statute in terms of major revisions or attempted revisions in its content. Successful implementation in the short run is especially dependent on the strength of the statute, the commitment of agency officials, the presence of a 'fixer,' and the resources of various constituency groups. In the long run, however, changing socioeconomic conditions and the availability of supportive constituency groups to effectively intervene in the process are probably the most important factors. A flow chart, graphs, and 33 notes are included.