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when it comes to public policymaking, there is quite a multitude of policy makers engaged in the public-policy cycle

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when it comes to public policymaking, there is quite a multitude of policy makers engaged in the public-policy cycle. What are the pros and cons of having so many people involved in this process? (Note: you should discuss both the pros and cons of this issue.)

Politics

The process of deciding who gets what, when, and how

Process of deciding winners and losers

Political Science

Study of politics, rules
Dye:  Whatever governments choose to do or not to do.

Anderson: Relatively stable, purposive course of action followed by an actor or set of actors in dealing with a problem or matter of concern.

Patterns of action over time

(A bill, or a regulation, or a law, do not constitute public policy)
Development of acceptable proposed courses of action for dealing with a public problem

 

What is proposed to be done about the problem
Policy Adoption

 

Development of support for a specific proposal so that a policy can be legitimized or authorized

 

Getting the government to accept a particular solution to the problem
Policy Implementation

 

Application of the policy by the government’s administrative machinery

 

Applying the government’s policy to the problem
Policy Evaluation

 

Efforts by the government to determine whether the policy was effective and why (or why not)

 

Did the policy work?
Categories of Public Policy
Substantive/Procedural

Distributive/Redistributive

Regulatory/Self-Regulatory

Material/Symbolic

Private Goods/Public Goods
Substantive / Procedural
Substantive policies involve what government is going to do, such as constructing highways, paying welfare benefits, acquiring bombers, etc

Procedural policies pertain to how something is going to be done or who is going to take action
Distributive / Redistributive
Allocation of services or benefits to one or a few beneficiaries

Redistributive policies involve deliberate efforts by the government to shift the allocation of wealth, income, or rights among broad classes
Regulatory / Self-Regulatory
Regulatory policies impose restrictions or limitations on the behavior of individuals and groups—reduction of discretion

Self-Regulatory policies are usually controlled by the regulated group as a means of promoting the interests of its members
Material / Symbolic
Material policies provide tangible resources or substantive power to their beneficiaries or disadvantages

Symbolic policies provide few benefits, but appeal to people’s values
Public Goods / Private Goods
Collective/Public goods are such that if they are provided for one person, they must be provided for all (non-excludability); and, one person’s consumption of a collective good does not deny it to others (non-exhaustivity)

Private goods are divisible

Mixed Bag: garbage collection, postal service, medical care, museums, public housing, national parks

Policy Analysis
Finding out what governments do, why they do it, and what difference , if any, it makes.

Old as Plato; Surge in 1950s

Involves

Explanation

Search for causes and consequences

Effort to develop and test general propositions
Difficulties with Policy Analysis
Limits on Government Power

Government policies cannot solve all social ills

Governments constrained by more powerful individual forces:

patterns of family life, class structure, child-rearing practices, religious beliefs

Disagreement over the problem

Policy analysis cannot offer solutions when there is no consensus on what the problems are

Policy analysis cannot resolve value conflicts

Subjectivity in Interpretation

Social science research cannot be value free – topics are chosen because they are “worthy”

Limitations on research designs

Complexity of Human Behavior

social scientists do not know enough about individual and group behavior to be able to give reliable advice to policy makers
Approaches to Policy Study
Systems Theory

Group Theory

Elite Theory

Institutionalism

Rational Choice/Game Theory

Public Choice
Systems Theory
Developed largely by David Easton

System of policy-making operates within a certain environment.

Policy viewed as a political system’s response to demands arising from its environment
Systems Theory
Good: Helps us to understand how inputs affect outputs; how well does system convert demands.

Problems: doesn't say much about "black box;" hard to tell what went wrong in a system
Policy is the result of group interaction/struggle

No policy pleases everyone. Policy is equilibrium

ACCESS  is key to understanding whether or not group has impact.

Factors for success:

Group’s strategic position: status or prestige in society

the extent to which government officials are formally or informally “members” of the group.

Internal characteristics:  Degree of the group’s organization.

group cohesiveness on certain issues

group’s resources in size and money.

Lowi and others see a system that is divided into small kingdoms, all of which are independent of one another
Elite Theory
The few who govern are not typical of the masses who are governed.  Elites are drawn disproportionately from the upper socioeconomic strata of society.

The movement of nonelites to elite positions must be slow and continuous to maintain stability and avoid revolution.  Only nonelites who have accepted the basic elite consensus can be admitted to governing circles.

Elites share consensus in behalf of the basic values of the social system and the preservation of the system.  In America, the bases of elite consensus are the sanctity of private property, limited government, and individual liberty.

Public policy does not reflect the demands of the masses but rather the prevailing values of the elite.  Changes in public policy will be incremental rather than revolutionary.

Active elites are subject to relatively little direct influence from apathetic masses.  Elites influence masses more than masses influence elites.
Rational Choice / Game Theory
The study of rational decisions in situations in which two or more participants have choices to make and the outcome depends on the choices made by each.

Doesn’t describe how people actually make decisions but rather how they would go about making decision in competitive situations if they were rational
Public Choice
Involves applying the principles of microeconomic theory to the analysis and explanation of political behavior

Assumptions:

politicians guided by self-interest not by altruism.

individuals are self-interested utility maximizers

unit of analysis is individual, not the collective

everyone operates under bounded rationality

(Satisficing behavior usually occurs)

Problems: operates on narrow assumptions

Good: alerts us to the importance of self-interest as a motivating factor in politics
Rational Choice and Congress
Begin with assumption that members of Congress want to get re-elected

To this end, legislators delegate power to agencies, knowing that in exercising that power the agencies will create problems for the legislators’ constituents

 legislators will then be called on by their constituents to assist them with their bureaucratic problems.

In return for assistance, grateful constituents will vote to re-elect the legislators