Public Policy Process and Public Administration Concepts & Cases

Discussion topics: Defining public policy Public policy process Public administration in the policy process

Public Policy: Definitions Creation, by the government, of the rules, laws, goals, and standards that determine what government does or does not to create resources, benefits, costs, burdens

Cont’d Public policy is the sum of government activities, whether pursued directly or through agents, as those activities have an influence on the lives of citizens

Attributes of Public Policy The policy is made in the public’s name Policy is generally made or initiated by government Policy is interpreted and implemented by public and private actors Policy is what the government intends to do Policy is what the government chooses not to do

Public Interest Public policies are supposed to serve public interest Public interest is difficult to define, its definition depends on who defines it Conflict, over the definition of public interest, is unavoidable

Why to study public policy? Public policies affect us, sometimes significantly. Citizens should be informed about how policies are made and implemented and why they are made/implemented the way they are You may become an advocate for a policy one day, and you should learn the process so you can advocate your policy alternative more effectively

How do we study public policy? Policy statements, including laws, administrative rules and regulations, court opinions Policy outputs, or the actions taken in pursuance of policy decisions and statements Policy outcomes, which focus on policy’s societal consequences

Players of Public Policy Official and unofficial actors Legislature, executive, courts, bureaucracy Citizens, interest groups, research organizations, political parties, communications media, professional associations

The Three Phases of Public Policy Process: Policy Formulation Policy Implementation Policy Evaluation

Policy Formulation: Includes activities of agenda setting, issue definition, and legislation Agenda is a collection of problems, understandings of causes, symbols, and other elements of public problems that come to the attention of members of the public and their government

Cont’d Every problem doesn’t enter our zone of attention. WHY? Whom it affects and how much is important in placing a problem on the agenda The role of indicators and focusing events

Policymaking in America IRON TRIANGLES Policies are made by interest groups, administrative agencies, and legislative committees ISSUE NETWORKS & POLICY COMMUNITIES Policies are made by those who are most interested, knowledgeable, and sentimentally attached to the issue (includes a large number of actors, e.g., legislators, press, bureaucrats)

Decision-making models Rational-Comprehensive decision making Incremental decision making

Rational-Comprehensive Begins with goal identification Continues with identification of values Development of alternatives Evaluation of each alternative in light of the values Selecting the alternative that would best achieve the goal Implementation, monitoring results, and revisions

Critique Goals are not clear There is too much conflict over goals Requires unreasonable resources for decision making that are not available Assumes that we can predict outcomes with accuracy, which is not possible Assumes clear values

Incrementalism The selection of goals and the analysis of means to attain them are not distinct Decision maker considers only a number of alternatives for dealing with a problem, which will differ only incrementally For each alternative, only a limited number of important consequences are evaluated

Critique Incremental policy making is conservative, anti-innovative, and serves the status quo

Public administration in the policy process The politics-administration dichotomy Public administrators as neutral, efficient, and expert implementers of public policies No or little involvement in policy making Is that so?

Public administrators as policy makers As experts, they influence policy making They engage in policy analysis, draft legislation, do policy advocacy, community leadership They have personal interests, political values, and ideologies that affect their policy preferences

Public administrators as policy implementers They give specific content and meaning to policy in implementation They clarify vague legislation, make choices about ambiguities, use a great deal of discretion They prepare regulations and enforce the rules, they make policy when they implement it Selective enforcement is unavoidable in the face of resource limitations

Public administrators as evaluators They evaluate policy as they have easy access to enforcement data They are close to the action and deal with the problems that the policy is intended to address, so their feedback and judgment on issues are important Their evaluation might be biased, focusing on more output, rather than outcome