Week One: Overview and Definitions Public Policy Week One: Overview and Definitions Introductions – who you are, experience of PP theory Overview of handbook Overview of WebCT Expectations – 2 students each week newspaper articles relevant to previous weeks class for seminars -verbal presentations of paper to be submitted, showing a plan of what you intend to do and how. -interaction on webct – newspaper articles, TV programmes, questions (though not to me!) Cathy Gormley-Heenan

The Meaning of Policy ‘Policy is rather like the elephant – you recognise it when you see it but cannot easily define it’ (Cunningham, 1963: 229) Don’t worry about it – if you find one that you like fine, but I’ll not force you to use a particular ‘definition’.

Definitions of Policy Might mean a broad orientation Might be an indication of ‘normal practice’ Might be a specific commitment Might be a statement of values Do not assume that ‘policy’ has a single meaning Difficult to treat as a very specific and concrete phenomenon Like openness and transparency Like ‘our policy is to buy locally’ or our policy is to appoint the best candidate for the job irrespective of age, race or political affiliation Like gov plans to have more than 50% of students in Higher Education by whenever Like ‘Honesty is the best policy’

Definitions of Public Policy Too broad a term? Focuses on ‘the public and its problems’ (Dewey, 1927) Focuses on ‘what governments do, why they do it, and what difference it makes’ (Dye, 1976) Everything that is not private – Therefore everything that we do Remember this when reading newspapers – what do govs do, why do they do it and what diff will it make.

Policy/Public Policy Distinctions Legitimacy of state policy and primacy over other policies. Concerned with the nature of power in the state – who dominates? Who has authority? “A critical question for both analysts and practitioners is how people with little standing in the world of authority can challenge the existing order and participate in the policy process” (Colebatch, 2002:27) We elect the gov via representative democracy to run the country for us – we entrust them to make decisions on our behalf – therefore the government policy on education (no primary school children under 5) takes precedent over the wishes of the School Board, the Parent Teachers Association and all others who may think that we should leave it until the kids are seven – so as not to ‘institutionalise’ them too early! People may regard the policies of other groups as important – but only gov policies are binding involving legal obligations. Only gov policies reach out to all embers of society – hence the concept of universality – others may only reach a section of the population. Gov monopolises coercision in its policies – only gov has the ability to imprison violators of its policies.

Elements of the term ‘Policy’ Order Authority Expertise Not necessarily equally present at all points in the policy process Can sometimes pull against one another Order - Decisions are not taken ‘willy nilly’. Problem of consistency between different policy fields It is authority which legitimates the term policy Expertise implies a knowledge of the problem area and of things that might be done to solve the problem. For example a criminologist (expert) can say that increased prison sentences do not act as a better deterrent for criminals but politicians (Authority) says that he want it to keep electorate happy – more interested in votes than evidence.But different experts have different ways of seeing the same problem. – they see different problems not the same thing – e.g. is drunkenness a health problem, a public order problem, ?

Some Assumptions about Social Order and Policy Instrumentality – organisations exist to achieve objectives Hierarchy - governing flows from people at the top giving instructions Coherence – all the bits of the action fit together cohesively

Approaches to Policy ‘Stage’ or ‘Policy’ Cycle’ approach ‘Policy Analysis’ approach ‘Social Construction’ approach Policy cycle see policy as a logical succession of steps – define problem, identify response, evaluate option, make decision, implement, review. Policy cycle diagrams come with warnings that the steps are rarely as tight or sequential as they seem in the cycle. Policy analysis make comparisons between different policies in terms of their possible outcomes Social Construction – policy has to be constructed and sustained by the various stakeholders to a policy when different options are available to them. Policy and the problems are not neutral entities– they are produced by the participants to the process based on how they see the problem, who tells them that there is a problem, Who decides that there is a problem, The masses? The media? The government? Pressure groups- -insider or outsider groups

Questions to Ask Yourself During the Module…… What is meant by ‘policy’ here? Where does it come from? What do people do because of ‘policy’? Why?