Policy-Making Process Wilson 17A

Objective Questions Who Governs? To What Ends? Does some political elite dominate American politics? Do powerful interest groups decide what policies our government should adopt? Why are Social Security payments popular but welfare payments to unwed mothers unpopular? Why were government regulations on certain industries repealed over the objection of those industries? Objective Questions

Theory of policy-making Policies not made the same way Many issues Political agenda – issues that people believe require government action Four types Majoritarian: distributed benefits, distributed costs Interest Groups: concentrated benefits, concentrated costs Client Politics: concentrated benefits, distributed costs Entrepreneurial: distributed benefits, concentrated costs Theory of policy-making

Growth of Agenda Until 1930 the national political agenda small Determining what is legitimate Shared political values Custom and tradition Impact of events Political elites Big Government Nonpartisan examples Growth of Agenda

Legitimacy Impact of events Public demand grows with event War Depression Disaster New issues without public demand Behavior of groups Workings of institutions Opinions of elites Action of state governments Legitimacy

Relative deprivation – when people start to become better off and realize that they are worse off than they ought to be Institutions – use courts, bureaucracy, and the Senate to influence political agenda Professionalism of reform – government went from reacting to becoming the source Media – must decide what proposals get reported, not easy to decide cause and effect Setting Agenda

Making Decisions Starting in the states Which groups will be active? Pioneering legislation Working through the courts Which groups will be active? Cost – burden that people believe they must pay Benefit – satisfaction they believe they will enjoy Influenced by perception and legitimacy Who will benefit or pay? Who ought to benefit or pay? Form political coalitions Making Decisions