Public Administration Jay Shaftitz & E. W. Russell Introducing Public Administration Third Edition Chapter 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Political and Cultural Environment of Public Policy Jay Shaftitz & E. W. Russell Dr. Wasim Al-Habil.

The Political and Cultural Environment of Public Policy Chapter Two The Political and Cultural Environment of Public Policy

Key Topics Public Policymaking Agenda Setting The Environment of Public Organizations

“Public Administration (PA) is an instrument of public policy.”

What is Public Policy? Decision-making by government. Governments are constantly concerned about what they should or should not do. And whatever they do or do not is public policy.

Policy Making Process The public policymaking cycle is grounded on: Agenda Setting Policy Decision or non-decision Implementation of a new program or change on an old public program Criticism from citizens and formal program evaluation.

Agenda Setting The agenda setting is the process by which ideas or issues bubble up through the various political channels to wind up for consideration by a political institution such as a legislator or court. The cycle of agenda setting consists of: The pre-problem stage Alarmed discovery and euphoric enthusiasm Recognition of the cost of change Decline of public interest. The post-problem stage

Decision-making Harold Lasswell (The Future of Political Science) positioned seven important phases of decision making: 1. The intelligence phase 2. The promoting or recommended phase 3. The prescribing phase 4. The invoking phase 5. The application phase 6. The appraisal phase 7. The terminating phase

Implementation Implementation is putting a government program into effect It is he total process of translating a legal mandate, whether an executive order or an enacted statue, into appropriate program directives and structure that provide services or create goods.

Evaluation Efficiency: Competence as well as speed in performance. Effectiveness: The extent to which an organization accomplishes some predetermined goal or objectives.

Organizational Culture The culture that exists within an organization; a parallel but smaller version of a societal culture. Two kinds of culture: Internal (vision, mission, goals, objectives, budget, labor union, organizational structure, chart, …etc. External: (rules, policies, regulations, resources, security, values, norms, politics, …etc.)

Separation of Power Three governments share power: Legislative Government Executive Government Judicial Government The allocation of powers among the three branches of government so that they are a check upon each other. This separation, in theory, makes a tyrannical concentration of power impossible.

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