1. Policy-Making Process
Wilson 17A

2. 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Why were government regulations on certain industries repealed over the objection of those industries?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

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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