1. Pearson Longman PoliticalScienceInteractive Shea, Green, and Smith Living Democracy, Second Edition Chapter 16: Public Policy in the United States

2. Shea, Green, and Smith, Living Democracy, Second EditionCopyright 2009 Pearson Longman Chapter 16: Public Policy in the United States The Politics of Public Policy Public Policy The action or inaction of the government on a problem or issue of concern to the public Who gets to determine whether something really is a problem or issue of concern to the public?

3. Shea, Green, and Smith, Living Democracy, Second EditionCopyright 2009 Pearson Longman Chapter 16: Public Policy in the United States Ideas and Values in Public Policy Policy Process Model Legitimization of Solutions Problem Identification Analysis of the Effectiveness of the Solution Implementation of Problem- solving Policies Solution Formulation Agenda Setting

4. Shea, Green, and Smith, Living Democracy, Second EditionCopyright 2009 Pearson Longman Chapter 16: Public Policy in the United States Ideas and Values in Public Policy “The production [process] model fails to capture what I see as the essence of policy making in political communities: the struggle over ideas.” –Deborah Stone Example: Debate in early 1990s about healthcare coverage How does this fit in the process model?

5. Shea, Green, and Smith, Living Democracy, Second EditionCopyright 2009 Pearson Longman Chapter 16: Public Policy in the United States Ideas and Values in Public Policy: Freedom Positive Freedom Freedom exists to the extent that we can do what we wish. Negative Freedom Freedom exists only in the absence of someone or some force limiting what we can do. Two camps

6. Shea, Green, and Smith, Living Democracy, Second EditionCopyright 2009 Pearson Longman Chapter 16: Public Policy in the United States Equality of Process Set the cake in the middle of the room, put everyone an equal distance from it, and let everyone try to take as much as they want. Equality of Outcomes Count the number of people who want the cake and divide the whole cake by that number. If we had to divide a cake among a group of people, how could we do so in a way that ensures equality? Ideas and Values in Public Policy: Equality

7. Shea, Green, and Smith, Living Democracy, Second EditionCopyright 2009 Pearson Longman Chapter 16: Public Policy in the United States Ideas and Values in Public Policy: Equality

8. Shea, Green, and Smith, Living Democracy, Second EditionCopyright 2009 Pearson Longman Chapter 16: Public Policy in the United States Pathways Profile: Rachel Carson (1907–1964) A leading scientist in the 1950s and 1960s and author of Silent Spring

9. Shea, Green, and Smith, Living Democracy, Second EditionCopyright 2009 Pearson Longman Chapter 16: Public Policy in the United States Types of Public Policy Basic functions of government –Distribution –Regulation –Redistribution Nature of their benefits –Tangible benefits –Symbolic benefits How can we categorize policies?

10. Shea, Green, and Smith, Living Democracy, Second EditionCopyright 2009 Pearson Longman Chapter 16: Public Policy in the United States Who do policymakers listen to? The Public Policy Process: Identifying the Problem Pluralist View Our system of open government allows those without resources to have their voices heard. Elitist View Only those with power and money get access to the decision makers.

11. Shea, Green, and Smith, Living Democracy, Second EditionCopyright 2009 Pearson Longman Chapter 16: Public Policy in the United States Begun by two mothers whose children were killed by drunk drivers Successful in raising awareness of the issue Now a national organization, pushing for legislative change Pathways of Action: Mothers Against Drunk Driving

12. Shea, Green, and Smith, Living Democracy, Second EditionCopyright 2009 Pearson Longman Chapter 16: Public Policy in the United States The Public Policy Process: Setting an Agenda The ability to exclude an item from the agenda, for whatever reason, is a powerful way to control what government does. Georgia Senator Richard Russell was instrumental in keeping civil rights policy off the nation’s agenda in the 1950s and 1960s.

13. Shea, Green, and Smith, Living Democracy, Second EditionCopyright 2009 Pearson Longman Chapter 16: Public Policy in the United States The Public Policy Process: Formulating and Legitimizing Policy Was the terrorist attack of 9/11 a crime against U.S. citizens and property or was it an act of war? War Legal solution Military solution Crime

14. Shea, Green, and Smith, Living Democracy, Second EditionCopyright 2009 Pearson Longman Chapter 16: Public Policy in the United States The Public Policy Process: Implementing Policy Policy formation: crafting solutions to identified problems

15. Shea, Green, and Smith, Living Democracy, Second EditionCopyright 2009 Pearson Longman Chapter 16: Public Policy in the United States Pathways Past and Present: The Welfare Debate The Great Depression brought a sharp rise in childhood poverty. Congress created Aid to Families with Dependent Children in response. 1996: Clinton signs Welfare Reform Act

16. Shea, Green, and Smith, Living Democracy, Second EditionCopyright 2009 Pearson Longman Chapter 16: Public Policy in the United States Alternative Views of the Policy Process Garbage-can Model : In this model, problems, solutions, actors, and other parts of policymaking universe jumble together. No clear linear order of steps dictates what happens first or next. Policy Windows and Streams : In this model, problems, solutions, and political factors are three separate streams that flow at the same time but often do not merge with one another.

17. Shea, Green, and Smith, Living Democracy, Second EditionCopyright 2009 Pearson Longman Chapter 16: Public Policy in the United States Founder of the Collegiate Forum Uses Facebook and MySpace to promote political participation and activism Student Profile: Jonathan Fantini