Download Chapter 1 The Study of American Government

Chapter 17
The PolicyMaking Process
What is “policy?”
• GENERAL: Any broad course of government
action.
o Make college more affordable.
o Better control immigration.
o Improve public schools.
• NARROW: Any specific government program
or initiative.
o Maintain cap on student loan interest rates.
o More aggressive deportation efforts.
o Change teacher evaluation methods to make it
easier to fire them.
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Setting the Agenda
“He who decides what politics is about runs the country.”
• Policymaking has two basic steps:
1. Putting an issue on the political agenda.
2. Creating a plan of action for that issue.
•
The policymaking process is dependent on
many variables:
o
o
o
o
•
Events beyond the control of government.
Interest group activity
Political competitiveness
Operation of key institutions: courts, bureaucracy,
media
Creating a policy requires a majority coalition.
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Setting the Agenda
What makes a government policy
legitimate (proper or right)?
1. Shared political values (anti-poverty
programs)
2. Custom and tradition (what government has
customarily done is accepted)
3. Significant events (war, economic crisis)
4. Shifts in behavior of political elites. (civil
rights)
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Legitimate scope of government action
• It is always getting larger.
• Significant stages:
o Late 19th Century industrialization
o Great Depression
o 1960s & 1970s: Civil rights movement, Great Society,
environmental movement, consumer protection.
• Many people believe the government should continue
doing what is already is doing (environmental protection).
• Changes in attitude + significant events = ever
expanding role of the government.
• Not a “liberal conspiracy.” Significant expansion of the
role of federal government under Eisenhower, Nixon, and
Reagan.
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Agenda setting
• The government’s agenda and programs may expand
even when there is no public demand.
• GROUPS
o May be organized (unions, interest groups) or
unorganized (Tea Party, urban minorities)
o May be reacting to perceived unfairness or lack of
government response.
• MEDIA
o Helps place issues on the agenda (stand-your-ground
laws)
o Publicizes issues placed there by others
(contraception)
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Agenda setting
• COURTS
o Make decisions that force action by other branches:
school desegregation, abortion, gay marriage.
o Courts facilitate change when there is no popular
majority
• BUREACRACY
o Source of political innovation.
o Modern bureaucracy has a variety of experts and
advocates who are source of policy proposals.
o Iron triangles and issue networks allow bureaucrats
to participate in policymaking.
• SENATE
o Framers: Senate will moderate change.
o Modern Senate: source of political innovation.
o Source of presidential candidates with new ideas.
Copyright © 2011 Cengage
Bill Pugliano/Getty Images
Highway safety was always a problem, but it became a
national issue after policy advocates, such as Mothers Against
Drunk Driving (MADD), emphasized it. p. 465
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Making a Decision
• Using a cost-benefit analysis model helps us
understand the policymaking process.
• Cost: Burden – actual or perceived – of adopting a
policy.
• Benefit: Satisfaction – actual or perceived – of
adopting a policy.
• Perception of costs/benefits: What people think might
happen is different from what will actually happen (auto
emissions standards)
• Legitimacy of costs/benefits: Does a group deserve to
pay for or benefit from a policy? (Aid to mothers with
dependent children – “welfare”)
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Making a Decision:
Politics in a nutshell
Who ought to
pay/benefit
from a policy?
vs
Who will actually
pay/benefit from
a policy?
• If there is agreement – policy is created.
• If there is dispute – no policy.
• Beliefs about these two things are matters of opinion,
there is frequently dispute.
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Applying the cost/benefit model
• Most people prefer programs that offer large benefits
at low cost.
• Policies that require a high cost with small or remote
benefits are generally avoided, passed quietly, or only
passed in a crisis.
• Example: Oil/gasoline prices, energy independence.
o “Drill here, drill now” – promoted as low cost policy
that benefits everyone.
o Alternative energy development – perceived as
high cost, remote benefits program.
o Who benefits?
Who pays?
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Figure 17.1 The Politics of
Different Policy Issues
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Majoritarian Politics: Distributed
Benefits, Distributed Costs

Majoritarian politics – A policy in which almost
everybody benefits and almost everybody pays
• Social Security
• Military Defense
• Cancer research



Controversial issues often involved.
Controversy usually over cost/ideology
Large groups of voters involved rather than rival
interest groups
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Interest Group Politics – Concentrated
Benefits, Concentrated Costs

Interest group politics – A policy in which one
small group benefits and another small group pays
• Labor - Business
• TV Broadcasters – Cable Companies
• Banks – Insurance Companies



Fought by organized interest groups
Sides perceive strong impact of proposed policy.
Public is often uninformed about proposal. (TV
broadcasters vs. cable companies)
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Client Politics: Concentrated Benefits,
Distributed Costs

Client politics – A policy in which one small
group benefits and almost everybody pays
• Farmers – agricultural price supports
• Airlines – gov regulations restricted price competition




Group that benefits is “client” of the government.
Cost to majority is small, widely distributed.
Benefit to small group may be substantial.
Pork-barrel legislation is often the result of client
politics.
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Entrepreneurial Politics: Distributed
Benefits, Concentrated Costs

Entrepreneurial Politics – A policy in which
almost everybody benefits and a small group pays
the cost
• Auto safety/antipollution
• Brady Bill – background check for gun buyers


Called entrepreneurial politics because proposals are often
“sold” by activists (policy entrepreneurs) either in or out
of government who put together a political majority.
(example: Ralph Nader)
Organized groups are energized to oppose policy proposals
because they will pay high costs while many benefit.
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The Case of Business Regulation




Majoritarian Politics
Interest Group Politics
Client Politics
Entrepreneurial Politics
The Granger Collection, New York
Copyright © 2011 Cengage
The Grange sought to
warn farmers of the
dangers of a railroad
monopoly. p. 472
Dairy farmers get government
subsidies for their milk
production. p. 474
Bob Mahoney/The Image Works
Entrepreneurial politics: Upton
Sinclair’s book The Jungle,
published in 1906, shocked readers
with its description of conditions in
the meatpacking industry and
helped bring about passage of the
Meat Inspection Act of 1906. p. 476
Bettmann/Corbis
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Perceptions, Beliefs, Interests
and Values


•
•
•
•
•
Bill Aron/Photo Edit
Though many economists
question the value of the
Small Business Administration,
it remains popular because it
loans money to a lot of voters.
p. 477
Perception of Costs
and Benefits
Deregulation

The power of ideas
Process regulation
Airlines
Telephone
Trucking
The Limits of Ideas
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