Download lec 23

Lecture No 23
Theories of Public Policy &
Public Policy-Making Process:
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Outline
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Uses of Models
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Types of Models
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Group Work
Dye: Uses of Models:
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Simplify and clarify our thinking about politics and public policy
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Identify important aspects of policy problems
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Help us to communicate with each other by focusing on essential features of political life
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Direct our efforts to understand public policy better by suggesting what is important and
unimportant
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Suggest explanations for public policy and predict its consequences
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1. Who participates in policy making?
2. How are policy decisions made?
3. What are the underlying assumptions of the theory/model?
4. If the author is right, what are the consequences for the general public of policy decisions
made in accordance with the particular theory/model?
Types of Models
There are 4 questions you should be able to answer about each of the theories or models you
will be exposed to:
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1. Institutionalism:
Public policy as institutional output
Who: executive, legislative, and judicial branches
How: policy is authoritatively determined, implemented, and enforced by these institutions
(legitimacy, universality, and coercion)
Implications/assumptions: individuals have little impact; structure/design affects outcomes
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2. Process Model:
Public policy as political activity
Who: voters, interest groups, legislators, presidents, bureaucrats, judges
How: ID problem, set agenda, formulate policy proposals, legitimate policies, implement
policies, evaluate policies
Implications/assumptions: who participates has a critical or determinant impact on the process
3. Group Theory;
Public policy as group equilibrium
Who: interest groups, their allies in government
How: struggle among interest groups with legislature/executive as referee to manage group
conflict and establish rules of the game
Implications/assumptions: groups will always join to press for particular issues, all interests will
have an opportunity for representation
4. Elite Theory:
Public policy as elite preference
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Who: elites that have power, ability to allocate value
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How: implementation of the preferences and values of the governing elite; public officials
merely carry out policies decided on by the elites
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Implications/assumptions: public is apathetic elites agree upon norms; political action is merely
symbolic; protects the status quo
5. Rationalism:
Public policy as maximum social gain
Who: decision makers (all social, political, economic values sacrificed or achieved by a policy
choice) irrespective of dollar amount (Bentham, Mills)
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How: select policy alternative(s) that allows gains to society to exceed benefits by the greatest
amount
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Implications/assumptions: assumes that the values preferences of the society as a whole can
be known and weighted
6. Incrementalism:
Public policy as variations on the past
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Who: policy makers, legislators, others with a stake in ongoing programs or problems
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How: continuation of past government activities with only incremental modifications
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Implications/assumptions: accepts the legitimacy of established programs; fear of unintended
consequences; sunk costs in other programs may minimize the opportunities for radical change
7. Game Theory:
Public policy as rational choice in competitive situations
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Who: players/decision makers who have choices to make and the outcome depends on the
choice made by each (assumes rationality in making choices)
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How: each player has goals and resources, a strategy developed given possible moves of
opponent, and payoff values that constitute the outcomes of the game
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Implications/assumptions: repeated plays should lead to better policy outcomes
8. Public Choice:
Public policy as collective decision making by self-interested individuals
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Who: rational self-interested individuals will in both politics and economics cooperate to
achieve their goals
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How: individuals come together in politics for their own mutual benefit; government must
respond to market failures
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Implications/assumptions: individuals have sufficient information to know what is in their best
interest
9. Systems Theory:
Public policy as system output
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Who: individuals, groups, or nations depending upon the scope of the problem
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How: environment may stimulate inputs into political system, producing outputs and feedback
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Implications/assumptions: systems implies an identifiable set of institutions and activities in
society that functions to transforms demands into authoritative decisions requiring the support
of the whole society; implies that the elements of the system are interrelated, that the system
can respond to forces in its environment, and that it will do so to preserve itself
10. Kingdon-Garbage Can Model:
11. Who: participants inside and outside government
12. How: choice opportunity is a garbage can into which various kinds of problems and
solutions are dumped by participants as they are generated; policy outcomes are a function
of the mix of the garbage: problems, solutions, participants, and participant resources in the
can and how the can is processed
13. Implications/assumptions: each of the actors and processes can operate either as an
impetus or as a constraint; streams operate largely independent of one another
Summary:
Public policy making can be characterized as a complex, dynamic, constantly evolving interactive and
adaptive system. The process is stakeholder-driven. Actors are engaged in a goal-driven decision-making
process and have a great deal of self-sufficiency in the way they organize their work. The process has
two dimensions: a political dimension and a production dimension.
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Feminism is a collection of movements and ideologies aimed at defining, establishing, and
defending equal political, economic, and social rights for women.
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Public policy can and should be seen through different viewpoints; the feminist viewpoint helps
to identify a more broad range of issues in turn providing a better scope to public policy. The
study of feminist politics and public policy lends itself to more than just the male perspective. If
the world were seen through just a male perspective, key issues such as the lack of
representation of women in policy-making roles would be overlooked.