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Public Policy Course Session 8: Policy Analysis, Policy Development.... And Politics March 12, 2010 Policy Analysis vs. Policy Development • Thinking vs. doing • Problematique/Critique vs. Solutions • What’s wrong vs. What can be done • What should be done ….and that’s Politics 2 Policy and Politics Politics determines • What issues will be analysed, and by whom • What issues will be taken seriously, by whom • What kinds of policy responses will be favoured at a given moment in time Politics = who is in office PLUS the zeitgeist 3 Political Influence • Electoral politics – Ex. Minority governments versus Majority governments; frequency of elections • Partisan politics – Ex. Canadian or American style aggression? (changes titres of feeling versus thinking, emotion versus ideas, politics versus policy) • Zeitgeist/public mood – Ex. Buy into “government can only mess things up”; “irrational exuberance” 4 Does policy analysis shape politics? • Washington Consensus (all about what we mean by development/progress) – More market, less government • Climate change studies • Thus far nothing effective re substantially offsetting increasing concentration of income, wealth and power – (men’s concerns and markets/growth trump women’s concerns and economic security) 5 What shapes policy analysis? • Manifest Need (individual or macro scale) – Beveridge Report, UNHR, Marshall Plan • Awareness of Emerging Trends - long-term scientific/scholarly analysis • Crisis (individual or macro scale) – Shock Doctrine What shapes policy development? • Ethics – 1945 to mid 1960s: “There but for the grace of God go I” – What needs doing? What should modern life look like? • Evidence – Mid 1960s to mid 1990s: “Human development or economic development first?” – Evidence-based decision-making • (Bi-polar) Storytelling – Mid 1990s to date: hero/villain, good/bad stories about governments, poor people, aid/military, climate – Decision-based evidence-making Thinking About Options • Go big or go home – Ex. Guaranteed Annual Income, 25% Debt to GDP • Tweak what exists- Relentless Incrementalism – Ex. Welfare rates, tax brackets/rates/credits • Start something new – Tax Free Savings Account, Pay Equity, Medicare • Look at things a new way (framing) – Gendered Budgeting, Proportional Representation, Climate Debt What Works – Policy Analysis & Development • Building on the known – Enhancing existing programs and program directions (grow or cut) • Building on momentum – Taste for social insurance/less risk after 1930s and WWII; taste for less taxation today • Building on a vision – Safer places to live, the knowledge economy, strong middle class, freedom to choose There’s no such thing as starting from nothing What Works Part II Selling Policy Development • Ideas that keep YOU at the centre of the frame – (like ads – can you see yourself in this story?) • Emotional engagement – What’s getting fixed and why should I care? • Keeping your audiences straight – Difference balance of head/heart for different groups – Different lexicons (expert versus “just like you”) – Different gimmicks (charts, pictures, jokes) Getting It Right • Is policy right or wrong? Or Right or Left? • Right or Wrong – Ex. Fed-prov fights re transfers for health care – Small governments • Right or Left – Cutting social supports (Conservatives, Liberals & NDP) – Cutting taxes (ditto) – Stimulus versus no stimulus Which is More Important? Getting it Right or Spinning it Right? • The best spinner wins the battle of the mind • The most forward-looking plan (with the most support) wins the war • You need great policies and great spin to win the short term and long term fight P.S. There is nothing but the long haul