Chapter One: Policy Analysis

Concepts and Rationale for Policy

Analysis
• Policy making and policy analysis are two sides of
a coin.

• Because whenever we think of policymaking, our

first impression is
– why and how has it happened, and
– to what end.

• These questions are part and parcel of policy

analysis.
• To this end, Gupta (2001) has to say the
following:

• The government does not make public policies in

a vacuum.
• Its control over its citizens depends on several
factors that determine
– what are and
– what are not acceptable domains of policy
• These factors include the
– nation’s norms,
– values,
– culture,
– history,
– traditions,
– constitution, and
– technological sophistication.

• Together, these factors form the environment in

which policies are made (Gupta 2001, 2).
 What is Policy Analysis?
• Definitions given to policy analysis are varied as any area of social
sciences.

• Because definitions bear the various scholars’ values that are

behind them.

• A very telling definition of policy analysis comes from Thomas R.

Dye (2005).

• To him, policy analysis is the task of finding out

– what governments do,
– why they do it, and
– what difference, if any, it makes.
• For Kraft and Furlong (2004), it is a systematic
and organized way of evaluating
– policy alternatives or
– existing government programs.

• It is also argued that the main objective of policy

analysis is the systematic
– comparison and
– evaluation of alternatives available to public actors
for solving social problems.
• The style employed is the synthesis combine of
– existing or
– would-be hypothetical policy situations to predict
consequences of the alternative policy options
• Policy analysis is also considered as the
– description and
– explanation of the
• causes and
• consequences of government activity
• It , therefore, attempts to focus on
– providing explanation and suggestion
– rather than prescription, which leads to sound policy
decisions.
• The term policy analysis covers many different
activities.
• It may mean examining the components of
policy making process, such as
– policy formulation and implementation, or
– studying substantive policy issues, such as
regulation or both.
• Policy analysis usually involves collecting and
interpreting information that clarifies the
– causes and effects of problems and

– the likely consequences of using one policy option or

another to address them.
• Policy analysis is a problem-solving discipline that
draws on theories, methods, and substantive
findings of
– behavioural and social sciences,
– social professions, and
– social and political philosophy (William N. Dunn 2004).
• It is a process of multidisciplinary inquiry
designed to
– create,
– critically assess, and
– communicate information that is useful in
understanding and improving policies.

• As a process of multidisciplinary inquiry, policy

analysis seeks to
– create,
– transform, and
– communicate knowledge about and in the policy
making.
• Policy analysis describes the investigations that
produce accurate and useful information for
decision makers.

• Most often, policy analysis refers to the

assessment of policy alternatives.

• It is the systematic
– investigation of alternative policy options and
– the assembly and the integration of the evidence for
and against each option.
• Policy analysis is not intended to make policy
decisions but rather to inform the process of
public deliberation and debate.

• Policy analysis can provide useful information

and comparisons.

• Ultimately, however, the public and its elected

officials must decide what course of action to
take
• One of the methodologies of policy analysis is
a process of inquiry designed to discover
solutions to practical problems.

• Inquiry refers to probing, investigating, and

searching for solution.

• Many scholars argue that the emergence or

development of policy analysis has been a
response to practical problems and crises.
• On the other hand, it must be noted that policy
analysis is not so much passionate of problem solutions
based on
– purely quantitative research outputs,

– scientific methods considered as “value-free”,

– pure objectivity in achieving goal,

– collection of infallible “facts” that are independent of the

frames of reference of analysts

• Instead it also rests on art, craft and persuasion (Dunn

2004).
• Students of policy analysis have learned in the classroom
that their work should be
– non political,
– technical and
– scientific.

• However the politics/administration dichotomy is still the

dominant overarching theory of policy analysis.

• Thus the administrators merely execute laws and

implement policies passed by elected officials.

• The policy analyst’s role becomes the positivist role of using

– rational, scientific, and
– neutral methods to define problems and evaluate policies
(working directly for elected officials).
• Although policy analysis has accumulated a
multidisciplinary stock of knowledge, most
knowledge is methodological, referring to
– methods and techniques,
– the standards, rules and
– principles that guide their use.
• Policy analysis is partly descriptive because it
relies on
– the social and
– behavioural sciences to make and justify claims about
the causes and consequences of policies.

• It is also normative as it draws on

– ethics and other branches of social and political
philosophy, as well as
– normative economics and
– decision analysis to evaluate and justify claims about
the expected utility and moral worth of policies.
• Normative aspect of policy analysis is
necessary because policy-relevant knowledge
involves
– the selection of desired consequences (ends) and
– preferred courses of action (means),
– a process that is based on ethical and value
judgments.
• Policy-relevant information for policy analysis include
the following five questions:

– What is the nature of the problem for which a solution is

sought?
– Which of two or more courses of action should be chosen
to solve the problem?
– What are the outcomes of choosing the course of action?
– Does achieving the outcomes contribute to solving the
problem?
– What future outcomes can be expected if other courses of
action are chosen? (Dunn 2004,3).
• The idea behind policy analysis is that
– policymakers at all levels and
– the citizenry as a whole need to be cautious about the policy
that they are going to install on behalf of the broad-public and
the nation.

• Policy analysis, then, is

– partly science and
– partly political judgment.

• Doing analysis often means

– bringing scientific knowledge to the political process, or
– speaking truth to power.
• Policy analysis involves both
– descriptive or empirical study, which tries to determine the facts
of a given situation, and
– a normative or value-based assessment of the options.

• Policy analysis can

– never be reduced to a formula for solving public problems, but
– it can bring valuable information to both policy makers and the
public.

• In those cases where public involvement in decisions is

important, analysis also may enhance the democratic
process.
• Policy choices usually reflect
– some combination of political preferences and
– various assessments of the problem and
– possible solutions to it.
• Policy analysis can help to clarify
– the problem,
– the policy choices available, and
– how each choice stands up against the different standards of judgment
that might be used, such as
• effectiveness,
• efficiency, and
• equity.

• Ultimately, however, policymakers and the public choose what

kinds of policies they prefer to have.
• To the views of Wildavsky (1979, 15), “policy
analysis is an applied sub-field whose content
– cannot be determined by disciplinary boundaries but
– by whatever appears appropriate to the
circumstances of the time and nature of the problem.”

• This conception tells us that any policy issue is

– not solely confined to few discipline areas but rather
– makes use of all relevant study areas as the case may
be.
• In consequence, policy orientations, including
policy analysis, is characterized as:
– Multi-mode;
– Multidisciplinary;
– Problem-focused;
– concerned to map the contextuality of the policy
process, policy options and policy outcomes; and
– Whose goal is to integrate knowledge into an
overarching discipline to analyze public choices
and decision-making and thereby contribute to
the democratization of society (Lasswell 1951a,
1968, 1970, 1978).
• There are two concepts that we take into account while considering
policy analysis.
• 1. Analysis of the policy process which deals with how
– problems are defined,
– agendas set,
– policy formulated,
– decisions made and
– policy implemented and
– evaluated.

• 2. Analysis in and for policy process encompasses the use of

– analytical techniques,
– research and advocacy in problem definition,
– decision-making,
– implementation and
– evaluation (Parsons 1995).
• As policy analysis can be
– prospective and
– retrospective in nature, the common truth is that policymakers
have to base their decisions on the analysis made as it relates to
• the benefits and
• cost of any policy to be in place.

• This is expected to safeguard the

– relevance,
– timeliness and
– economical,
– social and political viability of a given public policy to be
installed..
• Such meticulous inquiry is deliberate on the
part of policymakers for any policy affects
– individuals,
– groups,
– governments and
– sub-governments, local, state and
– the nation in positive or negative ways.
• The underlying rationale for policy analysis is
– to serve sort out uncertainties
– to be certain as much as possible

• It is also believed that such precautions will

contribute to achieving policy objectives with
least expenditure of resources.
 Policy Analysis, Policy Practice and Policy Advocacy

• Policy Analysis:
The main objective of policy analysis is the
– assessment of policy alternatives,
– collecting and interpreting information that explain the causes
and effects of public problems.
• It is the “systematic
– investigation of alternative policy options and
– the assembly and integration of the evidence for and against
each option”.
• Since public problems are understood through
many disciplines, policy analysis draws from the
ideas and methods of different disciplines such as
– economics,
– political science,
– sociology,
– psychology,
– philosophy, and
– various technical fields.
Policy Practice:

• It is using practice skills to propose and change policies

in order to achieve the goal of social and economic
justice.

• In doing policy practice, we use skills to make changes

in laws, rules, budgets, and policies and in the bodies
that create those policies, whether they be
– local, state, or
– federal agencies or
– other decision-making bodies, in the pursuit of the mission
of social and economic justice.
• The goal of policy practice is to ensure social
and economic justice in the social
environment so that all people, regardless of
– their socio economic status,
– race, ethnicity, religion, or
– sexual orientation,
– have opportunities to achieve success for
themselves and their families,
• It is an effort to change policies in legislative,
agency and community settings, either by
– establishing new policies,
– improving existing ones, or
– defeating the policy initiatives of other people.
Policy Advocacy:
• It is a policy practice that aims to help relatively
powerless groups (e.g. women, children, the
poor, and people with disabilities).

• Policy advocacy is believed to improve the

– resources and
– opportunities of these groups of people.

• Social workers, environmental activists, human

rights activists, etc work with people who are to
be affected by certain policies but powerless to
withstand the policy measure and its impacts.
• Put short Policy Advocacy is active
involvement in strategies to change public
policies, laws, and systems.

• Policy advocates work to influence decision

makers by
– lobbying the government,
– taking legal action, and
– educating the public
 Forms and characteristics of policy analysis
• Policymaking depends upon values resulting in the
community of policy scholars

• As a result there is no unified outlook.

• They generally agree on various analytical aspects of

policy,

• Yet. they hold different views about what is best for

society.

• Hence policy Analysis takes the following forms

 Forms and characteristics

1. Descriptive and Normative Policy Analysis

– Descriptive Policy Analysis:
• Involves describing the policy to learn what
the governments are really doing.
• In describing a policy, we can know and
understand
– the causes and
– consequences of policy.
• Put short descriptive policy analysis helps to
– explain,
– understand, and
– predict the
• causes and
• consequences of policy choices by identifying patterns
of causality.
 Normative Policy Analysis:
• It provides rules and recommendations for optimizing the
attainment of desired value. It is value gudgement.

• It also refers to evaluating or prescribing policy proposals

and policy actions.

• As a result, various types of information are needed to test

or verify.

• However, normative policy analysis rests on disagreements

about passionately held views such as
– efficiency,
– equity,
– relevance or responsiveness,
– freedom, and security.
• Since policy analysis is directed toward resolving public
issues, normative policy analysis
– is considered prescriptive;
– it recommends action to be taken rather than
– merely describing policy process.

• Normative policy analysis is a study of what social

policy ought to improve in the general welfare.

• It deals with statements involving value judgments

about what should be.

• However, the validity of normative policy analysis

depends upon one’s own values and ethical views.
2. Segmented and Integrated Analysis

Integrated Policy Analysis

• is a combined analysis.
• It combines both
– retrospective and prospective forms of analysis.
– descriptive and normative forms of analysis
• Thus, policy analysts need to bridge the several main
pillars of multidisciplinary policy analysis such as
economics and political science.

• The effort to bridge these and other disciplines, and

convert intellectual knowledge into practical
knowledge, is carried out by professions that include
– public administration,
– management,
– planning,
– policy analysis and
– social work, etc.
• Integrated policy analysis helps to examine the
assumptions, uses, and limitations of various
– segmented and overspecialized disciplines and
– professions.

• This helps to provide comprehensive

descriptions about issues or problems under
consideration
3. Reconstructed logic and logic-in use Policy
Analysis
• The usual and academic way of analyzing
policy may not conform to some of the
pragmatic approaches used in policy analysis.

• The so-called “scientific method” emphasizes

all the logical reconstructions that are abstract
representations.
• On the other hand, the logic-in-use of policy
analysis always varies from one to another
because of differences in
– personal characteristics of analysts,
– their professional socialization, and
– the institutional settings in which they work.
4. Positivist /Rationalist policy analysis:
• Based on the various value backgrounds of
policy scholars, two main tracks of policy
analysis have become common:

A. positivist/rationalist and

B. post-positivist/post-rationalist.
A. The positivist or rationalist approach of analysis
claims to be
– scientific,
– value-neutral,
– quantitative and
– had dominated the field of policy analysis since 1970s
• It emphasized the
– rational choice theory,
– microeconomic concepts,
– statistical analysis and
– other forms of probability and risk assessment
• Put short the main emphasis is to
– be value-free (simply understanding how the policy
process works),

– pursue truth through testing the hypothesis by

measuring it against standard of real world
experiences, and

– dealing with the cause and effect phenomena.

• However, the causes and effects can be described

only through empirical studies or examinations to
find the truth or their authenticity.
B. Post-positivist/Post-rationalist policy analysis
• Post-positivist/post-rationalist policy analysis
is associated with postmodernist approach

• It is a qualitative track that

– features the social construction of reality and
– argues that as in any field of life, subjectivity is an
inevitable in policy analysis.
• The pragmatic decision making process, however,
is distributed among different power centres
such as
– different branches of government:
• executive,
• legislative,
• local, state, or
• national levels and
– various interest groups, and
– the general public.

• Hence, no single group’s will is totally dominant

• Consequently, policy analysts study how actors in the
policy process make decision:
– how issues get on the agenda,
– what goals are developed by the various groups, and
– how are they pursued.

• Policy that results is, therefore, the results of different

power groups pulling in different directions.

• Policy analysts study how

– individuals and
– groups in the policy process interact with each other.