 What is public policy?

 The phases in the policy process

 The components of policy system
 Summary of definition of terms
What the literature says:
 An expression of general purpose or desired state of affairs;
expresses the broad purposes or ends of the state and
government, e.g., Constitution
 A label for a field of government activity – government’s
social policy, labor policy, economic policy, foreign policy
 Whatever governments choose to do or not to do
 Decisions of government – include moments of choice at
some critical points in time; should, however, include
broader patterns of related decisions and longer time-span
 Major guidelines for action directed at future, decided
mainly by government organs, formally aim at achieving
what is in the public interest by the best possible means
What the literature says:
 Specific proposals – statements of specific actions

which political actors would like government to

undertake
 Formal authorization – specific acts of Congress

which allows activities to take place.

Authorization does not necessarily lead to
implementation.
 Program – a defined and relatively specific sphere

of governmental activity involving legislation,

organization or resources
What the literature says:
 Output – what government actually delivers. Outputs
may not necessarily conform to stated intentions.
 Outcome – what is actually achieved. Outcomes are
the impact of governmental activities.
 A theory or model of cause and effect
 A purposive course of action followed by an actor or a
set of actors in dealing with a public problem or
concern
 A set of interrelated decisions taken by a political
actor or group of actors concerning the selection of
goals and the means of achieving them within a
specified situation where these decisions should, in
principle, be within the power of these actors to
achieve
Main points of definitions:
 Public policy is larger than decisions. It consists of decisions
to address a public issue or problem.
 It is a process over time. It consists of a pattern of action or
decisions taken over time.
 It involves intentions and behavior.
 It involves action as well as inaction (decision not to do
anything).
 It is a purposive course of action and goal-oriented.
 It is based on law; it is authoritative - commands
obedience, has element of coercion.
 It involves a leading role for government
 It involves intra- and inter-organizational relationships,
state and non-state actors.
 Policy Process Model
Policy
Formulation

Policy Adoption
Problem Definition
and Agenda Setting
Policy
Implementation
Policy Evaluation

Key Components
◦ Problem definition and agenda setting:
 Identifying a policy problem - problem definition and redefinition
 Getting the policy problem into the policy agenda of the government
◦ Formulation:
 Search and evaluation of alternative courses of action (including
maintaining status quo) for dealing with the public problem
◦ Adoption or decision-making:
 Decision on the best course of action
 Authorization or official adoption by government
◦ Implementation:
 Execution or enforcement of policy;
 Resources, organization, personnel, time-frame
◦ Evaluation:
 Assessing the results and impact of policy
 Feedback used to review policy – status quo, improvement,
termination
 Assumptions about characteristics of policy process:
◦ Rational
 Involves steps from problem formulation and evaluation of
alternatives through to implementation
 Conflicts over goals or perceptions about the situation may be present
but these are assumed to result in stable and determinate outcomes
and do not interfere with the consistency of the process
 Problem is viewed as technical , climate as consensual, process as
controlled

◦ Political
 Perceptions and interests of individual actors enter at all stages
 Policy is a bargained outcome
 Environment is conflictful
 Process is characterized by diversity and constraints
 Some general characteristics
◦ Both rational and political
◦ Sequential, cyclical and iterative
◦ Ongoing, continuing cycle the boundaries of
which are sometimes blurred
◦ Complex and dynamic
◦ Others (from participants)
 Policy
Stakeholders

Policy Public
Environment Policies
 ENVIRONMENT OF POLICY MAKING

 In general, forces and conditions affecting policymaking

 Specific contexts surrounding a particular policy problem
 Environment generates and transmits demands for policy
action
 Public policies also affect the environment
 Two broad categories of environment
◦ Intra-social or societal
◦ Extra-societal
 INTRA-SOCIETAL ENVIRONMENT

 Physical or geographic characteristics – climate,

topography, land and water resources, location
 Technology – level of technological development or
backwardness
 Socio-economic characteristics – urban and rural
disparities, standards of living, income and wealth
distribution
 Demographic profile – population size, age distribution,
ethnic differentiations, spatial distribution
 Political system and culture – democratic, authoritarian,
capitalistic, socialistic
 EXTRA-SOCIETAL ENVIRONMENT

 Global developments – globalization, ICT,

 Multilateral, bilateral institutions
 International economic order
 Foreign and transnational investments and
corporations
 International agreements, treaties, summits
 Other countries
 ACTORS IN POLICY MAKING
 Other terms used: policy makers, stakeholders, influence wielder,
implementors, analysts – depending on the stage of the policy
process they are involved in
 Stakeholders have stake in a policy because they affect and are
affected by governmental decisions – e.g., citizens’ groups, labor
unions, NGOs, business groups, government agencies, political
parties, etc.
 Official actors
◦ Have legal authority to make policies- legislators, executives,
administrators, judges,
◦ Primary and secondary actors
 Congress, President, Judiciary
 Bureaucrats, administrators, administrative bodies
 Unofficial actors
◦ Interest groups, lobby groups, political parties, citizens, media,
church
 DEFINITIONS OF SOME BASIC TERMINOLOGIES
 Public policy – long series of more or less related choices, including
decisions not to act, made by governmental bodies and officials
 Policy issue – a disagreement or conflict among policy actors about an
actual or potential course of action
 Policy problem – an unrealized need, value, or opportunity which, however
identified, may be attained through public action
 Policy environment – the specific context in which events surrounding a
particular issue occur
 Policy formulation – the development and synthesis of alternative solutions
for policy problems
 (Policy) Evaluation – the policy-analytic method used to produce
information about the value or worth of past and /or future courses of
action
 Policy advocacy – the use of policy-relevant information to make policy
claims and offer reasoned arguments about possible solutions for
problems. Policy advocacy is a way to make normative statements, not to
issue prescriptions, commands or orders of various kinds
 DEFINITIONS

 Policy alternative – a potentially available course of action that

may contribute to the attainment of values and resolution of a
policy problem
 Policy analysis – an applied discipline which uses multiple
methods of inquiry and argument to produce and transform
policy-relevant information that may be utilized in political
settings to resolve public problems
 Policy outcome – an observed consequence of a policy action
 Policy stakeholders – individuals or groups who have a stake in
policy because they affect and are affected by government
decisions
 Policy system – the overall institutional pattern within which
policies are made. Has three elements: public polices, policy
stakeholders and policy environments
.