Introduction public policy ii

By naresh babu karki

• In every society there exist some problem. this
problem could be in the areas of politics,
commerce, education, agriculture, health,
communication, transportation, housing,
international security, national defense etc. in
order to solve these problem as they might exist
at give point of time government always
formulate policies to respond them and to
maximize the objective of growth and wellbeing
of citizen.
• This is necessary because if attempts are not made
to address these problem as they arise, they may
change into uncontrollable stage which may
endangered society socioeconomic growth and
development.
• Fundamentally a public policy is a government
action or proposed action directed at achieving
certain desired goals and objective. In the light of
given problem public policy guides and determine
present and future decision related with public.
• In essence a public policy determine the activities
of government and given private institution in
relation to providing service designed to solve
given problem, policy making is complex and
sensitive process. It requires specialized skill,
knowledge, experience and willingness of the
policy maker so policy making is the process
designed sequential pattern of action through
which public policy are really made.
 Policy life cycle or process
Phase 1: initiation
• Agenda setting issue (problem identification)
• Policy instrument
• Policy analysis
• Stake holder engagement, consultation and
co-ordination
Phase2: generation
• Policy formulation, decision making and policy
drafting
Phase 3: adaptation
Phase 4: implementation
Phase 5: evaluation
 Agenda setting(problem identification)
Step 1
• It is the process of identifying policy issue, problem which
requires the attention of a legislator
• It is the process where the member of society identify
their needs, desire and demands and process where
legislator decides to place these issue on the on the
agenda.
• The setting of the policy agenda allows a legislator to
become sensitize to some of critical policy requirement
that affect society.
• It helps to prioritize the issue.
Step 2 policy instrument
• Legislation and government
• Taxation and budget
• Through public pressure
• Inspection and audits
• Minutes of meeting
• News letter, media briefing and community
meeting.
 Policy analysis
• Step 3
• Step by step of unpacking and understanding
policy choice and comparing possible outcomes.
• It is attempt to determine the cost and benefit
of various alternatives or to evaluate the validity
of existing policies.
• Policy analysis needs to explore as rationality,
honesty in formulating policies and implication
and possible out comes of adopting policy.
 Benefit of policy analysis
• It helps to determine whether they are in effect of
contributing towards the general wellbeing of
society the serving the best interest of the societal
stake holder.
• The making of rational choice in policy.
• Assist the stakeholder in policy to comprehend the
importance of values, particular interests and the
consideration.
• Compare not only objectives or resources but also
alternative programs, it makes easy to identify error.
 Steps in policy process
• Identify the underlying value and aspiration.
• Understand the problem in its context.
• Identify the alternative course of action.
• Decide the dimension of problem
• Predict the likely outcome of different course
of action
• Measure the chosen course of action against
important values and aspiration
Step 4: stake holder engagement, consultation and
coordination
• Objective: to ensure accountability
responsiveness and openness and upholding the
right to access any information held by the state.
• Constant interaction with society
• Extensive consultation and coordination between
various stakeholder.
• Public participation
 Policy formulation and adaptation
Factor to consider
• Policy recommendation are normally drafted by
senior bureaucrats and then referred to relevant
political authority for adoption
• It remains the authority of highest decision making
authority(legislature, executive, judiciary)to
approve or reject policy recommendation.
• The matter could be referred back to department or
ministry for further investigation
• Here the policy maker or decision maker has
to be sure of the ability of official to actually
execute a policy, administrative operational
and managerial capacity to implement the
decision.
 Implementation action part of policy
• It deals with how to put policy into action.
• What impact does this policy have on policy
content
• How various actor and factor involved in this
process affect policy
 Evaluation
• Mainly concern with the impact of the
particular policy and consequences of its.
• Positive result continuity of policy
• Negative result termination of policy
 Merits of policy making process
• It affords a rational structure with in which we may
consider the multiple activities which follow the
sequence of activities chronologically.
• It permit us to analyze the complexities of real world
of policy making by using experimental model.
• It consider the context of situational need and
requirement
• It can be utilize to formulate each and every kind of
policy
• It provide space for comparative analysis.
 Limitation
• It seems an artificial way of policy making because the
real world of policy making is much more complicated.
• It does not provide cause and effect relationship of how
policy moves from one stage to another
• The notion of policy cycle ignores the real world of policy
making which involves multiple level of government and
interactive cycle
• It does not provide an integrated view of analysis of
policy process and it does not explain knowledge
information resources which are used in the policy
process.
 Role of state authority in policy making
process
• State authorities occupy the formal offices prescribed by
the political community. They are the member of the
legislature, local councilors, ministers, senior official and
judges. Official policy makers cause legal authority to
engage in the formation of public policy. There are mainly
two types of public policy makers 1) Primary policy
makers, 2) Supplementary policy makers
• Primary policy makers have direct authority for policy
making.
• Supplementary policy makers don't have direct authority.
Authority they have to take from others. (From legislature)
• Legislature
• Legislature is concerned with the central political task of
law making and policy formation in a political system.
The parliament in India or the congress in US is supreme
public policy making bodies. Parliament makes laws and
legitimizes the decision of the government. It also
authorizes taxation and expenditure and makes the
government accountable for financial decision. Domestic
policy is largely decided by the legislature which may
contain the policies such as taxation, civil right, welfare,
labor relation etc.
• Executive (Executive-centered era - Anderson)
• Constitution gives all executive power in the president and
council of ministers. For this reason, Sir Iver Jennigs stated
that the executive is the core of government and it exercise
power. In other words executive is the centre around which
the whole political machinery revolves. Further at all level of
administration the executives are assistant by a chain of
public services. The bureaucracy provides or supplies the
necessary data, the basic information and also makes a
proper analysis of facts to guide the executive. In this sense
bureaucracy is the information bank and information
provider.
• Judiciary
• Judges making judicial reviews, offering suggestion, giving
opinion and helping to interpret the law of the land
(Constitution), national issues assist in policy making. The
constructive opinions on legal implication or issues help
both to the government and public so it is stated that
constitution is what the judges says it is.
• Others
• National Planning Commission, National Development
Council and advisory and constitutive bodies play roles in
policy making if they have a constitutional power.
• Factors influencing public policy making process
• There are various factors which influence policy making process the factors may
constrain or facilitate the real world of policy making.
• a) Environment:
• Environmental variables such as economic and social system, history, philosophy,
culture, religion etc. can influence policy making. Likewise certain norms and
values, code of conduct, ethical consideration have also heavy hand in policy
making process.
• b) Ideological Factor:
• It is directly associated with politics. Ideological ground of the government such as
liberalism, communism, socialism, nationalism etc. have a big role to play in public
policy formulation. Similarly parties manifesto and vested interest of certain
political party may also have crucial effect in policy making.
• c) Political Leadership:
• Ideological and functional strength of political leadership also affect the policy
making process as various types of leaderships have their own views on policy
issues. The top level leadership mainly emphasize on external affairs, defense and
economic affairs.
• d) Administrative Policies:
• Policies which do not match with the administrative policies can face many
contradictions and difficulties to be formulated and implemented.
• e) Political Parties:
• Political parties have direct ability to communicate with the policy makers as they
carry public support on various issues. They have popular control over government
and policies as they become organized to take control of the office at any time.
Hence, the role of the ruling and opposition party can not be undermined.
• f) Bureaucracy and the governmental structure:
• The role of bureaucracy is for policy suggestion and implementation their impartial
or neutral role plays a vital role. Similarly, the structure of the government such as
autocratic or democratic can also influence in policy making. The autocratic system
puts substantial restrictions on participatory approach of policy making where as
democratic system facilitates and demands popular participation in policy making.
• g) Past and present policies
• Countries' past and present policies may also affect the policy making to some
extent because of sometimes it is very difficult to make a radical departure from
the existing practice.
h) Administrative behavior:
Administrative behavior heavily affects on policy making as their self interest such as power
status reward and their administrative efficiency may hinder facilitate policy making.
i) Social character:
It mainly deals with the demands of people, aspiration, problems and hardships of the people.
The society may be traditional, transitional and modern. If the society is modern it may demand
newer policies. But the traditional society satisfies with the existing policies. In a transitional
society, the society itself becomes undecided on various issues.
j) Internationalism and Bilateralism
No country in the world can live in isolation without recognizing the international trend of
policy issues. So countries are interdependent and help to each other in solving problems and
needs.
k) Media:
Media is pre-requisite of democracy as it provides channel of information to the citizen and
government on various crucial and emerging issues. It represents people's support or opposition
on policies. But in democratic system, media should not be biased and should maintain
credibility.