17' The Policy Process

1
17. The Policy Process
2
Policy analysis

• Policy analysis Understand what governments do,
  how they do it and what difference it makes
• Policy broader than a decision (at least a
  bundle of )

3
Policy

• Ideally, policies show
• coherence ( as strategy)
• hierarchy ( as instructions)
• instrumentality ( as purpose)
• In practice often window-dressing

4
Policy process stages

• Initiation
• ?
• Formulation
• ?
• Implementation
• ?
• Evaluation
• ?
• Review

5
1. Initiation

• Political process policy windows
• Role of policy entrepreneurs
• Three additional influences
• science
• technology
• media

6
2. Formulation

• Moving from deciding to decide to deciding
  what to decide
• How are policies formulated? Two models
• rational (synoptic)
• incremental

7
Rational and incremental models compared

• Relationship between goals means
• - rational goals set before considering means
• - incremental goals means considered together

8
Rational and incremental models compared

• Good policy
• - rational most appropriate to achieve goals
• - incremental consensual policy

9
Rational and incremental models compared

• Analysis
• - rational comprehensive
• - incremental selective (good policy, not best
  policy)

10
Rational and incremental models compared

• Theory-driven or practice- driven?
• - rational heavy use of theory
• - incremental focus on comparison with similar
  problems

11
CBA Cost-Benefit Analysis

• Involves giving a monetary value (positive or
  negative) to every consequence of choosing each
  option, then selecting the option with the
  highest net benefit.
• Advantage transparent
• Disadvantage time-consuming

12
3. Implementation

• Top-down vs. bottom-up approaches
• Top-down rooted in the rational model
• Bottom-up reflects an incremental view

13
4. Evaluation

• Outputs vs. outcomes
• Outputs what government does
• Outcomes what government achieves

14
5. Review

• Evaluation what next? Three possibilities
• continue
• revise
• terminate

15
Changing agenda of the Western state

• Three phases
• nightwatchman state
• welfare state
• regulatory state

16
The nightwatchman state

• Liberal thinking minimal state
• that government is best which governs least
  (Thomas Jefferson)
• Up to 19th century
• Free market doctrine - laissez faire (to allow
  to do)

17
The welfare state

• First decades after WWII (1960s 70s), W Europe
  (esp. N Europe)
• Development of social citizenship
• Nightwatchman state (liberty) vs. welfare state
  (equality)

18
Regulatory state

• Crisis of the welfare state
• Fundamental shift in agenda focus of public
  policy (esp. Europe)
• Transition from provider state to a regulatory
  state
• US ? Europe

19
Public policy in new democracies

• Rebuilding the ship at sea
• Not institutions making policies rather, policy
  is institution-building
• Nature of the economy (private vs. public)
• Nature of the state (capacity)

20
Public policy in authoritarian states

• General problem subservience of policies to
  politics
• Nature of the state (capacity)
• Central planning some success
• Failure inefficiency shortages
• Authoritarianism overall, poorer performance
  than democracies

21
Concepts

• Political participation
• Activity intended to influence govt
• Extent form
• Clientelism
• Politics based on patron-client rel.
• Traditional personal can also be instrumental

22
Revolutions

• Rapid, basic transformations
• State and class structure
• Accompanied by, in part carried through, by
  class-based revolts from below

23
Gerrymandering

• Drawing seats boundaries in plurality elections
• Maximizing the efficiency (seats/vote ratio)

24
District magnitude

• Number of representatives elected in a district
• Equals one in plurality/majority systems, greater
  than one in PR
• (E.g., M 1 in USA, UK, France M 120 in
  Israel)

25
Democratic centralism

• Communist party organization
• Centralism Top-down decisions
• democracy bottom-up elections
• One candidate, hand-picked by the center
• Thus, centralism w/o democracy

26
Class action

• Legal device initiated by complainants on their
  behalf and all others so situated
• Commonly used in the US
• Mean for interest groups to pursue their goals
  through courts

27
Judicial restraint

• More conservative than judicial activism
• Judges apply the law, including constitution
• Policy implications, judges own values are
  irrelevant
• US Supreme Court wider relevance

28
Federalism

• Principle of sharing sovereignty between central
  and state (provincial) governments
• Federation puts idea into practice
• E.g., US

29
1. Patterns of participation

• Democracies Medium, declining
• Authoritarian Low
• Totalitarian High
• Nature of the regime ? participation voluntary
  in Dem., prevented in Auth, forced in Tot.

30
2. Theories of revolutions

• Individual (relative deprivation)
• State (capacity)
• Both helpful, complementary, rather than mutually
  exclusive
• Why do people rebel? What makes some revolts
  successful?

31

• Protective vs. promotional interest groups (pp.
  167-9, esp. Box 10.2)
• The three types of party organization (pp. 187-8
  Box 11.2)

32
Constitution constitutionalism

• Constitution definition
• Constitutionalism definition
• Constitution needs constitutionalism to be
  effective w/o it, becomes mere parchment

33
Assessing federalism ( -)