The Policy Making ProcessChapter 17

Public Policy

Public Policy-Making Process

The Policymaking System

• Public Policy = how to solve a “public” problem

• The process by which policy comes into being and evolves over time.

Making Public Policy in 5 Steps1. The National Agenda

- getting on the radar

2. Policy Formulation

- determining the remedy

3. Policy Adoption

- choosing the remedy

4. Policy Implementation

- regulating the policy

5. Policy Evaluation

- assessing policy

Setting the Political Agenda• The political agenda:

something that is important to lots of people– Healthcare?

• Getting on the agenda:- major event occurs- Trend in statistics- interest group awareness- media awareness

• Should policy be made radically or incrementally?

The Influence of Institutions on Public Policy

• Congress makes laws; President enforces laws– Both help decide policy agenda

• Court decisions require enforcement assistance→ school desegregation, abortion– Often tackle issues ignored by legislature/executive

• The bureaucracy is a source of innovation and forms alliances with senators and staff– Iron Triangles– Issue Networks

Other Influences• Groups may react if their issues are being ignored

– Tea Party– Occupy Wall St.

• States are laboratories for future national policies – Federalism– Block Grants

Costs, Benefits, Politics Effect on Policy* In order to make a policy decision, policymakers

must assess the following items:

• Cost: any burden, monetary or non-monetary, that affect a group/people by a policy

• Benefit: any satisfaction, monetary or non-monetary, that affect a group/people by a policy

• Politics = who actually benefits/pays and who ought to benefit/pay- getting items on the policy agenda- helping one group over another group

Classifying and Explaining the Politics of Different Policy Issues

The POLITICS of Making Public Policy• Majoritarian politics: benefits for all & costs for all

– Ex: Military spending• Interest group politics: benefits for a few & costs for a few

– Ex: labor unions wants vs. business wants• Client politics: benefits for a few & costs for all

– Pork-Barrel Projects → “Earmarks”– Ex: “Bridge to Nowhere” in Alaska

• Entrepreneurial politics: Benefits for all & costs for a few– Ex: food safety, environment safety