Chapter 9 Public Policy Power and Decision Public Policy any decision or action by a governmental authority that results in the allocation of something that is valued Decisions range enormously depending on to what extent the government performs Types of Public Policies Classified on functional area that is served education health transportation Alternately it can be described by the objective of the policy Distributive Particular goods and services building and maintaining streets Redistributive Explicitly transfer values from one group to another trade etc and highways subsidized housing Regulatory limits actions abortions Extractive take resources from some actors sales tax Symbolic confer honor medal of honor Analysis of the stages of the policy process Issue Identification an actor decides that a condition in the environment requires Problem definition attempt to explain why the problem happens and to define a public policy response desired outcomes Specification of Alternatives policy analysts develop policy proposals that seem to respond to the problem given the causes preferred outcome and possible obstacles Policy Selection Decision makers assess the alternatives weighing costs and benefits Implementation policy is now interpreted and applied in specific contexts Those in relevant administrative decisions typically take the lead role Evaluation New information is gathered to ascertain whether the policy has had At any stage the policy could be continued modified or terminated The cycle can any of the anticipated impacts also trigger another policy process Policy Impact Analysis Policy Prescription Defining and pursuing a policy goal What difference did the policy make Direct notable indirect effects Can be based on ideology or careful analysis Policy advocates propose which public policies should be adopted and how they should be implemented Explaining Public Policy Decision Making Political explanations of the public policy process Each is a different explanation of how politics works how influence is exercised and what forces shape decisions The Elite Approach Key Concepts Politics struggle for power to control policy Political Stratification The population is segmented into separate groups that are in layers strata with higher or lower amounts of power In elite there are only 2 types of strata One that does more of what there is to do public policy process and gets more of what there is to get valued impacts of public policy decisions is part of the political elite The others that do less and get less are the mass Notice in figure 9 2 that there is a political understructure composed of political officials and administrators who carry out the elite s policy directives Major Theorists Grounded in writings of European political theorists of the late 19th century Italians Roberto Michels Wilfredo Pareto and Gaetano Mosca The Ruling Class Gaetano Mosca Said that people are split into the political class elite and the nonpolitical class the mass The Power Elite C Wright Mills Society is composed into those who control the more powerful institutions warlords in military corporation chieftains and top positions in the political system Claims that the political elite tend to have the same social background and values Generally there is a lot of study on the socializations of the elite and what they do to maintain power The Public Policy Process Process through which values are allocated are usually explained in terms of the elite s actions where if a policy is in an elite s interest and many agree they then discuss the best way for the policy to be implemented Very little influence from the mass Prevalence of the Elite Based Political System Many contemporary states are run by an elitist system Exists even in democratic systems A small proportion of the population dominates the most significant political decisions and enjoys a disproportionate share of benefits The Class Approach Stratification and structured inequality in the distribution of values in society Class a large group of individuals who are similar in their possession of or control over some fundamental value Karl Marx classes differentiated by relationship to economic system Capitalist Class those who own a significant amount of the major factors of production Proletariat Class Those who own little more than their labor Many suggest variations accepting that there are more than 2 major class strata In addition some believe control more important that ownership Class Conflict given fundamental inequalities power struggles are only to be The Public Policy Process Assume the common interests in a class will lead to the expected creation of policy for them There is a subordinate and dominate class like in an elite system Interests of the dominating class are clearly understood by the governing system Class wars lead to another class gaining dominating power As by Karl Marx if the lower class over throws the upper The Pluralist Approach multiple groups compete actively in the pursuit of their political interests Group any aggregate of individuals who interact to pursue a common interest 2 Assumptions from this approach political resources may influence those who make public policy decisions Public Policy the balance point of the competition among groups on an issue at group memberships are multiple and overlapping the time when the government makes a policy decision Politics interaction among groups that are pursuing political interests The Policy Making Process 5 steps Identify key groups with active interest in decisions in this policy area Locate preferred policy decision of each group Estimate level of political resources each groups employs to influence the Gov t establishes the equilibrium point that balances the weights of the political decision regarding this policy resources mobilized by the groups The equilibrium point on the policy continuum is authorized by the gov t Functions of the gov t Establish rules for the group struggle Determine interests Find public policy that balances all positions of active groups Enact these balance points Implement resulting policy Gov t expected to be a referee but realistically it had ideologies and will try to implement them Three Approaches Compared Elite evidence of collaboration among elite mass of uninformed citizens Class Whether state operates for the dominant class group behaviors defined by class significant changes come about through violence Pluralism