KAY 392 PUBLIC POLICY SUMMARY SLIDES
WHAT IS PUBLIC POLICY? • What governments choose to do or choose not to do. • An analytical and cyclical problem ‐ solving and decision ‐ making process – Multi ‐ disciplinary, multi ‐ method, problem ‐ focused and action ‐ oriented. • Minimize or Maximize something – Decrease what is too much, increase what is too little. • Speaking truth to power – In pluralist democracies, speaking truth s to power s • Policy science s of democracy ‐ Lasswell
Public Policy • Problems – Public and private • Public policy is about the solution of public problems. • Types of Agendas – Systemic Agenda – Institutional Agenda
Actors in Public Policy • List of Actors – Government • Levels: International, National, Regional, Local • Powers: Executive, Legislative and Judiciary – Private sector • Same levels – International organizations – Non ‐ governmental organizations – Communities – Individuals in a market – Other Actors: Political parties • Legitimacy of Actors
Politics and Policy • How much government we want or need in making decisions for us? – Pendulum swings from more government to less government (more market) and the other way around. • Market failure and government failure • Alternatives to government and markets – Etzioni and communitarianism – De Tocqueville and the power of associations/NGOs
Philosophical Approaches to Government • Need for government – For maintaining the law and order ‐ Thomas Hobbes • “Homo homini lupus” – Private sector preference ‐ Adam Smith • The invisible hand of the market – Civil society/Associations ‐ Alexis De Tocqueville
Market Failures • Need for Government Intervention • Externalities • Public Goods • Monopolies • Imperfect Information
Where did public policy come from? ‐ 1 • Explanation 1: Since the emergence of organized societies – After the division of labor regarding the rulers and the ruled, rulers needed advice. • Knowledge is power. • Advisors beginning from ancient China, Egypt and India • Wazir: the ones who help carry the load • Oral and written advice. – No real data collecton and analysis – Mostly experience ‐ based
Where did public policy come from? ‐ 2 • Explanation 2: Late 1700s, Early 1800s – French Revolution – Enlightenment – Industrial Revolution • Migration to cities and urbanization – How to solve the problems of urbanization? • Crime, education, health, infrastructure… • Systematic data collection and simple data analysis
Where did public policy come from? ‐ 3 • Explanation 3 ‐ During and After teh second World War, in the US and its allies – Systematic data collection and complicated data analysis • Statistics, mathematical models, operations research… – Uses spread into the civilian domain after the War
How did public policy emerge? Explanation Data Collection Data Analysis Policy is Based On Explanation 1: Almost none Almost none Mostly experience Since the transmission emergence of organized societies Explanation 2: Systematic data No Complicated Scientific analysis Since the collection analysis Industrial Revolution Explanation 3: Systematic data Statistics, Scientific analysis During and After collection mathematical teh second World models, War, in the US and operations its allies research
Public Policy in Turkey • Windows of Opportunity (Akdo ğ an, 2011) – 1924 ‐ Ministry of Education report – 1950s to1965 ‐ Foreign social scientists’ empirical research efforts about Turkey – 1961 ‐ Establishment of the State Planning Organization – 1975 ‐ Formation of the Turkish Operations Research Society – 2002 ‐ Law Number 5018 on Public Finance Administration and Control Act
Analysis of the Policy Process A. Analysis of Policy 1. Analysis of policy determination – How policy is made; why,when & for whom? 2. Analysis of policy content – How policy developed, from which frameworks? 3. Policy monitoring & evaluation – Policy goals & impacts
Analysis of the Policy Process B. Analysis for Policy 4. Information for policy – Detailed research & advice 5. Policy advocacy – Research & arguments that affect policy agenda
STAGES IN PUBLIC POLICY ANALYSIS
Advantages of the Stages • An artificial view of the policy ‐ making • It reduces complexity to a more manageable form • Provides us with tidy, neat steps that follow each other
Criticisms of the stagist model • It does not provide any causal explanation of how policy moves from one stage to another • It can not be tested on an empirical basis • It is a top ‐ down approach, and fails to take account of all the actors • It ignores multiple levels of government and interacting actors
Source: Davis, “Influencing PP through Research”
Public Opinion & Public Policy • Observations on the character and importance of the public voice from ancient times: – “Vox populi, vox dei” (Alcuin) – “Publica Voce” (Machiavelli)
What is Public Opinion? Although it is an old concept, it is first defined in the 18th Century Britain as: • An identifiable body of views held by a defined group to whose opinions government attached a standing and significance.
Public Opinion & Public Policy • Which comes first? – Public policy or public opinion? • Policy agenda is set by the interplay of public opinion and public power. – How is public opinion shaped by power? – Shaping of public concerns, priorities and attitudes
Interplay between the Media and Agenda (Mayer) Which comes first? (Chicken ‐ egg?) • Unidirectional – Media influencing the public agenda • Multidirectional – The policy agenda of the government influencing media coverage and public opinion
Public Opinion & Public Policy • In a democracy, public policy is a function of public opinion. – Policy demand determines policy supply • Public opinion is to the political market what consumer demand is to the economic market.
What is Public Opinion? • In the Post ‐ Second World War Era, the introduction of techniques to make empirical, quasi ‐ scientific measurements of public opinion on issues... led to the analysis of the impact of opinion on the political agenda.
Agenda Setting (McCombs & Shaw) • The media has a key role in agenda setting, that is, in the power to determine what topics are discussed. • The more attention that is given to an issue, the more does the public regard it as being a high agenda item.
The I mpact of Media Attention on the Public Agenda High Media attention on issues Low I ssues considered less I ssues considered more important by the public important by the public Source: Parsons, 1995: 113.
Factors Determining Response • Policy makers’ response to new stories/media coverage is influenced by: – The relationship of journalists to policy ‐ making elites and vice versa – The timing of the publication – Interest group pressures – Costs and benefits of problems and solutions, etc.
2. Alarmed Discovery 3. Realizing costs of Euphoric Enthusiasm significant progress Downs’ I ssue Attention Cycle Source: Parsons, 1995: 115 4. Gradual decline 1. Pre-problem stage of public interest 5. Post-problem stage I ssues as having highs and lows, ons and offs...
Downs’ Issue Attention Cycle 1.Pre ‐ Problem Stage: Experts and policy ‐ makers may be aware of the problem, and knowledge may have been produced, but there is negligible public interest.
Downs’ Issue Attention Cycle 2. Alarmed Discovery and Euphoric (Joyful) Enthusiasm Stage: The issue is recognized as a problem, prompted by a disaster and event, which focuses concern and leads to demands for government action
Downs’ Issue Attention Cycle 3.Counting the Costs and Benefits Stage: Policy makers and the public become aware of what progress will cost. 4.Decline of public interest in issue 5.Post ‐ Problem Stage: The issue slips down the public agenda. New issues replace the environment in public opinion and policy agendas.
Systemic and Institutional Agenda (Cobb & Elder) • Institutional Agenda • Systemic Agenda – Explicitly up for active and serious – All issues commonly consideration by perceived by members decision ‐ makers of a political community as meriting – May be an old item public attention of which is up for regular public authorities review or is of periodic concern; or it may be a – Shared concern of a new item. sizeable portion of the public
Factors that Affect Transfer • Degree of specificity ( ‐ ) – The more ambiguous the issue, the easier it will be exposed to a larger population • Scope of social significance (+) • Temporal relevance (+) – The higher the long ‐ term relevance, the easier it will be exposed to a larger population • Degree of complexity ( ‐ ) – The more non ‐ technical the issue, the easier it will be exposed to a larger population • Categorical precedence ( ‐ ) – The more an issue lacks a clear precedence, the easier it will be exposed to a larger population
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