POSC 315 Study Guide notes pg. 22-39

Social constructions of Problems has 5 key elements:

1. Use of symbols, narratives, to define problems 2. numbers 3. attention 4. political power 5. groups

Policy Analysis Tradition (art) 1. ____________ science 2. Policy is like ________ or engineering to solve real world problems 3. Asks which __________ achieves goal 4. Gov't does this--who specifically? Policy Process Tradition 5. ______ science Theory for theory's sake 6. Analyze policy ____________ and study policy making 7. Researchers and _______________ do this

1. applied 2. medicine 3. policy 4. bureaucrats 5. pure 6. process 7. academics

1. Design matches __________ 2. Can be problematic because you may not have the _________ to achieve that given goal 3. ___________ _____________ decision making approach 4. Intergovernmental _________ can be hard 5. Implementers may circumvent policy maker's ________

1. capacity 2. resources 3. Rational comprehensive 4. cooperation 5. preferences

Top-Down approach has 4 clear things

1. clear goals, tools, policy statements, authority

1. Rational Comprehensive Model has ________ and _________ information. 2. what man falls under this model> 3. knows all the facts about...4 things 4. this person has the ability to achieve maximum _____ _____

1. complete and perfect 2. economic man 3. About a problem About causes and effects Can accurately weigh all costs and benefits Can note all potential governmental solutions 4. social gain

1. Why is the Garbage Can Model considered Pathological Decision Making?

1. considered pathological because made with values and incomplete information **harmful to the policy process when you assign a solution to a problem that may or may not be there To make problems real, we have to define them and then the group and person that defines it gets to design solution for it

what are the 3 classic policy typologies

1. distributive policy 2. regulatory policy 3. redistributive policies

IMPLEMENTATION Policies aren't self-____________ Executed by the___________ Depends on interorganizational ____________

1. executing 2. bureaus 3. relationships

Competitive Regulatory Policy: 1. limit the provisions of _______ & _________ 2. Regulation by profession and ____________ 3. ____ visibility

1. goods and services 2. government 3. Low

Procedural: 1. ______ gov't does what it does 2. Usually _________ procedures 3. Go through the ........

1. how 2. regulatory ex)rules, publication that there of 3. red tape

with punctuated equilibrium, there is a clear _______ change

1. image *****therefore new image is new equilibrium

the Bounded Rational---administrative man 1. Make most rational decision based on available __________ and ____________ that we have 2. Beyond merits of the policy, individuals have goals, _______ and __________ 3. Decisions are a balance of _______ versus values

1. information and experiences 2. motivations, limits 3. facts

Policies: 1. Some involve more ________ _______ than others 2. Some engender more __________ than others 3. Some are more ______ than others 4. Some can _______ un-attentive publics into attentive publics ***You could not be paying attn at all to policy issues, and when problems occur, it galvanizes public attn

1. interest groups 2. conflict 3. visible 4. transform

Policy typologies are useful because they categorize policies based on similar characteristics and help us to differentiate policies with different characteristics. In other words, they allow us to recognize 3 things

1. know which policies will have more conflict than others 2. some policies more visible than others 3. understand why some policies have more interest groups than others

what is instrumental learning? social? political?

1. learning about the effectiveness of policy tools. 2 Thinking about causal processes, rethink initial causal idea 3. to see if you met all the social characteristics. learning better strategies for making political arguments, policy losers come here to be winners

1. Outcomes are difficult to _________ 2. Measure what _________ do 3. Substantive results of policy _____________

1. measure 2. agencies 3. implementation

Use of symbols, narratives, to define problems in what 4 ways

1. narratives 2. us VS them US control 3. conspiracy/horror stories 4. causal stories

POLICY ANALYSIS: All policies have goals, are they because of outputs are outcomes? 1.Goals and _______ are the same, ________ are how you get there 2. You use _________ to achieve desired outcomes

1. outcomes; outputs 2. outputs

bottom up: 1. where government meets the ________ using _________ mapping 2. considers ability of what group of people?

1. people, backwards 2. street level bureaucrats

Protective regulatory policy seeks to do what (1) 2. what does this include? 3. what is this dominated by? 4. ______ visible

1. protect the public from the negative effects of private activity. 2. unsafe production, pollution, food, banking (any extra costs of providing this though the consumer has to pay for) 3. Dominated by (potential) Iron Triangles 4. Highly visible

Falsification: Karl Popper 1. _______ the idea of Positivism bc nothing is completely objective or independent 2. Can never have a '_______ theory' 3. So we falsify statements that aren't true by ________________ _________________: iterative steps to truth but no final truth

1. refuted 2. master 3. Hypothesizing Versimiltude

1. examples of outputs 2. __________ items generated by the policy process

1. regulations, rules, laws, plans, projects, resources 2. Tangible

Charles Lindblom built on the bounded rationality model with his idea of policy incremental decision making. This "muddling through" is characterized by...3 things

1. risk adversity 2. successive limited comparisons 3. relying on previous experiences

true or false? There is one approach to policy analysis based on rationality.

False

In what ways can this occur monetarily and not>

From most well off to least well off (new taxes: income) From least ---> most well off (tax cuts: sales) Not always about $$$ ex) education: Jim Crow laws were taken away the educational benefit that one group had over another group ex) men make higher income ---> now men and women paid equally (take $$ from identifiable group (men) to women (other group)

5 Elements of Policy Design & THEIR characteristics ******REVIEW REVIEW******

Goals (desired outcomes) Causal model (how we get to present state to changed state) Tools (things that help us get there) Targets (the audience we're trying to affect/target) Implementation *remember problem definition → policy design

what is the traditional notion that science is not biased and that we can generalize smaller ideas to a broader scale?

Positivism: Inductivism (J.S. Mill)

the garbage can model is different than the other models in what 3 ways?

Preferences May Be Problematic (choices we make may not be the best choices) Technology is unclear Participation is fluid (for those who the decision has an impact, are not always the same type of people--stakeholders change)

what are Kingdon's 3 Multiple Streams Approach when these three come together, a ____________ of ____________ appears to create a new policy

Problem, politics, policy window of opportunity

Classic Policy Typology (3 fold)

Regulatory Policy Distributive Policy Redistributive policies

Single versus double loop learning

Single loop: learn about policy itself and how it may have failed, make adjustments by new tools Double: doing that and then looking back at the fundamental nature of the problem---was the problem defined correctly

what do Distributive Policies do?

Take resources from a broad group of people & give to a narrowed group of people

Which of the following is NOT a reason that a policy or program evaluation may be unpopular? --It is easy to measure program _______________

accomplishments

A model developed by Paul Sabatier that states that interest groups are organized in policy communities within a policy domain is called the?

advocacy coalition framework

ATTENTION ---this matters because it sets the _______ ---_______ determine agenda and shifts with focusing events ----what are the two complications to this?

agenda priority 1. we live in a world of costly imperfect information 2. attention bottlenecks

long term periods of stability with short bursts of policy change is called? (evolutionary biology) ex) dinosaurs, cigarettes, pesticides

punctuated equilibrium

*Causal theory is a theory about what causes a problem and how particular ________ would alleviate that problem. HERE THE cause and effect can help with right outputs that lead to desired outcomes

responses

what do narratives do?

simplify complex problems to reflect a world view/construction.

1. what is defining and selling a population a problem? the 2. way we see our world is constructed by _______ 3. _________ is how we define it.

social construction society reality

Successive limited comparisons allow for policies to be...

tested and adjusted

What is an example of a real life condition?

the frequency of earthquakes in California

Which is an explanation of policy failure discussed in your book when covering the work of Ingram and Mann?

the impact of changing circumstances

According to Lindblom, we engage in small, incremental changes to policy because

the information cost of small steps is small, because we have a lot of accumulated experience

The scarcity of policy windows is mainly due to

the limited capacity of the system to handle issues.

When we discuss the outcomes of policies, we are concerned with

the substantive accomplishments of the policies

positivism: inductivism cont'd 1. Science proceeds from an ______, ________________ foundation 2. This is how we'll have an independently and ____________ known world

unbiased, observational objectively

What losing groups do to become winning groups? these all induce policy change to gain _______

--Could contribute to changing policy image or having advocacy coalitions, Windows of Opportunity for Change (3 streams), and venue shopping attention

4 mechanisms of policy diffusion:

1. Learning from early adopters (ppl who early enact laws) 2. Economic competition (wanting to compete against other gov'ts) 3. Imitation ex) CA is going to adopt policy on MJ and mimick from Washington, Colorado, etc 4. Coercion-----Forced diffusion

Bounded rationality: 1. states which of the following about popes and information processing? 2. what man is this? 3. person has to act within 3 limits 4. this man makes the most __________ decision, not always optimal

1. People cannot process all information, 2. administrative man 3. because of incomplete information Limited time to make decision Limited cognitive abilities 4. satisfactory

what are the 2 approaches to policy sciences

1. Policy Analysis Tradition 2. Policy Process Tradition

Regulatory Policies: 2 types that deal with _______ what are the difference and examples of the two?

1. Protective 2. Competitive Protective: more visible involve interest groups, private activities--for us goods cost more and that's visible Competitive: lawyers, plumber, hair stylist, all have licenses to practice their skill

Name all 4 theories of Decision Making:

1. Rational Comprehensive Model 2. Bounded Rationality 3. Incrementalism 4. Garbage Can Model

1.______________ Theory: Qualitative (Sandra Harding) Social construction 2. Where you stand is how you view the world and the things around you; _____________ perspectives 3. ____________ situated world 4. Interview, observations, __________,___________, etc **important for policy design and _________________

1. Standpoint 2. individual 3. Socially 4. data, charts 5. implementation

Losing Groups have two ways to expand scope of conflict, what are they?

1. Symbols because images produce sympathy and can change nature of policy debate 2. Appeal to another level of gov't

Redistributive Policies 1. what do they do? 2. what do they manipulate? 3. highly _______ & ________

1. Take (or seem to take) resources from one identifiable group and gives benefits to another identifiable group 2. allocation of wealth, property, and civil rights (through two ways) 3. visible and controversial

1. The idea that one must be willing to surrender some liberty to gain greater security is most closely associated with which theorist? 2. which one says that liberty is a more important natural right than security? 3. good policy finds a ________ between the two

1. Thomas Hobbes 2. John Locke 3. balance

Distributive Policies cont'd: 1. what do these policies usually result in?

1. "interest group liberalism" Gov't accomodates a wide range of narrow interests (narrow interests are at the detriment of the public interest)

Post-Positivism: Quantitative 1. who is this by? 2. Science and scientific change works in __________ and iterative way 3. Bias is lessened through _________-__________ 4. Knowledge accumulates through anomalies leads to scientific change--a __________ shift

1. (Thoman Kuhn) 2. cumulative 3. peer-review 4. paradigm

3 Faces of Political Power and Their Characteristics

1. Coercive power-getting someone to do something 2. Blocking power-keeping someone from doing something (common power relationship in the US) 3. Powerlessness: Attempt but fail to influence policy process. It's Intergenerational (can be very detrimental, keeps the public very distant from policy process)

What are the 2 Logics of Policy Making

1. Economic Rationality Use economic logic to explain political phenomenon, bypassing the "messiness" of politics; these use transparent assumptions 2. Political Rationality

What are two ways in which groups and society as a whole learn of problems in the nation or the world?

1. Indicators (numbers can focus attention on a problem, especially if they look bad), symbols of the problem (numbers became a symbol) 2. Focusing events

Advantages: 1. Begins with the target groups and __________ ___________ 2. Recognizes goals are ambiguous and can _______ 3. Enhances administrative _________ 4. Policy is likely to reflect _____________ interests Disadvantages: 5. _____________ the ability of street level bureaucrats 6. Doesn't fully recognize ______ differences amongst groups 7 street -level bureaucrats may _______ elected officials goals **Hard to address what?

1. service deliverers 2. conflict 3. discretion 4. community (reflecting the people who are really being impacted by the policy) 5. Overemphasizes 6. power 7. subvert ****praise and blame

GARBAGE CAN MODEL: (picking out of a garbage can) 1. -there are _________ out there looking for problems 2. there are _________ makers looking for work 3. This decision maker can be what type of person>

1. solutions 2. decision 3. elected official, think tank, senior position in agency

NUMBERS 1. appear to have ________ 2. Selectively use __________ of central tendency 3. Two sides to every _________ 4. current example?

1. statistic 2. measures 3. statistic 4. Hillary Clinton's emails--no one really cares the number, but the number speaks volumes

Incrementalism is based upon----- these comparisons allow: 1. Do this with ________ over time 2. It limits the number of ______________ you can consider 3. Allows decision maker to rely on __________ from previous experiences 4. Manages risk bc it makes the process serial & remedial, avoids the chance of ______, and allows quick _______ making

1. successive limited comparisons 2. alternatives 3. feedback 4. error, decision

1. What types of policy tool aims to alter behavior by making some activities more or less economically desirable? 2. Policy tools are constrained by which of the following?

1. taxes 2. resources

POLICY TOOLS 1. a method by which government seeks to get someone to _____________________________; or achieve a certain policy objective 2. what are the four dimensions of government activity? 3. example we used in class to analyze policy tools?

1. to do or not to do something 2. Money payments Provision of goods or services Legal protection Restrictions and penalties 3. Amsterdam alcoholics

Redistributive policies manipulate the allocation of 3 things

1. wealth 2. personal/civil rights 3. property

Substantive: 1. how gov't _________ a particular policy goal 2. What the gov't ______ 3. Cost ______

1. will pursue 2. does 3. money

Advantages and disadvantages to top down policy

ADV: Accountability through elected and appointed officials. ---Overhead democracy DIS: emphasis of goals at the top, and not on the workers on the line. ex) common core

difference between conditions and problems which one can you do something about

Conditions: something for which very little can be done Problems: policy can address it problems; but overtime conditions --> problems

The process of comparing the outcomes with achieving a goal with the resource used to achieve that goal is known as

Cost Benefit Analysis

Rational Comprehensive Approach to Policy Analysis: (5)

Defining problem Identify goal to address problem Consider solutions or policies Evaluate ^^^ Recommend course of action

Pluralism vs. Elite Theory

ELITE: small group consisting of economic elites and policy-planning networks hold the most power, no matter the outcome in elections. these people use their knowledge and skills to do the behind the scenes work PLURALISM: Real power lies with a wide number of coalitions, democracy is mostly a clash of ideals in a crowded field, no one political faction is capable of dominating the others. Thus, these various groups are forced to compromise in order to pass sound policy for the benefit of society.

What is the difference between economic man and administrative man?

Economic man: perfectly rational with complete and perfect information Administrative Man: all of those abilities are bounded by time and new information---makes the most satisfactory decision with info made to him/her

EQUALITY VERSUS EQUITY

Equality: sameness (can be expensive) Equity: denotes fairness distributions *clashing goal: equity and efficiency (achieving goal at least amount of cost)

Policy design begins as soon as ________ go into the policy system

Inputs

3 types of Policy-oriented Learning

Instrumental learning social learning Political learning

How might an assumption of a clear policy statement be problematic or unrealistic?

It's really difficult because of incrementalism and fragmentation, so getting a clear policy statement is sometimes unreasonable

what complicates implementation?

Joint action

MATERIAL V SYMBOLIC

Material: doing something EX) bill Symbolic: appeal to values Ex) Resolution

ultimately weigh all possible alternatives and choose the best possible solution is called what?

Optimization

what do winning groups have? 1. they reinforce their own _______ 2. Keep public ________ directed away from other issues 3. Reinforce ______ theory

Policy Monopoly 1. symbols 2. attention 3. elite

Poor causal theory results in 3 things

a. policy failing to meet it goals or desired outcomes. b. a focus on measuring outputs, rather than on outcomes. c. difficulty in linking outputs to outcomes.

what are the two types of failure & their characteristics?

Theory Failure-meaning our causal theory didn't work as planned. Plan A would change this problem Program Failure; the policy implementation didn't go as planned ex) school uniforms

True or false? It is easier to measure outputs than outcomes.

True

why is blocking power prevalent in the U.S.?

We favor the groups with more power, more capital, etc this leads to many issues (system biased in favor of stronger groups)

example of distributive policy in action

a new post office in fullerton. All the taxpayers in the US pay towards something for a narrowed group of people since post offices take federal tax money

Typologies help do what?

categorize things; although not always perfect

Implementation is the process of ___________ learning.

evolutionary

What functions of the media might make the agenda-setting process more democratic?

expanding the scope of conflict and participation

___________ is arguably the most critical stage of the policy process.

implementation

Why are equity and efficiency clashing goals?

it's not feasible to use the least amount of cost while treating people with equity; We guarantee equal opportunity but not equal outcomes

Failure induces what? From there, learning leads to ________ __________

learning; policy change

Which of the following alternative policy typologies is easiest for generalizing policy types but the least useful fro analyzing them?

liberal/conservative

The phenomenon that involves members of a legislature agreeing to vote for each other's spending bills is known as

logrolling

Competitive regulatory policies are generally ____-visibility policies

low

efficiency is the ______ to an end goal; to achieve the objective at the lowest possible _______

means, cost

what contributes to the idea that you make a decision during one point in time and that will determine where you go ex) institutional inertia

path dependence

definition and examples of street level bureaucrats

people who directly implement policy with minimal discretion. Teachers, firefighters, and police officers

Our system of multiple levels of government (aka federalism) makes implementing more difficult because?

policy designers can't count on state and local to cooperate