The Policymaking Process

What occurs during the Policy Evaluation step of the policymaking process?

-The Assessment of a Policy -Did it work or not

What are the six stages of the policymaking process?

1. Agenda Building Identification 2. Access and Representation 3.Policy Formulation 4.Policy Adoption or Legitimation 5. Policy Implementation 6. Policy Evaluation

Define Political Culture

A system of beliefs and values shaped by society that define the role of government and the role of citizens in that government

What do you do if, during policy evaluation, you have determined the policy did not work?

Go back to step three, find a different solution and try it

Define Public policy

The response, or lack of response, of government decision makers to an issue.

Define the policymaking environment

The set of factors outside of government that impact the policymaking process either directly or indirectly

Define the political environment

How we approach an issue, or how we manioulate it

What occurs during the Policy Formulation step of the policymaking process?

-Development of strategies for dealing with the problems of the official policy agenda - Finding solutions to fix the identified problem

What occurs during the Access and Representation step of the policymaking process?

-Gaining acccess to elected or administrative officials -Getting them (govenment decision makers) to see the problem

What could cause government decision makers to NOT respond to an issue

-Issue is too controversial, may lose a lot of support -Not enough public support for the issue from constituents

What causes government decision makers to responed to an issue?

-It will personally affect them or is important to them -Because special interest groups (NRA, etc.) want them to -Because it will affect their constituents/ its what the constituents want -Help get them support for re-election -Part of their party's platform -To fulfill promises made during campaigns

The political environment can be affected by

-Money -Socioeconomic status -Ethnicity -Gender -Media -Events (9/11; Orlando shooting, Paris) -Legality -Culture -Political affiliation -Age -Sexual orientation

What might be factors/environments as to why the solution did NOT work?

-Policy was not properly implemented due to scarce resources -Policy is so convoluted and confusing it is un-implementable -Policy was not practical in a real world environment (like communism) -Courts get involve and rule the policy to be illegal or unconstitutional -Regime change kills or changes the policy -Secondary Effects/Unintended consequences

What occurs during the Policy Adoption or Legitimation step of the policymaking process?

-The official decision of a government body to accept a particular policy to resolve the issue identified -Law is debated and passed

What occurs during the Agenda Building Identification step of the policymaking process?

-The process through which issues become matters of public concern and government action -Defining that we (population/public/ individual decision makers) have an issue or problem

What occurs during the Policy Implementation step of the policymaking process?

-The stage of the policy process in which policies are carried out -Putting a new law into action, bureaucracy