Public Policy

John Kingdon * Agendas, Alternatives, & Public Policy

"Agendas, Alternatives, & Public Policies", (1995) - How do issues become issues? - 3 streams= Problems, Politics, & Policies - This combination gets things on the agenda - * A condition becomes a problem when we believe we should do something to change it. - Policy windows are opened by events in problem or political stream- can open predictably or unpredictably - *Policy entrepreneurs are critical to process

Charles A. Beard (1874-1948)

"An Economic Interpretation of Constitution of the United States", (1913): constitution was constructed to protect personal/economic interests of the founders. Constitution suggests that private property rights are anterior to government and morally beyond the reach of popular majorities (i.e. cant trust the masses). Highlights that the propertyless masses were excluded from framing of constitution. *See Mills and elite theory.

Actor-centered institutionalist theory of public policy Howlett & Ramesh (2003)

- Organization of governmental institutions affects what the state does - Institutions legitimize behavior because it reduces transaction costs

PPBS

- Planning, Programming, Budget System. Essentially systems analysis. Instituted by Defense Secretary Robert McNamara in 1960's. - Wildavsky (1969, Rescuing Policy Analysis from PPBS) criticized PPBS for centralized decision making and its inability to handle human factors present in work of policy actors.

Influence of the political environment on policy process

- Policies are subjective in relation to policy environment. - Environment influences goals and inputs. - Environment plays major role in the adoption/implementation/evaluation process

Agenda Setting

- Process by which problems and alternative solutions gain or lose public attention (salience) - Indicators (changes in metrics) are what move items up or down the agenda - shift from "conditions" to "problems" - Conditions can violate values or can be compared to other Countries

Deductive Theories of Public Policy

- Rational choice (public choice) - Class Analysis (marxism) - Actor-centered neo-institutionalism (Transaction cost analysis) - Howlett, M & Ramesh, M. (2003)

Differences in Group Power

- Resources - Size of membership - Reasons/motive for membership - Goal congruency with prevailing values

Policy Actors (agencies)

- Resources: information, expertise, longevity & time, discretion, authority, research, organization & routines, public support, group support, legislative support, networks/contacts - What do they want? : ideas adopted, budget to offer & expand services, political support, compliance of regulated parties

Policy Actors (interest groups)

- Resources: information, money, members & their votes, organization (dues), voice, ideas - What they Want? : problems solved & ideas adopted (policy & services), access and information, BLOCK unwanted agenda items

Policy Actors (Private sector employees)

- Resources: jobs, economic influence, campaign contributions, political influence - What do they want? : Latitude (reduced/avoid regulation, time so that they may pursue profits), tax incentives/reductions

Policy Actors (legislators)

- Resources: policy, votes, oversight, clout, budget allocations, political party resources, - What do they want? : re-election, campaign contributions, positive portrayals, credit, legislation/policy

Policy Actors (citizens/taxpayers)

- Resources: voice & opinion, votes - Representation: problems solved (instrumental aims; symbolic aims), avenues of expression

Inductive Theories of Public Policy

- Sociological individualism (welfare economics) - Group Theory (pluralism) - Socio-historical neo-institutionalism (statism) - Howlett, M & Ramesh, M. (2003)

Traditional Formal Political Institutions

- Stable, trending towards monolithic - Decisions are accepted - Still predominant even though interest groups have significant impact on decision making

Banovetz (1994) Managers in administration/Gov. bureaucrats

"City Managers: Will they reject policy leadership?" Public Productivity & Management Review, 17(4), (1994) - Managers are human/faced with political uncertainty/threat of job loss: - Sacrifice rationality for incrementalism - work diligently to avoid mistakes than to achieve success - Perfect standard routines instead of risking innovation - Seek anonymity before leadership, thus becoming... - GOVERNMENT BUREAUCRATS

Graham T. Allison (1940-)

"Conceptual Models and the Cuban Missile Crisis", American Political Science Review (1969) -Conceptual model of public policy making -Dean of Harvard University Kennedy School of Government -Rational Actor (Policy as National Choice) vs. Organizational Process (Policy as Organizational Output) vs. Governmental Politics (Policy as Political Outcome) Models

Woodrow Wilson and Legislative Policy Making

"Congressional Government: A Study in American Politics", (1885) -Congress predominant over judicial and executive branches -Congressional power is parceled out to committees -Worried about influence of standing committees on Congress -"Congress in session is congress on public exhibition, while congress in committee rooms is congress at work" -Legislative policy making process is messy, complicated and full of compromise and self-interest -Legislation is often described as "sausage"

Anthony Downs, (1930- )

"Economic Theory of Democracy", (1957)- intellectual framework for public choice economics - Inside Bureaucracy (1967) - Bureaus make critical decisions that shape economic, educational, political, social, moral & religious lives of everyone - Justify bureaucratic government on economic grounds, predict behavior of bureaus and bureaucrats - "Up & Down with ecology: The issue attention cycle" (1972)- An issue cycle has five steps: 1. Pre-problem stage (no public attention) 2. Alarm discovery/Euphoric enthusiasm (result of dramatic event) 3. Recognition of cost of change 4. Decline of public interest (due to boredom/discouragement) 5. Post-problem stage (issue dropped from agenda without being solved)

Saetren, Harald (2005) Research in Policy Implementation *See also Pressman & Wildavsky (1973)

"Facts and Myths about Research on Public Policy Implementation: Out-of-fashion, allegedly dead, but still very much alive and relevant", Policy Studies Journal, 33(4), (2005) - Policy implementation research publications are increasingly located outside core fields of public policy (i.e. health, education, economics, law, environment). This poses great challenges to systematic knowledge accumulation. - Ethnocentric bias with most research focusing on North America - Implementation research went out of fashion after short peak in 1980s -Policy scholars express doubts about segmenting policy process into discreet stages (oversimplifying and misrepresenting a complex and recursive policy process) Pressman & Wildavsky (1973)" Implementation CANNOT fruitfully be studied and understood as a discreet policy activity" - Pressman & Wildavsky's (1973) book on implementation

Roger Cobb & Charles Elder (1972)

"Participation in American Politics: The dynamics of Agenda Building", (1972) - 1st modern analysis of agenda setting - Issues formed through interplay between initiator and the trigger device - Inputs = initiator & event/triggering mechanism that transform problem into an issue - Output= the agenda - triggering devices- internal v. external: - Internal- natural catastrophe, unanticipated human event, technological change, imbalance in distribution, ecological change - External- act of war, innovation in weapons, international conflict, changing world alignment (of power) - Systemic v. Institutional (Formal) Agenda: - Systemic agenda commonly perceived by political community as meriting public attention - Institutional agenda- set of items up for consideration by decision makers

Arnold Meltsner (1976)

"Policy Analyst in the Bureaucracy", (1976) - Seven deadly sins of policy analyst: 1. Channeled 2. Distant 3. Late 4. Superficial 5. Topical 6. Capricious 7. Apolitical (advice), *i.e. policy recommendations should be: unique to circumstance, fitted to condition, on time, based on research, not developed in crisis, only offered if change is needed, keep w/ political environment

Richard Neustadt (1919-2003)

"Presidential Power" (1960) -Political executives occupy inherently weak office due to checks and balances -President must persuade other political actors -President's power to persuade rests on bargaining skills, reputation, and prestige

Nalbandian, John (1994) - Politics & Administration

"Reflections of a Pracademic on the Logic of Politics and Administration, PAR, 54(6) (1994) - Characteristics of Politics and Administration: - Activity: Game v. Problem Solving - Players: Representatives v. Experts - Conversation: "What do you hear?" "What do you know?" - Pieces: Interests/symbols v. Information, money, people, things - Currency: Power v. Knowledge - Dynamics: conflict, compromise, change v. Harmony, cooperation, continuity - * Politicians and administrators use two different "constellations of logic" (PA= facts/neutrality, PS= values/interests/symbols) - *Elected officials communicate through symbols conveying values essential for political competence and community building - * Administrative competence transmitted with narrow values and communication via empirical data

Toonen, Theo (2010) - Public policy and admin research

"Resilience in PA: The work of Elinor and Vincent Ostrom from a PA perspective", PAR, 70(2), (2010) - IADF (institutional analysis and design framework)- positivist approach, confronts diversity, complexity, and plurality in policy studies (polycentricity as integral factor in policy analysis) - Public Service Industry Framework (PSI) - public choice, new institutional economics, attention shifts from government to governance, suggested potential value of institutional fragmentation - Addresses/situates values, interests, and beliefs within a policy arena while confronting complexity

Wildavsky (1979) & The Art of Policy Analysis * more needed

"Speaking Truth to Power", (1979) - Policy analysts should artificially inculcate experience through the use of case studies -

Howlett, M. & Ramesh, M. (2003) - Studying public policy/Approaches

"Studying Public Policy: Policy Cycles & Policy Subsystems" Oxford UP (2003) - All approaches to public policy concentrate analyses on behavior- different units/levels/methods of analyses - Deductive theories for Public Policy: Rational choice (ind.), Class analysis (collectivity), Actor-centered Institutionalism (Structure) - Inductive theories: Sociological individualism (individual), Group Theories (Collectivity), Neo institutionalism (structure)

Official v. Unofficial Actors in Policy Process

- Official: president, legislators, courts - Unofficial: citizens, interest groups,

John K. Galbraith

"The Affluent Society", (1958). Scarcity of resources not a major problem in American society EXCEPT when private affluence and public squaller exist side by side. Public goods become private luxuries. When pubic services deteriorate, wealthy can buy their way out of it. -Kennedy's ambassador to India, developed matrix organization -Wants public ownership of private corporations who do most of their business with the government

Samuel Huntington (1993)

"The Clash of Civilizations?" Foreign Affairs (1993) - Source of conflict cultural not ideological or economic - Interactions among civilizations are becoming more intense (world is smaller b/c of globalization, technology and interdependence) - Ideology may have ended but cultural conflict has not - Class exists at 2 distinct levels: Micro= control for territory, Macro- competition for military/economic power, struggle for control over international institutions - 6 Reasons why Civilizations will clash: 1. Fundamental differences in civilizations that are immutable and persist (language, history, culture, etc.) 2. Increased interaction leads to intensity of civilization consciousness 3. Economic modernization and social change create a gap filled by religion- much more powerful than political/economic ideology 4. Non-western countries return to their roots creating bigger differences/gaps 5. Economic regionalism reinforces civilization-consciousness- only works with a common civ.

Francis Fukuyama (1992)

"The End of History and the Last Man", (1992) - History as an evolutionary process - The ideological evolution and universalization of liberal democracy as the final form of human government - Progress of history leads to the establishment of a universal and homogenous state - Liberal democracy as the final stop for all nations, end of history, no progression to an alternative system

Theodore Lowi (1931- ) (1969)

"The End of Liberalism: Ideology, Policy, & The Crisis of Public Authority", (1969) - critique of Dahl's interest group pluralism, condemned paralyzing effects of interests groups - *Categorization of policy into regulatory, distributive, redistributive policies - Public authority parceled out to private interest groups leads to... - Decentralized government incapable of long term planning - Suggests a Juridicial Democracy, making federal courts stronger to thus achieve democratic ideals - Groups promote private goals not public interest (Tyranny of Majority)...*See Sabatier, Ouchi,

Daniel Boorstin (1961) Symbolism, politics, images, media in policy

"The Image: A Guide to Pseudo Events in America" (1961) - Discussion of non-spontaneous and manufactured news media - Designed to give publicity for the person/cause who arranged events. - See Barber

Wildavsky and the Two Presidencies

"The Politics of the Budgeting Process", (1964) -Foreign vs Domestic Policy Presidents -Presidents are more successful in getting their foreign policy directives passed, although events like the Vietnam War and Watergate hinder this ability

Fredriech Hayek (1899-1992)

"The Road to Surfdom", (1944): In five words, "Government planning leads to totalitarianism" -Open market capitalism (minimal state planning and regulation) is only logical means to prosperous and free societies. -Democracy is utilitarian device for internal peace and individual freedom; not infallible or certain. -The clash between planning and democracy arises from the fact that the democracy is an obstacle to the suppression of freedom, which the direction of economic activity requires. *See Stone and Policy Paradox

Murray Eldelman Symbolism, politics, images, media in policy

"The Symbolic Uses of Politics" (1964) - symbols manipulate citizen attitudes and beliefs so that they are acquiescent to policies they might otherwise oppose - Rational choice is taken from citizenry when emotions are played upon by symbols (propaganda) of the state - Politics influences what people want, what they fear, and what they regard as possible - Tie to Burr (2003) and lack of agency in decision making

Whicker, Strickland, & Olshfski (1993) - PA & PS (complementarity)

"The troublesome cleft: Public Administration & Political Science" (1993), PAR, 53 (6) - The disciplines of PA/PS working together provides greatest prospect for mutual future advance - Both interested in similar concepts (power, justice, equity, conflict, policy) - "A theory of public administration means a theory of politics also" - PS/PA emphasize different levels of analysis that are mutually complimentary - PS (all 3 levels), PA (ind. & inst.)- different levels/units of analysis bring different assumptions, emphases, omissions, and distortions - PS provides PA with detailed knowledge about linkages between various actors/institutions of political system in which public managers function (PA concerned with execution of policies by gov. bureaucracy)

Edmund Burke (1729-1797)

"Thoughts on the Cause of the Present Discontents" (1770) -First definition of political party; "Group united on public principle that can act as a link between the executive and legislative branch" -Provides consistency and strength while in power, and "principled criticism" when out of power -Role of congressman is that of representative or trustee, free to exercise own best judgment; rather than as a delegate (bound by prior instructions from a constituency"

Garrett Hardin (1968)

"Tragedy of the Commons" Science (1968) - Maximization of private gain does not result in maximization of social benefit - Critique of Public Choice? - Situation where individuals acting independently and in own self-interest behave contrary to best interest of the whole group by depleting a common resource - Mancur Olson, The Logic of Collective Action (1965), - Small groups are better at obtaining collective goods

Demir, T & Reddick, C. (2012) - Complementarity of PA & PS/ Role sharing - Politics & Administration - *Shared roles, overlapping roles/responsibility, reciprocal influence

"Understanding Shared Roles in Policy And Administration: An empirical Study of Council-Manager Relations", PAR, 7(4) (2012) - Complementarity views elected officials engaged in admin and Administrators contributing to Policy Making - Politics/Admin relationship is a continuum including politics, policy, administration, management - City managers role conception and councils expectations influence manager's involvement in policy making. - City managers contribute to policy process in areas of : agenda setting, policy formulation, leadership, goal setting - City managers support and council's access to resources effect elected officials involvement in administration - Complementarity view (emphasizes shared roles, mutual support, reciprocal influence, overlapping responsibility) is alternative to Politics/Administration dichotomy - Need for Complementarity/Shared responsibility: Policy making context is complex environment (increased uncertainty, thin resources, pressure, creative problem solving)- thus need to collaborate/share responsibility

Glenn R. Parker and Rodger H. Davidson

"Why do Americans love their congressman so much more than their congress?", Legislative Studies Quarterly (1979) -Americans use different set of standards for evaluating congress than evaluating individual members of congress -Slowness of congress and dissatisfaction with policy results of congressional action = negative evaluations of congressional institution -Individual members are rarely held accountable of policy decisions of congress. Instead evaluated based on personal qualities and level of service to constituents. *Does it make sense for legislators to be "delegates" instead of "trustees" ? (See Burke, 1770)

Difficulties of Policy Implementation as discussed by Pressman and Wildavsky (1973)

- "Implementation: and how great expectations in washington are dashed in oakland, or, why its amazing that federal programs work at all" (1973). - In the 1960's there was a huge gap between policy makers in Washington and implementors at city level. - - Rational at federal and city level are not the same. - This gap lessened under Regan and New Federalism. -Policy planning and analysis were not taking into account the difficulties of execution or implementation -Defined implementation as "a process of interaction between the setting of goals and actions geared to achieving them" -Administrators, in addition to legislators, exert power over program objectives and influence program inputs and outcomes (*See Lipsky, 1980: Street level bur)

Amitai Etzioni (1967) (Approaches to decision making in public policy)

- "Mixed Scanning: A Third Approach to Decision Making", PAR, (1967), - Short term solutions to problems (combo of rational & incrementalist components) - Broadly scan of all parts (no detail), look for signals/factors for in-depth analysis, then zero in on said areas and utilize rational decision making - Provides prescriptions on how to allocate scarce resources - Consider how we read newspaper (don't we do both?)

Carl Maria Von Clausewitz (1780-1831)

- "On War"- War is an instrument of policy (1832) - War is the continuation of policy by other means - War is the province of uncertainty - Friction (delays in misunderstanding) inevitably makes execution less than ideal

Thomas Dye's Definition of Public Policy

- "Public policy is everything the government chooses to do, and not to do." First part represents old perspective, "...not to do" represents all the environmental factors that explain why government doesn't do things. - From his textbook Understanding Public Policy (1972).

Laswell & Decision Making

- (1936)- study of politics is "who gets what, when, how, and why" ..title = Politics: " " " - The future of political science, (1963) - 7 phases of the decision: Intelligence, Recommending, Prescribing, Invoking, Application, Appraisal, Terminating -*rationality is limited because no one gather all the facts

Harold Lasswell (1971) Defining policy science

- 1971, "Preview of the policy sciences" - Policy science studies the process of deciding or choosing and evaluating the relevance of available knowledge for the solution of particular problems - Policy science should be an independent academic discipline, instead it is often within PA/Econ/PS - Propaganda technique in WWI (1927)- landmark analysis of state use of propaganda - *Stuart Nagel 1998, Policy Studies, Int. Ency., Pub Policy & Admin: Distinguishing characteristic of policy programs is whether they emphasize political, economic, or social psychology approach

Miles Law

- 1978, PAR, Rufus Miles, Jr. - Where you stand depends on where you sit...views naturally evolve to reflect one's position - Stances on policy issues tend to reflect their source - Lawyers see legal problems, economists apply econometrics- (*the way you tackle the problem changes)- policy analysis - To a hammer, all problems look like nails (think policy analysis)

George Orwell (1984) & Political Propaganda

- 1984 & Animal Farm as critiques of bureaucracy & socialism - Essay: Politics and the English Language (1946) - Political language is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable - Americans experience politics through the words of political leaders and descriptions by media - "The great enemy of clear language is insincerity" - "Political language always has as its goal persuasion rather than clarity "

John C. Calhoun & Group Theory

- A Disquisition on Government, (1853) - Ideal governance must deal with all interest groups - If groups participate with parody within the policymaking process, individual interests will be recognized by policymakers

Approaches to Policy Inquiry

- Behavioralism (Simon, 1947 Admin Behavior, Dahl 1961 Who Governs? ) - Economic (cost-benefit analysis, utilitarian, empirical) - Interpretive (1970s, inductive, grounded research) - Constitutional Law (basis is constitution and law , seek legitimacy through the constitution)

James Madison & Interest groups (federalist paper no. 10)

- Careful of the "tyranny of the majority" - Political differences inherent in man, only choice is to control effects of group pressure/power - Constitutional structure designed to protect minorities

Neo-Institutionalist model of Public Policy (statism)

- Considers influence of government structure on policy. Investigates "policy-subsystems" instead of looking at government in general. - The "black box" between inputs and outputs in the social welfare agency is different than in the transportation agency. Different cultures and behaviors inside the boxes. - Howlett & Ramesh (2003): structural inductive approach - The state has a monopoly on the use of force, allowing it to reorder and structure social relations and institutions - These institutional structures are the building blocks of social and political life - See Burr (2003) Macro social constructivism - State as autonomous actor capable of devising and implementing its' own objectives, not just responding to dominant social groups

The Policy Paradox, Stone (1997)

- Deborah Stone, Policy Paradox, (1997) - Political communities struggle over ideas and meanings that are not mutually exclusive - Behind every policy issue is a competition over conflicting conceptions of the same abstract goal/value -Definitions of policy problems have a narrative structure

Role of Groups in Public Policy

- Encourage members to take action - Sue in court - public protests/direct action - lobbying (get info/harness support) - support candidates through voting

Rationalist theory of Public Policy (rational choice/public choice) - Lindblom (1959) - Howlett & Ramesh (2003)

- Framework is linear: environment presents problem -> goals -> altern -> select -> action plan -> implementation -> evaluation. - Weakness arises in converting intangible to tangible "utility units". This led Lindblom (1959) and others to incrementalism. - There is a difference between rationality at the individual and collective level (Hardin, Tragedy of the Commons). - Rational/Public Choice Theory: - principles of neo-classical economics to political behavior (Howlett & Ramesh, 2003) - generates clear and consistent set of policy prescriptions (H & R, 2003) - Individual political actors guided by self-interest (H & R, 2003) - Theory based on oversimplification of human psych (H & R, 2003)

Astroturf Groups

- Group that appears benevolent only to have ulterior motives

Venue Shopping

- Groups lobby branch or agency of government most likely to sympathetic to their cause

Thucydides (455-400 BC)

- History of the Peloponesian War *Origins of balance of power theory and seminal work for political realism - Security dilemma: 1 state takes action to enhance its security but this action seems threatening to other states - *decision to go to war is arguably most important Public Policy decision made by a state

Grotian v. Hobbesian International Relations

- Hugo Grotius (1584-1645), Dutch founder of International Law: Society of states are bound by common rules, customs, and shared norms - Predominantly prescriptive, believes flawed political arrangements and secret diplomacy lead to war - Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679), English philosopher/Social contract theorist- "Man is a political animal" "Man is violent and in need of security to control animalistic impulses" - Sees international relations as dominated by political struggle for power

Sociological individualism (Welfare economics) Howlett & Ramesh (2003)

- Individual level inductive theory of public policy - Governments have a responsibility to correct market failures (i.e. externalities, natural monopolies, imperfect information, tragedy of the commons, etc.) b/c optimal social outcomes do not result from uncoordinated individual decision making - State should only get involved if Market Failure is the cause of the problem - Use of cost/benefit analysis to determine solution/approach to that policy - Limitation: neglect of political variables, states never make policies in technical manner assumed by theory

Social Construction in Public Policy

- Ingram & Schneider (1993)- Social construction of target populations, American Political Science Review - Political power determinants: size, access, money, mobilization capacity, voting/activism, issue foci - Categorized according to power (strong>weak) and social construction (+>-) resulting categories (clockwise): advantaged (strong, +), contenders (strong, -), deviants (weak,-), dependents (weak, +)

Institutionalist model of Public Policy

- Input-output. Prominent through 1950's. Policy becomes public policy only when it's implemented. - Government lends legitimacy to policy because it passed through institution of government. Environment is not considered.

Types of Interest Groups

- Institutional - Economic - Public Interest

Loveridge (1968)/Demir & Reddick (2012) - Role conceptions of City Managers - Politics and administration

- Nine roles for city managers: - 1. Policy innovator 2. policy advocate 3. policy administrator 4. Policy neutral 5. political campaigner 6. budget consultant 7. political leader 8. political recruiter 9. Political advocate

Normative v. Analytic Policy Studies

- Normative= recommendations, prescriptions of what "should be", prescriptive, - Analytic= explanations, descriptive, what "is"

Michael Lipsky (1980)

- Street level bureaucrats (SLB) as policymakers, (1980), from Street level bureaucracy: Dilemmas of the individual in Public Services - Individual decisions by SLB add up to agency policy - Policy can be to deliver goods/confer status - Liasons between policy-makers and citizens - street level bureaucrats considered implementers of policy, i.e. *bottom up policy-making - Individuals vary the extent to which they enforce the rules and laws assigned to them (i.e., Administrative discretion, see Friedrich/Finer debate) - *Problems with SLB: Accountability & Corruption

Early public policy case studies

- Substantial amount of case studies done at the local level in the early 1970's. - Led to lots of "Politics of..." books. - It is from these case studies that theories were extrapolated inductively.

Tangible vs. Symbolic Values in Public Policy

- Tangible: can be directly measured (policy outputs). - - - Symbolic: e.g. patriotism (policy impacts). How to measure patriotism and how much its worth? Is it worth going to Mars to save one astronaut?

4 Roles of a Policy Analyst

- Technician - Technician Politician (Dror, 1967) - Politician - Political Activist - *location/role of agency determines whether it will be highly political or not

David Truman (1913-2003)

- The Governmental Process, (1951) - More opportunities for group involvement within the administrative process than in the legislative process - Two types of groups: Existing & Potential - Potential group= people w/ common values but don't see interests being threatened - Potential groups keep bureaucratic policymaking honest b/c new groups can surface given certain policy outcomes - Try to link/see Sabatier & ACF, Issue saliency, Policy Windows

C. Wright Mills, (1916-1962)

- The Power Elite, (1956) - 3 domains of power: Warlords (military), Corporation (business), Political Arena (politics)

Arthur F. Bentley (1870-1957)

- The Process of Government, (1908), - Pioneering voice in behavioral analysis of politics - Intellectual creator of modern interest group theory - Political analysis should shift focus from forms of government to actions by individuals in the context of groups.

Charles Lindbloom (1959)

- The Science of Muddling Through, PAR, (1959) - Rejected that decision are made rationally, - Policymaking depends on small, incremental decisions made in response to short term political decisions - Incrementalism sharply reduces # of different alternative policies to be explored (reduces complexity)

Methodological Issues of Policy Evaluation

- Unable to exactly replicate an experiment. - Subjective measurements. - How do you measure policy impacts in a comprehensive way? Measurements of symbolic impacts are more subjective than tangible outcomes.

Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832)

- Utilitarianism, greatest good for the greatest number - Consequentialist ethics - Founder of policy analysis - Justify institutions on practical grounds regarding welfare achieved - First methodologist of policy analysis - Pain/Pleasure principle - Introduction to the principles of morals and legislation (seminal work)- the point of legislation is to do the moral and ethical thing

Self Evaluating Organization

- Wildavsky (1972) Suggested increasing the autonomy of evaluating units in government to foster climate of innovation - Evaluators should be close to and supported by powerful in organization - Problem is that evaluation suggests reform/change, introducing work and instability for employees. Less reform, more political stability. See Lindblom's discussion of policy equilibrium.

Policy Actors (media)

-Resources: stories, ratings, recognition, advertising dollars, public attention - What do they want? : information, the scoop, stories, political support, compliance of regulated parties

Trends in Public Policy

1789-1860: Divided Power, 1860-1936: State Activism, 1936-1960: National Activism, 1960-1980: National Standards

Marbury v Madison

1803: established judicial review (i.e. power to declare federal legislation or executive actions unconstitutional and consequently unenforceable by the courts) -While rarely used in nineteenth century, programs started to be challenged in regards to its constitutionality following the New Deal in 1930's

Levels of Agenda

Agenda Universe > Systemic Agenda (flexible boundaries) > Institutional Agenda (items for consideration) > Decision Agenda (federal register)

The Discipline of Public Policy

Began in Mid-1960's. Combination of Economics, Sociology, Public Administration, and Political Science.

Weiss (1965) and the Purposes of Evaluation

Carl Weiss (1972): fulfill grant requirement - produce good P.R. - enhance legitimacy - postpone a decision - To find purpose, look at who initiated the evaluation.

Group theory of Public Policy - Dahl (1961) - Howlett & Ramesh (2003)

Dahl (1961, Who Governs?). -Political scientist who goes to meetings and records, reads minutes, etc. Looks at informal institutions such as who goes to lunch with who and which interest groups were represented. -Group members interact to produce policy equilibrium, similar to markets. Interaction is utilitarian and economic. Values explain behavior. -Different policy arenas have different social alignments. Public is more involved in certain issues. - Political decisions influenced more by coalitions and group rivalries than by power elite *alternative to Mills' elite theory....See Sabatier and ACF. - Howlett & Ramesh (2003)- Inductive v. Deductive Group Theory: - Membership can be overlapping, different groups compete in society, two types of interests (latent & manifest result in two types of groups, respectively: potential & organized (Truman, 1964- The governmental process) - Deductive: Marxist social theory- group membership on basis of observable characteristics of individuals - Inductive*: pluralism, *politics is the process by which various competing interests and groups are reconciled - Neo-pluralism appreciates groups vary in power/relations

Roles of the Policy Analyst

Dror (1967, Policy Analyst: A new professional role in government service). - Technician (1950's) is traditional role, applies rational model, systematic cost-benefit analysis, related to politics-adminstration dichotomy. - Technician Politician (1960's-) considers political environment so analysis can be utilized.

Systems theory of Public Policy Easton (1965)

Easton (1965): A Systems Analysis of Political Life. - political system is the group of interrelated structures and processes that function authoritatively to allocate values for society. (input>output) - Interaction b/t environment and system occurs even under perceived stability - Structures and processes in system convert intakes to outputs - By modifying the environment political outputs influence next round of inputs (i.e., inputs of environment are outputs of political system - Easton considers influence of environment on political system. - Outputs are crucial system components

Mixed-Scanning theory of Public Policy

Etzioni (1967). Rational decision making for long range planning. Incrementalism for short range, political decisions.

Elite Model of Public Policy - Hunter (1953) - Mills (1957) - Howlett & Ramesh (2003)

Hunter (1953, Community Power Structures) and Mills (1957, Power Elite). Hunter surveyed 2000 people in Atlanta and found most perceived businessman to be the most powerful people in the city. Names were commonly found in newspaper, demonstrating influence of media on perception. - Mills (1957), Power Elite, saw that 200 families stood atop national society and worked to maintain their power - Elites sway public opinion, with public policy reflecting values of ruling elite. People believe what government tells them, as most are passive, uninformed and apathetic. - Masses play an important role in maintaining structure. Raises issues of legitimacy...in elite theory, democratic institutions have symbolic value. How will young tech-billionaires shake the elite establishment? - Howlett & Ramesh (2003)- instrumental theory of the state- policies serve interests of capital

Wilson's Law of Evaluation

In house evaluators are more likely to favorably evaluate; private evaluators more likely to be critical as a method of legitimization (see Sebatier and his discussion of overly critical evaluators).

Brownlow Committee

Luis Brownlow, Charles Merriam, and Luther Gulick -Officially the President's Committee on Administrative Management (1937) -First formal assessment of government organization from a managerial perspective -President needs professional staff with "passion for anonymity" -Congress was cautious about giving executive branch too much power given presence of dictators in Europe during the 1930's -Argument over whether the executive or legislative branches should have more power over the "machinery of government" still continues

Models of Public Policy

Institutionalism, Neo-Institutionalism, Elite theory (Hunter 1953), Group Theory (Dahl 1961), Rationalism, Incrementalism (Lindblom 1959), Mixed-scanning (Etzioni 1967), System Theory (Easton)

Incrementalist theory of Public Policy

Lindblom (1959). Atmosphere is utilitarian. We feel safe and secure in familiar situations (e.g. budgets).

Dror (1969)

Policy analysis is politics + economics.

Game Theory and Public Policy

Quantitative approach to policy decisions. Related to problems of conflict and collaboration between rational actors in a uncertain world (i.e. prisoner's dilemma). Emphasis on cooperation to minimize less optimal outcomes. Think the arms race. -Lester Thurow (1980): The Zero Sum Society; all economic policy is zero sum. Raises issues of distributional justice.

Categories of Public Policy

Regulatory and Distributive. Political activity and bargaining is greater with regulatory.

Judicial Activism: Strict vs Loose Constructionists

Strict: oppose judicial activism, believing constitutions should be interpreted narrowly and literally Loose: constitutions should be interpreted liberally to reflect changing times; first promoted by Chief Justice John Marshall in McCulloch v Maryland (1819)

Alexander Hamilton and Role of Supreme Court

The Federalist No. 78 (1778) -Court considered the "least dangerous branch" -Legitimate means by which to decide between two contradictory laws -Advocates for powerful court

The "why?" of implementation

The main thrust of public policy. In the beginning, much of the questions were input-output questions.

The role of the Great Society Programs on the emergence of Public Policy

The programs were disappointing and led to calls for accountability and the rise of Reganism

Coleman (1970's) and Public Policy

What is the reason for student success? Study found social factors (i.e. SES: socio-economic status) were more influential than physical variables (budget, class size, teacher salary, etc.)