Public policy making

1. Public policy making UGBS 105: Introduction to Public Administration

2. Outline • Meaning of public policy • Types of public policy • Sources of public policy • The process of making public policy • Why some policies do not work • Making public policies work • Summary

3. What is public policy? • Policy refers to a set of guidelines, or rules and regulations, which determine and underline the ways individuals or groups behave in a particular environment • Public policies are proposed courses of action, directed towards accomplishing some purposes or goals within the context of public business

4. Key features of public policies • Developed by governmental bodies (MDAs) • Goal-oriented, problem-solving instead of random actions or chance behaviours • Sometimes responsive to demands by private citizens or organized groups from within the public sector itself • Mostly have winners or losers or both • Based on the rule of law

5. Types of public policies • Substantive policies: They directly distribute benefits or costs to citizens • Procedural policies: How things get done • Distributive policies: Allocation of resources/services to particular segments of larger society • Regulatory policies: Impose restrictions on behaviours • Self-regulatory policies • Redistributive policies

6. Sources of public policies • Official policy makers have legitimate authority to take certain decisions in the public interest • Examples include – Legislators, CEOs, Judges, Administrators • However, the environment of their actions determine what they do largely

7. Sources of public policies • Constitutional and other legal demands • Political party manifestoes • Pressure groups • International conventions

8. The policy making process • Problem identification / Agenda setting • Data collection • Data analysis / diagnosis • Option appraisal • Implementation • Monitoring • Evaluation • Feedback

10. Why some policies do not work • Lack of political commitment • Political considerations may dampen the zeal of implementation • Resource constraints • Effects of policy demands on citizens • Intractability of many public problems • Unanticipated problems

11. Why some policies do not work (cont’d) • Lack of technical expertise • Failure to consider the political nature of the policy process • Inaccurate data • Lack of broad participation/consultation • Lack of proper monitoring, evaluation and feedback

12. Making public policies work • Broad participation and consultation • Human factors/skills (technical expertise) • Resource availability • The governance angle: Commitment from the policy actors to let it work

13. Summary • It would be extremely difficult to govern a country without a public policy. They provide the beacons for governance • Policies come in different types and with different intentions but the ultimate aim is about service to the people • Public policies emerge from various sources and it is important to consider the importance and influence of each

14. Summary • The process provides a guide to arrive at good pubic policies • Different kinds of barriers work against the success of public policies • Public policies are made to work if interest is shown right from the design stage to the feedback phase • Policies must be made to work since they should not be assumed to work on their own

15. Trial questions • Identify any public policy that has not succeeded and discuss why you think it failed. • Why do you think it is very difficult to satisfy so many people through public policies?

16. Trial questions (cont’d) • Public policies form the bases of governmental decisions that direct activities within a country. Discuss. • Discuss the importance of the citizen’s understanding of the process of making public policies in a developing country like Ghana.