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Public Policy Week 2: Policy Process – Analysis

Public Policy Week 2: Policy Process – Analysis. Policy Analysis. Description of the content of the policy Analysis of the impact of the social, economic and political forces on the context of the policy

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Public Policy Week 2: Policy Process – Analysis

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  1. Public Policy Week 2: Policy Process – Analysis

  2. Policy Analysis • Description of the content of the policy • Analysis of the impact of the social, economic and political forces on the context of the policy • Analysis of the effects of the different institutional arrangements and political processes on the policy • Analysis of impact of the policy on society

  3. Why Undertake Analysis? • Scientific understanding: improve knowledge of society • Professional advice: apply social science knowledge to solution of practical problems • Policy Recommendations: moral obligation on social scientists to advance specific polices?

  4. What can be learned from policy analysis? • Description of the policy • Causes of the policy • Consequences of the policy

  5. Causes and Consequences Institutions, Processes, Behaviours A B F E C Social and Economic Conditions Public Policies D (Adapted from Dye, 2002: 5)

  6. Use of Analysis • Analysis and advocacy are different • Analysis – • Explanation rather than prescription • Scientific search for cause and consequence • Accumulating reliable research findings of general interest.

  7. Policy Analysis - a remedy for society’s ills? • Limits on governments powers • Disagreements over the problems • Analysis itself is a subjective process • Limitations on the design of research • Complexity of Human Behaviours

  8. Policy Analysis as a Skill • Difficult skill to acquire • An applied sub field of economics, politics, law, public administration, sociology etc. • No one model of choice for analysts to test/use that will give the best results.

  9. Institutional model Process Model Rational Model Incremental Model Group/Pluralist Model Elite Model Public Choice Model Game Theory Model Models of Analysis

  10. Institutional Model • Policy as an institutional output • Relationship between public policy and government institutions • Government lends legitimacy to policies • Government policies involve universality • Government polices can be enforced by coercion

  11. Process Model • Problem Identification • Agenda Setting • Policy Formulation • Public Legitimation • Policy Implementation • Policy Evaluation * In other words, a series of political activities…

  12. Rational Model • Know all societies value preferences and their relative weights • Know all the policy alternatives available to them • Know the consequences of each policy alternative • Select the most efficient policy alternative • What are the barriers to this model?

  13. Incremental Model • Proceeds through Incremental Change • Involves mutual adjustment and negotiation • Excludes by accident rather than by systematic or deliberate exclusion • Policy is not made once and for all • Superior to a ‘futile attempt at superhuman comprehensiveness’ • Test of a good decision is agreement and process rather than goal attainment or meeting objectives • Involves some degree of trial and error (*Adapted from Parsons P.286-287)

  14. Group/Pluralist Model • Public policy is the outcome of group forces acting against one another. • Policymakers are viewed as constantly responding to group pressures – bargaining, negotiating, compromising among the competing demands of influential groups. • No one group will dominate for every group there will be an equal and opposite. • Policies are the product of bargaining and compromise, will tend to be moderate , fair to all and conducive to social stability.

  15. Elite Model • Policies flow downwards from the elite to the masses – they do not arise from mass demands • As a model, elitism is purported to be based on ‘how the real world works’ – those at the top with power and those at the bottom without power.

  16. Game Theory • Rational decisions in which 2 or more people have choices to make and the outcome depends on the choices made by others • The ‘best’ policy outcome depends upon what other will do • The Prisoner’s Dilemma

  17. Public Choice Model • Collective decision-making by self interested individuals • policy demands are self interested and that policy-makers are self interested. • Looks at how bureaucratic power serves itself rather than the public interest. • Look at interest groups pressure groups – selfish interests or wider interests

  18. Sources Policy Hub is a web-site developed by the CabinetOffice Strategy Unit which aims to improve the way public policy is shaped and delivered: tailored access to initiatives, projects and tools that support better policy making and delivery • extensive guidance on the use of research and evidence in the evaluation of policy • links to a wide range of research resources and tools from the UK and around the world • http://www.policyhub.gov.uk/

  19. Sources • Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit "...providing the Prime Minister and Government departments with a capacity to analyse major policy issues and design strategic solutions...“ • http://www.strategy.gov.uk/

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