Public Policy Formation and Analysis - Assignment Example

Evan J. Ringquist EMPA 507 24 December, Public Policy formation and analysis Section One Public policy as defined by James et al (3), is the deliberate action or inaction undertaken by Government to achieve some desired end. the public policy process comprises of five key stages which could briefly be explained as follows: Agenda Setting: According to Jones and Baumgartner (9), this is the process by which information is prioritized for action, and key attentions are allocated to this certain problems in society other than others. this is a very vital stage of the process cycle. requires certain levels of expertise. Policy formation: Expertise in policy process is the emphasis in this stage. Politicians having good insights in policy formation and problem solving should be utilized extremely here due to skills and expertise. Policy Implementation: Ingram and Mann(1980) state that this is the most important stage of the policy process as implementing formulated process is very difficult to attain. Anderson (1972) has stated, “Administrative agencies constitute a governmental habitat in which expertise finds a wealth of opportunity to exert itself and influence policy. Technical considerations and professional advice play an important part in most administrative decision making.” Here the administrative agencies have to implement set decisions. Policy Evaluation: this is the process of evaluating existing policy laws as a means of checking how relevant the performance of existing ones were. Formulating new laws and programmes have become a predominant tendency of policy decision makers while evaluating existing policies is always forgotten. This does not help society. Feedback: Receiving feedback on the entire process is the only viable way to ascertain if any public policy process is effective or is a failure. The key identifiable actors in decision making and policy formulation in UAE are the: royal families, the president, the Religious institutions, decision makers constituency funders, the media and the experts in the environmental protection agency , (EPA) Section two Policy process according to Smith and Larima (75), is the study of how public policy is made, which includes the methodologies used in the identification of problems in society and strategic measures to curb such by the Government. This is usually achieved by formulating certain policies as measures to solving such identifiable problems. Policy process is highly political and in most cases, requires the wielding of political power in other to be effective. In this situation, the use of political office in influencing the public policy processes i.e. the office of the president, is very essential in ensuring the effectiveness and overall implementation of the process. Policy analysis simply refers to the tools, strategies and techniques used in formulating and evaluating public policies. So while Public policy is defined as a course of action or inaction taken by public authorities to address a problem, thus public policy comprises a body of laws, decisions and regulations by the government, while Policy analysis is used to formulate such public policy and to evaluate its level of effectiveness. Experts in the field of Public administration are usually among those who help in formulating public policies. The purpose for studying public policy is to apply such in the creation of laws, regulations and decisions that will direct and organize public behaviour. I.e an industrial operator will abide by certain health and safety regulations that might otherwise endanger third parties in society. Even if he is not comfortable by such regulations due to cost or other implications. The purpose of studying policy analysis is to develop concepts, ideologies, strategies and information’s that will be employed in formulating and evaluating would be and already existing public policies. Various scholars on policy analysis and public policy argue on different preferable theories that best determine the best method to be employed in formulating and evaluating policies. The pluralist theoreticians who are political scientist believe that the policy process comes by an organized group of competition pressurizing governments to act to resolve their problems based on their mutual interest, while the iron angle theorist believe that the process is carried out by bureaucrats, and special interest groups formulate policies to protect their individual selfish interest. Truman (1951) Thus the subsystems theory first discussed by Freeman (65), the advocacy coalition theory by Heclo, the punctuated equilibrium and the garbage cans and windows frameworks, all fall under the major disparate views of the political science scholars. Section Three Public policy is a way for governments to achieve goals and address problems. The main objective of public analysis is to provide options for the achievement of these goals and solving these problems. The rational approach to policy analysis is a generic problem solving process that involves the definition of the problem, the identification of the alternative courses of action, estimation of outcomes, comparing the alternatives and finally choosing the preferred alternative. By following this process it is implied that the problem is agreed by all interested parties (stakeholders), well defined, well measured and has a focussed goal. Unfortunately in real life many of these assumptions are not correct. In cases where there is agreement the goals are not measureable, in places where the goals are measurable there is no agreement. Fundamentally the rationalist approach does not take into consideration the human element in policy analysis and it is the human element that critical for success for any successful policy analysis. Section four According to Weimer and Vining (3), who deducted their theory from A.O Hirschman,(4) concerning policy analysis, they are of the viewpoint that there are three choices favourably available to an analyst in situations where politicians wants the analyst to report falsely, misrepresent or falsify results from an organizational policy analysis meant for public consumption. and This three options are: Exit option, voice option and disloyalty option. If I am an analyst in such a circumstance, I will do the following appropriately Exit option: If I believe I have being compromised, I will leave the organization. And in this context, I will resign or relive the organization off my duties and take my expertise some other place. Voice: I could also choose to work from within the organization with an aim of changing the ways and methods via which the organization does its business. I could achieve this by formulating new strategies or enforcing change from the top management level either by threatening them with my findings or by showing them the benefits of imbibing new ways of operations. Disloyalty: In a situation whereby I am being coerced to comply with unethical and unobjectionable standards in my policy analysis report by top executives or politicians, I may likely attempt to first of all, suppress the choice that was proffered by organizational executives, if they do not comply, I will resort to leak out original results of my findings to the media or to third parties. This could be very destabilizing to the company. If my clientele is my supervisor Government, I will tend to be more subjective in my approach. I will tread with extreme caution and empathy but if my clientele is a representative from a private interest seeking a policy decision from the government, I will be bluntly objective and without bias, I will be disloyal in my approach for the benefit of the government and public, in accordance with public policy and policy analysis rules. Works Cited Anderson, E James, Brady,D.Wal, and Bullock,Charles III., “Public Policies in the United States” 2nd ed. Monterey, CA.1984 Anderson, James E. “Public Policy-Making”. New York: Praeger Publishing. 1972. Anderson, James E., et. al. “Public Policy and Politics in America”. North Scituate, MA: Duxbury10 press. 1978 Steven, A.P., “Values and Policy Analysis” Encyclopaedia of Public Administration and Public Policy, Chapter 69, First Update Supplement, Jack Rabin CRC Press. 2005 Pages 321–322. Web. Amazon.com, 23 Dec 2010. Jones, B and Baumgartner, F. “Agendas and Instability in American Politics” American Politics and Political Economy Series. University Of Chicago Press; 1 edition, P9. 1993, Web 23 December 2010. Weimer, D. and Vining, R.A. “Policy Analysis: Concepts and Practice”5th Edition, Longman; March 4, 2010, P3. March 4, 2010. Web, Amazon.com. 23 Dec, 2010. Graham, J.W. and Keeley, M. “Hirschmans loyalty construct” From the issue entitled "Research on Hirschmans Exit Voice, and Loyalty Model, Department of management, Loyola University of Chicago. Michigan, Web: Springlink, 23 December, 2010. Larima and Smith, P75. PNA, Read More