The Process of Formulation of Policies - Essay Example

The process of policymaking involves several factors to be considered and various players are involved in the process. However the process of development of policies can be initiated by any of the ministers' departments, think tanks, parliament, the general public, cause groups, media, academic experts, party groupings, extra-parliamentary parties, prime ministers, and cabinet.
There are players in policymaking who are consulted while formulating policies such as civil servants, key pressure group leaders, outside experts for an outer perspective on the problem, and concerned ministries for their approval and ideas.
There are two approaches to policymaking, one is a top-down approach and another is bottom-up policymaking. Top-down policy-making involves formulation of the policy taking place from higher levels of the political system and then those policies are communicated to the sub-ordinates who are then held responsible to make sure that the execution of those policies is done in the right manner. This approach is also referred to as the concept of the core executive (Health Knowledge, 2011). For example, a bottom-up approach to policy development may have a sequence like this:

Another approach is a bottom-up approach to policy making which deals with the development of policies getting initiated from the sub-ordinate level rather than higher levels as this approach believes in the empowerment of sub-ordinates and thus they own the power to reshape or change the policies thus policy may change during implementation. This approach recognizes the policy formulation process as an interactive process (Health Knowledge, 2011). For example, a bottom-up approach to policy formulation may have a sequence like this:

There are two views of how evaluation is done, one is impressionistic and another is systematic. The impressionistic method of evaluation is the method of assessment based on overall quality. It is a qualitative and subjective method of evaluation where the subject experts are requested to thoroughly examine and evaluate. A systematic method of evaluation is reviewing the matter, analyzing its potential threats and potentials, weighing its merits and demerits, and then deciding about the issue. Both are important as one provides a subjective view of the issue and the other provides an objective view of the issue.

The snail darter case did involve Supreme Court’s order initially indicating to stop the construction of a dam on the Little Tennessee River because it was endangering species. But the construction company did not stop it but slowed down the process. The order of the Supreme Court was a top-down approach to policy-making but the construction company did complete it which was a bottom-up approach as then they claimed that completion of the project would result in the flooding of lands considered sacred to Native Americans that was considered as an obvious breach of National Historic Preservation Act. Upon this, Supreme Court decided to pass judgment in favor of the completion of the dam despite any other law that might hinder the construction (Sparks, n.d.).