Advice to a Policymaker - Essay Example

Advice to a Policymaker Advice to a Policymaker Policymakers often face challenges that require their resolutions within the shortest time. At other times, a policymaker may have the luxury of resolving an issue within longer timeframes. Nonetheless, it is incumbent upon policymakers to ensure that they resolved policy issues using an approach that was effective. While doing this, a policymaker should ensure that they followed any of the four perspectives to public administration in order to ensure that the framework within which a policy operates achieves the desired results and objectives. In effect, failure to ensure that the policy framework was within the four perspectives to public administration will consequently make a policy inept, and its objectives to be unachievable. Based on the abovementioned, one of the best approaches that any policymaker should incorporate while making decisions, resolving, developing, and implementing a policy is the political perspective approach to public administration. By its precise nature, this perspective has to be an effective approach to any policymaker who wants to achieve a policy that was effective, efficient, and equitable in nature. In this case, the perspective contains four basic aspects that will ensure that a policymaker attained effectiveness, efficiency, and equity while developing a policy. These four fundamental aspects include public participation in the policy, equal representation of the public in terms of demographics and interests, the public’s responsiveness to a policy, and accountability of administrators involved in any stages of the administration of this policy. In line with this, this expose uses the political perspective to assist a policymaker resolve a problem that requires their urgent resolution. It is pertinent to explain the nature of the problem that required urgent resolution. In this case, the problem involved state government’s resolve to close all land administrations offices in the state’s precincts in order to centralize the operations in its State capital. The objective to implement this policy was to institute cost-cutting measures that would see all matters of land administration administered from the State capital. In doing this, the state had observed that the land administration offices in the precincts were not cost-effective to operate, and it was recommended that centralizing land administration would save the expenses. Nonetheless, there was a public outcry over this issue, and it was important to resolve this issue within one week in order to ensure the policy developed was effective, efficient, and equitable to the entire population in the state. The political perspective to public administration recognizes the important role of political responsiveness while developing policy. In this regard, Dahl (1971) identified the important role of the government in ensuring that the government’s policy centered on the preferences of all the citizens, who in most cases should be considered as political equals. In this regard, it is important for the policy that we are going to formulate ensure that all the demographics will feel that the policy represented them equally. In addition, it is crucial for the policymaker to consider whether the needs of each citizen in the state are considered before implementing this policy. Furthermore, political representation cannot be attained when developing and implementing a policy without considering all the characteristics of the constituents in the state. In support of political responsiveness, Lindbloom (1992) noted the importance of considering a policy that appealed to the masses in terms of objectivity and values that the policy espouses. In view of this requirement, it is evident that the policy that the State was about to implement did not meet these requirements. First, the policy does not consider the impoverished citizens in the state who would find it challenging to seek assistance from the State capital to resolve matters pertaining land administration. In addition, the policy does not consider a significant demography in the state, which includes disabled and aged people. In this case, these groups are better served in their precincts in order to make government services available to these important demographics. In this regard, the policy has to consider these crucial demographics in order to achieve political responsiveness. Simply put, it is important to develop a policy that equally represented every person in the state and appealed to everybody. After political representation, the next aspect of the political perspective approach regards the political participation of all citizens in the state. According to Wang and Wart (2007), public participation in policy development and implementation promoted public trust in the public administration systems of a state or a nation. In effect, failure to ensure that the framework of developing the policy was inclusive during the implementation stage contributed to waning public trust amongst members of the public. In this regard, the policymaker should ensure that there was the input of the public’s opinion while developing this policy. Consequently, implementing the input of the public will contribute to their participation and ensure that the developed policy was acceptable to every citizen in the state. However, since the policy cannot incorporate the opinion and the input of each citizen, public participation ensures that the citizens felt that their opinion was sought before developing the policy, which makes it easier for them to accept the policy. In turn, accepting the policy will eventually lead to the creation of trust between members of the public and public administrators. The third aspect of the political perspective of public administration regards political responsiveness. In this regard, it is common knowledge that policymakers develop and implement public policy to the people. However, it is crucial for public policy to be responsive and meet the needs of the people that the policy sought to represent. In this case, there have been incidents that indicate the detachment and the failure by the government to be in touch with reality with regard to its policies on its citizens. In line with this policy that the state seeks to adopt, it is evident that the policy is not responsive to the needs of the public it meant to serve. In addition, the policy underlines the detachment of the state government from the citizens since the policy was developed without considering their needs. Cope (1999) noted the association of bureaucratic reforms with its inference on political responsiveness. In this regard, bureaucracy does not enhance political responsiveness. In fact, bureaucracy only worked against the achievement of political responsiveness. However, carrying out bureaucratic reforms ensures that there was decentralization with the government becoming more responsive to the needs of the citizens. In doing this, decentralization should follow two principles whose incorporation in policymaking ensures the achievement of political responsiveness. First, decentralization is in line with the traditional American philosophy that indicates the importance of limiting the government’s power in order to safeguard the liberty of the citizens in order to secure their rights that are God-given (LEXREX, n.d.). In view of this principle, it is evident that the policy does not safeguard the rights of the citizens. If anything, the policy appears to be taking the right from the citizens since it does not imply an incident whereby there is the preservation of God-given rights, but it seems to take the right to have services closer to the people withdrawn. On the other hand, the second principle is an assertion of protecting and securing the rights of the people through decentralized levels of government such as the State and local levels (LEXREX, n.d.). From the developed policy, it is evident that the policy works against this principle since it fails to secure and protect the rights of the citizens by ensuring that services at the local level were not withdrawn. Thus, a review of this policy should ensure that the rights of the local people were securely protected by ensuring their participation at the local level. Conversely, it is crucial to consider another approach to responsiveness to public policy known as reactionary. In this case, any policy that a public administrator develops and implements should be a reaction to the needs of the public. Case in point, the lobby group Mothers Against Drunk Driving were influential in the process of rewriting and strictly enforcing the laws against DUI following many incidents of drunk driving amongst the teenage population (Rosenbloom, 2005). In line with this, policy that the policymaker wants to pass for implementation is not reacting to the needs of the public. In fact, the policy rises from the need by the state government to reduce the operational costs of the government. In effect, this policy does not indicate a policy that is responsive to the needs of the citizens. Finally, the aspect of political accountability is crucial in developing a policy framework that changes the structure and operations of a state or federal government. In this case, Cendon (n.d.) observed the effect of the changes in public administration structure and operations on the system of checks and balances, which is the fundamental rule of accountability in public administration. With regard to the policy that the policymaker proposes, it is essential to investigate whether it promoted accountability amongst public administrators or the policy failed to promote accountability among the same administrators. However, one thing is clear that restructuring the land administration operations in the state while following the proposed policy will not promote accountability. In effect, the policy should not be implemented since it failed to promote accountability, which should “involve limited, direct, and most formalistic responses to demands” (Romzek & Dubnick, 1987, p. 228). Based on the abovementioned, it is evident that the proposed policy will not be effective, and it will not achieve equity once implemented. While using the political perspective to public administration, it is important to restructure the policy and ensure that it ensured public participation, which will ensure there was equity and development of trust among all citizens. In addition, it is important to formulate a policy that was representative and accommodated the interests of the entire population before implementing the policy. This way, the policy will remain acceptable to a large proportion of the citizens. On the other hand, public policy should also be responsive to the needs of the citizens. However, the proposed policy does not respond to the needs of the people although it was formulated following the need of the state government to reduce its operational costs. Finally, it is crucial to ensure that the policy promoted accountability. References Cendon, A. B. (n.d.). Accountability and Public Administration: Concepts, Dimensions, and Development. Retrieved from http://unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/public/documents/nispacee/unpan006506.pdf Cope, G. H. (1997). Bureaucratic Reform and Issues of Political Responsiveness [Abstract]. J Public Adm Res Theory 7 (3): 461-471. Dahl, R. A. (1971). Polyarchy: Participation and Opposition. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. LEXREC. (n.d.). A Principle of The Traditional American Philosophy. Retrieved from http://lexrex.com/enlightened/AmericanIdeal/yardstick/pr5.html Lindbloom, C. (1992). The Science of Muddling Through. In Jay M. Shafritz, Karen S. Layne, Christopher P. Borick (Eds.), Classics of Public Administration (177-209). Harleo, England: Pearson Longman. Romzek, B. S., & Dubnick, M. J. (1987). Accountability in the Public Sector: Lessons from the Challenger Tragedy. Public Administration Review, 47(3), 227-238. Rosenbloom, D. (2005). Public Administration: Understanding Management, Politics, and Law in the Public Sector (6th ed.). New York, NY: Random House Wang, X., & Wart, M. W. (2007). When Public Participation in Administration Leads to Trust: An Empirical Assessment of Managers’ Perceptions. Public Administration Review, 265-278. Retrieved from http://www.csus.edu/indiv/s/shulockn/Executive%20Fellows%20PDF%20readings/PAR-citizen%20part%20and%20trust.pdf Read More