Making a Public Policy - Coursework Example

due: Public policy Introduction A public policy refers to certain laws and actions of the government, the funding of certain priorities and the regulations reflective of positions, attitudes, cultural ideologies or the accepted rules. Making a public policy involves coming up with a policy that must be adopted, implemented and enforced by some governmental institutions, a process called the public policy analysis. Policy analysis is an applied social science discipline intended to solve practical problems facing both the public and the nonprofit organizations. The government lends legitimacy to the policies that are then made legal. The adopted policy is then extended universally to cover all the people in a particular society. The government alone possesses the power to demand obedience to a policy, and also holds the power to sanction violators of the policy. In this discussion, focus will be given on public policy on abortion. This is a legislation passed by the lawmakers for ensuring that women do not terminate pregnancies unless when the doctor detects a danger to the mother. Part A Various models are considered in the making of a public policy. In this section, however, focus is given on a rational analysis model, also called the decision-making model. This is a model that tries to understand all the alternatives, by taking into account all their consequences so as to select the best. It is mainly concerned with the best way of organizing government in order to assure a smooth flow of information, accurate feedback, and also to weigh values. The model significantly tries to improve the content of a public policy. According to Kraft and Furlong, rational analysis model is important in the process of analyzing the policy, which leads to the formulation of an effective policy. The approach is broad and thorough, though time-consuming. It helps in the definition of a problem, setting the outcome goals, proposing and evaluating alternatives as well as choosing other options to the policy. The rational analysis though effective has some shortcomings. For instance, there exists a gap between planning and the implementation. It tends to ignore the role of people, entrepreneurs among others. It tends to ignore the human factor by focusing mainly on the technical competence. The approach used by the method is also too mechanical and tends to ignore the fact that organizations are more organic. An effective model needs to be complex and multidimensional. Predictions are often wrong, thus overlooking simple solutions. In addition, the costs of the rational model may outweigh the cost savings of the policy (Levine 1). The abortion policy in the U.S focuses on the ideological extremes. There are the active participants in the debate, who align themselves with a pro-life or pro-choice position. The pro-life supporters view a fetus as a form of life with its rights, and according to them, abortion means termination of life. The pro-lifers advise that women should instead give birth to the unwanted children and then give them up for adoption. Pro-choice activists, on the other hand, believe in a woman’s rights to control her body, and the decision of procuring an abortion is a representation of an expression of that right. Since a public policy is a passed law, any violator of the law risks apprehension (Levine 1). Part B Abortion is a contentious issue and has been at the center of discussion among human rights activists and some governments in their attempt to legalize it. Borrowing from Kraft and Furlong’s description of the contexts of public policy, discussion of this section will employ the cultural context. The cultural context primarily refers to the attitudes and social norms existing in a particular society. Since a society is comprised of people with diverse opinions, there are those who may campaign for legalization of abortion and others who may strongly oppose the move. A survey carried out on American attitudes; it was revealed that there exists a large number of people at both ends of the continuum of public opinion. A large minority were found to favor the restriction on abortion, with a smaller minority feeling that the procedure should not be allowed under any circumstances. The majority of the American citizens favoring the policy fall somewhere between the two extremes. For the abortion to be considered acceptable to this middle group, usually a negative health social circumstance must be present to legitimize the woman’s decision. Culturally, there tends to be a lot of emphasis on the moral, life and death, issues of abortion and not much simple description and explanation of the consequences of a government decision. Among the politicians, the norm on abortion is silence until a deviant or sensational case arises, which is then reported with a lot of vigor. For instance, a woman may die from a cardiac arrest during a legal abortion, and the press reports the incident with little analysis, and the passions again become intensified on both sides of the issue. A question of importance here is how and to what extent abortion policy has interacted with other societal intervention, such as health spending and contraception. Unfortunately, many of these questions are either pushed aside or ignored in the moral debate on abortion (Burstein 29-40.). The Gallup Organization carries out a survey of the nation regarding individuals’ views on abortion policy. They take random samples of the population regarding the circumstances under which abortion should be legal. It has been shown that more abortions would necessarily reduce births if a policy change altered the abortion behavior, but not the likelihood of a pregnancy. The policy change may, however, alter the likelihood of a pregnancy, something which prompts a person undecided on whether the pregnancies become more or less with at various sexual activity or contraceptive use (Levine 2). A woman’s decision to procure an abortion is interpreted as a person’s choice and not an instance in which the woman acts in accordance with cultural norms. Abortion, can, therefore, in certain ways maintain the status quo. The individual’s decision may be influenced by cultural narratives, which does not necessarily mean that it is a bad one, since most of the people are raised to behave in accordance with the cultural dictation that also has social dimensions. Decisions are mostly made in a cultural context, and the decisions have social consequences (Marianna 2). Part C The government has to be centrally involved in the analysis of a particular policy. There are a number of reasons behind government involvement in policy analysis. One of the reasons is the construction of policy alternatives, considerations have to be made on the available policy tools. The tools may be in the form of regulation, government management or public education, meaning that it is solely the authorities that can facilitate the process (Kraft & Furlong para 14). The other reason is that the government forms the major policy analysts through its agencies. The other parties involved in policy analysis also depend on the government. This is because most of the institutions such as universities are extensions of the government. The others include think-tanks who comprise policy research institutes that have a broad range of ideologies and ideas. For instance in America, such institutes include Brookings Institution and the American Enterprise Institute which are government bodies. Their work helps the policy makers to understand complex problems, learning ways of addressing the problems and understanding the views of interest groups (Kraft & Furlong para 22). The government also forms the major instruments of public policy. The government achieves this by regulation, offering subsidies, imposing taxes or giving tax deductions, offering market incentives, and charging fees for specific services. The other ways include educating the citizens on various policies, conducting research on the suitability of policies, providing direct services as well as creating public trusts ((Kraft & Furlong para 25). The government utilizes many tools to address the problems affecting its citizens. By so doing, it ensures policy actions can move from new and creative alternatives to come up with the best policy (Chapter 5, 33). Part D Public policy instrumentation and its choice of various tools and modes of operation are taken as a kind of evidence. Governing is all about making regulations, taxation, entering into contracts, and communication. The questions raised in public policy instrumentation are part of rationality methods that lack any autonomous meaning. Public policy instrumentation forms a major issue in public policy since it reveals the theorization of the link between the governing and the governed. Each of the public policy instruments constitutes a condensed form of knowledge pertaining to social control and ways of exercising it. The instruments in application are not neutral devices but are instead used to produce specific effects. This is independent of the pursued objective, or which structure public policy in accordance with their logic (Lascoumes & Patrick 1-21). The success of the instruments is, however, dependent on adequate management. Public management is understood in the context of achievement of policy goals and hence directly related to the policy. According to Kraft and Furlong, the instrument of conducting research is well elaborated in this context (Kraft & Furlong para 25). The policymakers need to conduct intensive research on the people’s ideologies and opinion. For instance, on an issue such as abortion, the policy makers will need to interview the women and their husbands on how they take the issue. They need to know the effects the potential consequences of the formulation of a policy either allowing or prohibiting abortion. The policymakers will also need to consult doctors and other health workers on the records of women who carry out an abortion for a given period so as to establish how entrenched the issue is. If a majority of the citizens are in agreement with the formulation of a policy legalizing the exercise, then the policymakers can go ahead to implement the policy (Lascoumes & Patrick 1-21). Part E According to Kraft and Furlong, an effective policy design should be in line with Schneider and Ingram 1997 model. The policy should consider the motivations and tendencies of government agencies who are the implementers of the policy. The other consideration should be made on the target population who are the recipients of the policy. The policy design should analyze the likely behaviors and use tools that fit the best. This is to develop a set of categories that describe the tools; what is known as the typology (Kraft & Furlong para 27). Such a topology should consider the likely behaviors of the implementers and the targeted groups of the policy. The typology comprises of tools such as authority tools, inducement and sanctions, capacity-building tools, hortatory tools, and learning tools ((Kraft & Furlong para 28). Policy typologies are created to help the policy designer in predicting the sorts of policy conflict that would precede a policy’s enactment, and the sort of conflict that might arise after the policy is adopted and implemented. The typology is, therefore, a useful predictive tool that takes policy studies beyond the stage of just mere description to the wise decision-making on the implementation of the policy. For instance, in a contentious and controversial issue like abortion, a policy typology involves taking a resource from one identifiable group and giving it the benefit to another readily identifiable group (Birkland 213). The prediction of the policy conflicts prompts the policymaker to think of alternatives just in case the policy fails to work as expected, or some other factors needed factors for implementation are missing. Kraft and Furlong have justified their policy by including alternatives such as real world situations which have worked in a similar situation and has been tried by the state. The alternatives can also be obtained through brainstorming (Kraft & Furlong para 31). Part F In policy analysis, democracy of the people has to be put into consideration. This is achieved by using a democratic theory, which employs normative models of democratic choice. In this case, democratic choice is classified according to the types of judgments made about both input and output legitimacy. Inputs refer to the demands and preferences of individuals and groups while outputs refer to the public policies produced. The democratic choice determines whether all individuals have a formal right to decide on a particular policy or whether rules of procedural fairness are used in making political decisions. It assesses the fairness of the process by which the decision was produced (Immergut, 3). This is in line with Kraft and Furlong’s observation. They had noted that policy analysis studies problems and possible solutions. This includes the study of problems and valuation of possible policy alternatives, which is done by academics and interest groups. Each of these policies involves many choices regarding approach (Kraft & Furlong para 16-18). Political processes are normally judged by a formal criterion. If the individuals are formally free to express their preferences, then democratic outcomes will be judged by a formal and not a substantive standard. If the outcome is produced by a formally competitive process, then a strict formal approach to the political process and public policies is taken. A democratic process is considered to be fair if there are universal rules of accessing the process, and if the outputs can be produced by fair rules that follow a certain procedure. The fairness should then produce effectiveness and efficiency since efficiency I highly valued in the U.S. An efficient policy should work well at extremely low cost. The fairness should also be seen in the distribution of costs, benefits, and risks across the entire population. The fairness is expected to achieve political feasibility where the politicians are expected to support the alternatives offered by the policy. The policy should also be socially acceptable. Technical feasibility and administrative also feature in the policy. In the technical feasibility, determination is done on whether the available technology can implement the policy. Administrative feasibility, on the other hand, determines whether the policy can be implemented and managed well (Kraft & Furlong para 16-18). The democratic theory is concerned with the support of the idea of participation in the formulation of a public policy. The theory is predicated on a belief in a man’s capacity to make political judgments that are rational. This encourages public participation in the government’s policy-making process, which increases specialization of the policy process. By making use of the public, the government can easily identify a problem that needs to be addressed within the society. After the identification of the root causes of the problem, the government comes up with policies that are more effective in curbing the problem. Suing the information obtained from the public, the policy makers may then consider the available instruments. They may use traditional or new and creative approaches to solving the problem, bearing in mind that the approaches adopted will impact on the people’s behavior (Kraft & Furlong para 22-24). Part G Once analysts define and summarize a problem through data, they construct policy alternatives. This forms a part of policy formulation stage of the public policy. The process is referred to as policy design. Governments have developed various policy tools to help them develop the designs. Governments use various tools in policy design. The tools include subsidies, rations, taxes, and spending, contract out, use market incentives, privatization, education, creation of public trusts, and commission research. Policymakers may settle on certain alternatives in the case where the previously thought ideas fail to work well. As pointed out earlier, the policy analysis process involves coming up with workable methods of policy formulation. For precautionary measures, however, alternatives have to be considered. The first alternative may be obtained from the real world situations. That is, consideration is made on what has worked elsewhere or some other time in a similar situation. After the identification of such an alternative, consideration is then given on whether the alternative has been tried by a state. Focusing on the issue of abortion, the policy makers may develop some alternatives. Like in 2007, the Supreme Court made a decision to uphold a ban imposed on abortion, which practically had huge political implications. Commenting on the ban, Dr. Isaac Schiff, the chairman of the department of obstetrics and gynecology at Massachusetts General Hospital said that there are safe and readily available alternatives to the banned method. The law refers to the method as partial birth abortion. Political reverberations have led to widely disparate pronouncements by groups on either side of the abortion debate, with raised questions on the ban and the measures the Supreme Court can take to regulate the practice of medicine. The law, however, declares that the only alternative to abortion is for the doctor to allow normal delivery of the fetus and then kill it when it is leaving the womb. Doctors, on the other hand, have maintained their position that it is permissible to use the banned method to save the pregnant woman’s life (Tribune para 2). The second alternative would be the use of parallel situations or analogies. This is based on whether the analogies have been used in other sectors and for which specific problems. Just like in the health care policy of the U.S, there is the alternative of Medicaid that is funded half by states and the other half by the federal government. The program is mainly intended for the very poor in the society. It provides basic health care services and nursing home care. However, the program has previously faced challenges due to the rising costs resulting from the recession; the crushing state budgets in addition to the extremely low reimbursement. The state has responded by cutting the eligibility and reimbursement. The Medicaid has recently been boosted following Alaska Governor’s Bill Walker, who released a budget that is set to add $20 million set to reduce the costs of Medicaid. Coming up with a State Children’s Health Insurance Program in 1997 was another alternative to the improvement of the health care policy. The program was funded half by the states and half by the federal. The program is meant to provide healthcare to 40,000 more Alaskans. The federal government aims to supply the program fully (Tribune para 2). Most recently, President Obama boosted the program by expanding the federal funding. A good example of a parallel situation in the healthcare policy is the Veterans Healthcare System that caters for individuals who had served in the armed forces. The reform of the insurance program for service-related injuries was a breakthrough in improving the health sector. This was despite the challenges such as a growing number of veterans and more needs, affecting the quality of care and access to the healthcare (Kraft & Furlong para 20-24). New policy alternatives can be developed through creative thinking and brainstorming. Quick surveys can also be applied to learn what experts in the policy network think about the policy options. There are various forms of collection of information, which include passive method. The method involves establishing what others have suggested in a given policy area. A review of parallel situations can also be done to seek a workable policy option through examination of a related policy area. The analysts may at times compare policy alternatives with an ideal situation so as to generate strategies that are likely to move in the desired direction.This shows that the alternatives in policy analysis have to be done by the analysts and the public. The analysts will need the members of the public for brainstorming as well as taking the surveys (Kraft & Furlong para 3-4). Part H One of the criteria for developing an evaluative criterion is by determining how to choose the proper policy actions. The process involves clarifying the program’s goals and objectives and forms the basis on which the proposed solutions will be judged. The major decision makers establish the criteria, which may either be explicit or implicit. For instance, an administrator may state that he expects a solution to be implemented within a period of three months and within a certain budget. In some cases, the criteria may not be well defined, and the policy analyst may have to draw from a set of commonly employed criteria. The second criterion involves choosing the basis on which choices about the policy should be made. The policy will affect different people differently. It is not common to develop a policy that favors all stakeholders or interested parties. The policymakers will, therefore, have to come up with the solidest foundation of the policies so as to find a balance that protects citizens fairly. There has to be a proper understanding of the persons affected by a certain problem or any proposed policy change, which forms a critical part of the problem definition. This is because a problem can have various dimensions that can only be understood from the perspective of the different stakeholders (Kraft & Furlong chapter para 15; Morse 15). The third criteria involve determination of the cost to be attracted by an alternative to the policy. The analyst needs to calculate the cost so that the process does not go beyond the allocated budget. This helps to avoid any hindrances that may result in the delay of the process (Kraft & Furlong para 15). Part I Alternative obtained from the real-world situations, such as what has been tried somewhere else and assessment of its working is done. This type of policy alternative is safe since it offers a guarantee in the sense that the particular policy has been practically tried somewhere else and worked well. This can then be measured against an evaluative criteria such as determination on how to choose the proper policy actions. This criterion will ensure that only the best tested and proven alternative is considered. To enhance the process, a SWOT analysis is used to determine its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. The strengths can then be improved even further, and the weaknesses can be regulated to ensure optimal performance of the alternative. The policymakers can then take advantages offered by the alternative, and also formulate ways of cushioning the threats (Kraft & Furlong para 15). The second alternative is the use of parallel situations or analogies. This will involve trying out alternatives that are currently in the process of application in another sector of the economy. The alternative is then reinforced with criteria involving choosing the basis on which choices about the policy should be made. Excellent choices are made by employing the SWOT analysis. The strengths and the opportunities are made even better while the policymakers engage on precautions against possible threats the alternative may have on the policy analysis. The analysis is done on both the policy alternative and the criteria to achieve optimum performance of the policy (Kraft & Furlong para 15). In the third alternative, creative thinking and brainstorming are involved. This kind of an alternative is very powerful since diverse views, and opinions are collected from various stakeholders such as the members of the public, officials in the government, and the private sector. The alternative is then combined with the criteria involving determination of the cost to be attracted by an alternative to the policy. This means the cost of another alternative is weighed to ensure it does not either exceed or go too low of the allocated budget. As the interviewees give their views on what they expect or desire, the policymakers put into consideration the corresponding costs of each of the proposed policy plans. The alternative and the criteria are then analyzed using the SWOT analysis to determine their viability. The idea that meets the highest ranking is then considered for analysis and adoption (Kraft & Furlong para 15). Part J I would opt to choose parallel situations or analogies. This particular alternative offers a guarantee of the success of a policy analysis since it builds on a tested policy. Parallel situations involve practices that have been previously applied elsewhere and have worked. This means the risks involved are minimal. The alternative offers a policy analyst a chance to improve on the weaknesses of a previous version so as to develop a better policy. The alternative assures benefits to both the analyst and the all the other stakeholders since less time will be required to analyze a policy and implement it. There are no more delays encountered in trying out new criteria. States are also encouraged to consider the alternative so as to implement their policies. Part K Public policy analysis involves tools such as research, modeling, hearings and debate. The tools are the channels through which information is gathered. The tools are interrelated. For instance, research involves both hearing and debate. The policymakers engage the members of the public with a question and answer sessions, which could be done verbally or by use of other primary sources such as questionnaires. Hearings mostly occur during conferences and conventions where the members of the public are engaged in a discussion with the policymakers. The tools, therefore, form the most fundamental tools in the process of public design and analysis (Stanford para 1). The other important method policy analysis involves disciplines such as political science. Political science has a lot of relevance to the analysis of public policy. This is because policy analysis employs a lot of knowledge from political science. Politics has to come into play for the analysis of a policy to go through successfully since the aspect of politics determine the laws and polices made. Policy analysis involves the political aspects of the public decision-making. This means much attention is given to problems of political feasibility, recruitment of support, accommodations of contradicting goals and recognition of diversity values. Economics is another crucial aspect of policy analysis. The economic rationales for policy interventions, methods of policy evaluation and the role of cost-benefit analysis are important tools in economics which are highly desired in policy analysis. The relationship of income distribution is required in the policy choice (Stanford para 1). Part L Conclusion Policy analysis is a process involving different stakeholders, with the government taking the center stage. Policy analysis helps in the development of better policies that will be readily adopted by the public. Since a policy involves specification of a certain way of conducting the daily operations within a society, consultations have to be made amongst all the stakeholders. The norms of the particular society have to be considered as well as their preferences. This is because the formulation of a particular policy has to take care of the democracy of the people. The society has the rights to exercise their freedom, regardless of any formed public policies. Public policy instruments are used to check the preferences of the majority population to guide the policymakers on the most appropriate provisions to be included in the policy. Using tools such as taxation and rations, the government can formulate policy designs. To take care of eventualities such as stalling of the policy in the future, the policymakers have to think of some alternatives. Considerations also have to be made on these alternatives to avoid duplication of objectives, and also to check on the cost of the alternatives compared with the existing policy. The strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the policy is done to evaluate its viability. The SWOT analysis shows that a policy cannot be perfect. The weaknesses of any policy can, however, be improved from time to time depending on what the majority of the public are demanding. Public policy analysis takes time due to the many steps followed before arriving at the final decision Works cited Birkland, Thomas A. An Introduction to the Policy Process: Theories, Concepts, and Models of Public Policy Making. Armonk, N.Y: M.E. Sharpe, 2001. Internet resource. Burstein, P. (2003). The impact of public opinion on public policy: A review and an agenda. Political research quarterly, 56(1), 29-40. Immergut, Ellen M. "Democratic Theory and Policy Analysis: Four Models of “Policy, Politics and Choice”." der moderne staat–Zeitschrift für Public Policy, Recht und Management 4.1 (2011). Kraft, Michael, and Scott Furlong. "Public Policy: Politics, Analysis, and Alternatives." Chapter Summary. 2014. Web. 20 Feb. 2015. . Lascoumes, Pierre, and Patrick Le Gales. "Introduction: understanding public policy through its instruments—from the nature of instruments to the sociology of public policy instrumentation." Governance 20.1 (2007): 1-21. Levine, Phillip B. Sex and Consequences: Abortion, Public Policy, and the Economics of Fertility. Princeton [u.a.: Princeton Univ. Press, 2004. Print. MariAnna, Cara J. Abortion: A Collective Story. Westport, Conn: Praeger, 2002. Print Morse, Kristin. Policy Analysis for effective development: strengthening transition economies. TERI Press, 2006. Stanford University. "ECON 150 Economic Policy Analysis." Economic Policy Analysis. Web. 20 Feb. 2015. . Tribune, News. "Alaska Governor Saves Money on Medicaid, Finds More for Ferries and the Homeless." Alaska Governor Saves Money on Medicaid, Finds More for Ferries and the Homeless. 19 Feb. 2015. Web. 20 Feb. 2015. . Read More