Culture And Public Policy - Essay Example

CULTURE AND PUBLIC POLICY By: Code+ Course Name Professors Name City, State Date Public policy is not formulated and implemented simply based on the usefulness of the policy. Culture has a significant influence on public policy, hence cannot be ignored in the process of creating and implementing public policy. This paper seeks to explain how culture affects public policy. It will give an introduction of what is meant by culture and public policy. It will then outline a case study example to show how culture influences public policy in terms of creation, implementation, and the nature of the policy. Definition of Culture Culture can be understood in different ways. Culture is made up of characters that are acquired fully such as knowledge, arts, morals, customs, beliefs law, capabilities, and habits. Most importantly, culture is made up of ideas and the value attached to these ideas may have been derived and selected from the history (Daniell, 2014). Culture can also be regard as the relationships among people within groups, among groups and between ideas and views. Culture deals with identity, coordination, structures, and practices that guide relations among people such as ethnicity, heritage, rituals, norms, and beliefs. Culture changes with time because it is composed of features that can shape and be shaped by human beings. Multiculturalism refers to a specific set of philosophical ideas, or a particular orientation by institutions or the government towards a varied population. Thus, culture is created by people and defines people. Culture is express in various ways such as through how we speak, live, conduct public life, associate with others, celebrate, entertain ourselves, remember the past, and think about the future. Definition of Public Policy Public policy is viewed as closely associated with or results from politics, which determines who gets what, when and how? This means that the public policy helps to decide who loses or wins; hence, any person or group that has sufficient power to change the distribution of resources across the society could influence this. Public policy can also regard as a problem-solving process that decides at any time or place the objectives and the measure that should be select in order to solve a certain problem or issue. Another definition looks at public policy as related to what the government decides to do or not to do, including the reason for doing or not doing and with what influences (Daniell, 2014). A single public policy comprises four elements: (1) Principles on how to manage public affairs, (2) Objectives that entails specific priorities that are define in accordance with related challenges, issues or problems, (3) measures, actual decisions and suggested instruments to implement the change. Finally, the practical actions, that refers to the conduct of public servants and other stakeholders that are assign the responsibility of implementing the policy (Daniell, 2014). Public policy regulates actions of the government and other institutions such as the judiciary. It serves as the standard measure of the appropriateness of actions that have influence on public affairs. Culture affects different aspects of a society ranging from economic development to social life therefore, influencing the creation of policies and their implementation. This means that a bad culture either will result to the creation of a poor public policy or will hinder the implementation of a good public policy. For instance, poor public policies cause unequal distribution of power and resources, corruption and failure of social, political, and economic developments. Thus, a good culture will lead to the creation of good public policy (Central Liberal Truth: Culture Matters, 2014). Multiculturalism in Australia and Public Policy Multiculturalism in Australia is a perfect case to illustrate how culture affects public policy. Several policies supporting different cultures have been created in Australia such as the creation of a special broadcasting service. On the other hand, the white Australian policy was dismantled after the World War II by making different changes to immigration policy. However, full political introduction of official policies supporting and encouraging multiculturalism only took place in 1972. The association between people with different cultural backgrounds in Australia described as tolerant and with engagement, sometimes, however, has yielded conflict. Australia is a continent with different migrant groups who have brought with them different lifestyles, food and other cultural practices, which have been absorbed into the main Australian culture (Wikipedia, 2014). Before the Europeans settlement, Australia was not a single nation; it hosted many different indigenous cultures. There were between 200 and 400 spoken languages at any one time. According to the census conducted in 2006, some 150 indigenous languages are still active. Australia, as it is known today, resulted from the immigration process that was intended fully to occupy the continent (excluding possible opponents to the British kingdom). Australia was regard as an empty continent. Settlers from Britain were the earliest immigrants to the live in the continent after 1800 century. Until 1901, Australia was a group colony of independent British settlers (Wikipedia, (2014). In 1901, the Australian Federal Parliament created an immigration restriction act called the White Australia policy, which restricted migration of non-Europeans into Australia from the period 1901-1973 (Immigration Restriction Act, 1901). This policy limited ethnic and cultural differences of the immigrants hence facilitated cultural absorption of the immigrants since they shared related cultural and ethnic backgrounds (Wikipedia, 2014). The Immigration Restriction Act was aimed at preserving the British cultural identity of the nation of Australia. For much of the 20th century, the policy was officially implemented hence, restricted non-Europeans from migrating into Australia. In the course of the 20th-century, number of immigrants from Britain became insufficient to provide the labor requirements and immigrants from other parts of Europe came to Australia thus, necessitating formulation and implementation of official policies based on multiculturalism in culture and language diversities. These are still being implement at all levels of public service and the government to cater for non-English speaking residents (Wikipedia, 2014). In addition, the meaning of multiculturalism has reasonably changed since the introduction of the policy in Australia. Initially, it was understood by the majority population as a need to accept that majority members of the Australian community were originally from different cultures with connections. Later the term was used to mean Australia mainstream migrants’ rights to express their identity of culture. The term is, however, now used describing the idea that Australia is a nation of people of different ethnic or cultural background. The Australian government is still keen on the cultural identity policy area (Wikipedia, 2014). Social Capital and Public Policy Another cultural factor that can influence public policy is social capital. Social capital refers to the patterns and strengths of networks among people and the common values that arise from these networks. High-interaction among people creates a great sense of community spirit. Social capital may be defined in more than one way, but the main features include social networks, citizenship, neighborliness, and civic participation. The social capital levels can be measured in terms of (1) trust, for example, whether people trust their neighbors and if they see neighborhood as a place where people can assist one another, (2) membership, for example how many social groups, clubs or societies a person belongs. Finally, the networks and the number of social contacts individuals have in their lives, for example, the number of times they see their family and friends (Ons.gov.uk, 2014). Social capital culture if properly used helps to achieve better results of public policies. If not used properly it obstructs achievement of policy objectives. Social Capital is considered in the development and implementation of Federal policies and programs because of its potential benefits. Through norms, trust, and networks, transaction costs can be reduced greatly. Collective norms create a common understanding, and networks make it easy to access information and connections. Application of social capital also softens the idea of extreme self-interest of individuals and creates a norm that supports mutual action. In addition, well-connected persons are more likely to be employed, housed, have good health and be happy. Through this well-being of individuals, health and welfare systems are improved and therefore the government considers social capital in creation and implementation of public policies such as a health policy (Fieeld, 2003). State budgets are, usually, not sufficient to cater for all the costs and the needs of the public. The government has to make decisions on how to allocate limited resources and to which areas through policy prioritization. The consideration of social capital, specifically in terms of long-term and sustainable application leads to more efficient budget allocation. The state in the adoption of social capital into policies supports existing networks, strengthens them, and destroys negative social capital (Fieeld, 2003). Weber Hypothesis Economic development exists in formal institutions such as property rights and laws under which buyers and sellers can transact in good markets and certain norms or social values that facilitate transactions, savings, and investment. Therefore, there is a dimension of culture that affects economic behavior and economic related public policy. In his book that was first published in 1904, the "protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism", Weber contended that the Calvinist doctrine of predestination, instead of inducing quietism caused believers to seek showing their status as elect by involving themselves in worldly accumulation ( Fukuyama, 2001). According to weber puritanism resulted into a work ethic, that is, valuing work for its own sake instead of its results hence destroyed the Aristotelian catholic doctrine that argued that a person should acquire wealth only enough to live well. Additionally, it enjoined on its believers moral behavior outside the family boundaries, which was essential in the creation of a more impersonal system of social trust. Weber attributed the economic backwardness of majority catholic nations to the catholic culture that did not support capitalism and that the protestant nations where capitalism dominated enjoyed more rapid economic development than their Catholic counterparts did. Protestantism and Catholicism cultures in the respective nations influenced various public policies that either promoted or discouraged capitalism, and this had an effect on the nation’s levels of economic development (Fukuyama, 2001). Culture and Industrial Policy in Asian Countries Culture affects the ability of societies to create and run institutions. For instance, in the post-war period South Korea, Japan and other countries in East Asia used industrial policies in which the government lieu of the market allocated national industries credit in order to encourage economic development. For such an industrial policy to work, it is required that planning bureaucracies are protected from unnecessary political influence and corruption. Although effective industrial policy is partly influenced by institutional design, culture, for example, expectations of corrupt behavior among public officials, levels of education, bureaucratic professionalism, and spirit de corps among others (Fukuyama, 2001). Ghana vs. Malaysian Cultures and Public Policy The African culture has contributed to creation of poor policies that cause the continent to remain behind economically in comparison with other countries in other continents with which at one time they were at par economically (Lewis, 2002). A good illustration is comparison between Ghana in Africa and Malaysia in Asia. The two countries got independence in 1957. According to the British colonial records, Ghana and Malaysia were on equal levels of economic development. Both countries were equally poor and equally relied on export of raw materials. However, presently, on average a Ghanaian earns $300 per year while a Malaysian earns over $3000 per year (News.bbc.co.uk, 2005). The big difference between the two countries’ economies can be explained by their different power related national cultures adopted after independence and the effect that these cultures had on different public policies. Political stability is an important cultural factor in this situation. In 1966, Ghana experienced series of a military coup that threw the country into twenty years of political instability. Ghana has been through all types of regimes, and it is only in 2000 that the country embraced a democratic form of government (News.bbc.co.uk, 2005). The military government and power struggle cultures caused formulation of poor public policies such poor distribution of the countries resources. On the other hand, Malaysia embraced the culture of democracy after independence, which enabled the state to establish a solid framework of public policies that helped entrepreneurs to grow. The political stability in Malaysia created conditions for creation and implementation of public policy supporting economic development aspects such as building of roads, railways, and education system (News.bbc.co.uk, 2005). Still with reference to Ghana and Malaysia, industrial culture has greatly influenced various public policies. In Malaysia, there is a large indigenous class of entrepreneurs composed mainly of dynamic Chinese business people. Most Malays control civil service and politics while ethnic Chinese people control the economy. The Malaysian government takes into consideration this culture in the creation of its different public policies to cater for the interests the Malays and the Chinese people and ensure continuous economic growth and development (Mackie, 1998). On the other hand, Ghana’s culture as is most African countries have its industrial sector dominated by multinational, companies’ subsidiaries, and immigrant Lebanese and Indians dominates most of the retail sectors. The relatively low indigenous business class in Ghana and other African countries mean that substantial profits from the economy’s sectors moves out of the country. Therefore, the public policies created by the Ghanaian government have to take into account the interests of the indigenous people who have been suppressed economically by foreigners for many years. At the same time, the public policies have to be sensitive on the interests of foreigners in order not to discourage foreign investments (News.bbc.co.uk, 2005). African Culture and Public Policy According to BBC (2005), most economies in Africa have not taken off in the past 25 years. Asia and Latin America that were part of the so-called third world countries have got richer while Africa has moved backwards. In Africa, people die from various curable or controllable diseases, Ebola being the latest, and the worst. Further, Malaria still kills many people in the African continent hence, making life insecure, hence creating cultures that are conservative, and defeatist (Guest, R. 2004). In addition, since colonial times, African economies have been the plan suiting the interests of outsiders rather than suiting the needs of the indigenous African people. Roads and railways, for instance, were constructed to transport crops and minerals from the interior regions for export and not to create the internal economy. Further, contacts within Africa are weak and the culture considered to be similar to what Oscar Lewis describes as “culture of poverty”, which does not allow African leaders to make policies and systems that can enable African countries to function effectively (News.bbc.co.uk, 2005). Hofstede’s National Culture Dimensions and Public Policy The culture of Africa as seen from Hofstedes cultural dimensions is that of high power distance, implying that the common people in African countries expect and accept inequality in power distribution (Hofstede, 2005). On the other side, most European and Asian countries are low power distance culture. Thus, in line with the high power distance cultural dimension, most African states are in the hands of a few wealthy and greedy elites who stay in power by buying support from the Western nations. Good examples are rulers like Daniel Arap Moi of Kenya and Mobutu Sese Seko of Congo. Naturally, the losers have rebellion as the only political course left for them (News.bbc.co.uk, 2005). The effect of rebellion is overthrowing of governments by military coups or rebel groups and the ultimate effect being civil wars aimed at control of resources and power (Almond, 2000). The high degree of power distance cultures in Africa results to the creation of poor policies that dont meet the citizens needs but rather often encourage looting of public resources and violation of human rights. On the other hand, the Europe nations, the West and Australia, which are low power distance nations, citizens do not tolerate oppressive policies. They strive for equality in power and distribution of resources by demanding for explanation for any unfairness hence, resulting to policies, which are fair and in the interests of citizens as opposed to a few individual leaders (Huntington, 1993). In summary, culture influences all public policies. The culture of the people or a nation determines the nature of the public policy that is created . Culture also affects the implementation of the policy. It may facilitate implementation of the policy thereby, helping to achieve the policy objectives or prevent creation or implementation of a good public policy, which may have a negative effect on a country’s different aspects such as economic development. Poor public policies in most African countries are because of bad cultures such as the high degree of power distance. On the other hand, most developed countries public interest oriented policies are inspired by the countries’ good cultures such as low power distance. 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