The Issues Concerning Policymaking after WWII - Essay Example

Policy Sciences Introduction According to DeLeon1 (1988), policy analysis and advice were very personalized, idiosyncratic activities, passing from sage to ruler, from counselor to monarch, with only scarce and episodic regard for recording and routinizing the activity. While this was the case at the early stages of the history down till the nineteenth and the early twentieth century, the events, particularly, the growth of colonies and the large scale influence of economy in the political scene, slowly pushed the people to document the events and then realize the benefits there upon2. Major changes in the thought process of the policy sciences happened immediately after World War II. In the pre-World War II work, the political advisors were different for different monarchs. Hardly ever the political advisors continued to provide service to two or more monarchs who succeeded the first. It was more often that the advisors did not have any consideration of intellectual underpinnings, honesty, cumulative knowledge or independent evaluations of the political and social scenario. There were also no recordings of the decisions and the reasons for such decisions written down. Most of advises, according to DeLeon, remained particularistic, ad hoc exercises taken up when something was needed by the prince or the monarch. Documenting the decisions and supporting ideas were done during the later half of the nineteenth century. Subsequent growth of the policy science was based on the foundations and concepts that stemmed from these days. Early Post WWII During and after World War II, there were major upheavals that were taking place all over the world. The concept of the nation state had taken firmer shape in the world and so did the concept of independence or freedom. The political economy and the political science itself underwent major changes in the way decisions were made. Nationalistic agitations which rooted itself in the fight against inferior status and in proletarian socialism grew in to a supporter of imperialistic ideas. It also grew to suppress the other aliens and enforce their superiority over the other races3. All this meant that the societies wanted to grow into states and these states occupied equal positions in the confluence of nation states. The advisors had to change their color based on the rising trend in these nation states and those states that were coming up just then. The fight against and for separatism is another major change in the thought process to become an independent state or nation! This was a serious motivator for the change in policy sciences in line with the thoughts that entered the circle. Similarly, the changes in the economic scenario and the rise of the new economic and political power in the form of the United States also meant that the entire political scene has to be reworked. While there are some uprisings that were anti imperialistic and others socialistic, all that it meant was that the advisors had a different role to play4. The social requirements and the needs of the people, had to be reflected to the monarch or to the heads of the government through these advisors or duly elected members of the parliament or governing council. Immediately after the World War II, the impact on the advisory policy took a major turn5. With more stress on economic growth and industrial growth, the rights of the labor and the people became more pronounced. In all the nations, the monarchies gave way to socialistic and democratic systems that took its power from the people. The advisory policy made a complete U turn here and slowly but steadily moved away from the monarchy and the power center shifted to the ministers or the advisory boards. And the major turn in the policy is the twist that could be visibly seen in terms of ethics and humanitarian issues6. Equality of human beings, racial equality and equality of nations were the main thrust of most of the policy advisors in this period of the policy making history. War on Poverty up to late 1970s War on Poverty was again one more version of the equality of the human beings. Here the major discriminator was the rich – poor divide. In order to bring down the gap and to ensure that the poor at least got what was needed to live peacefully, the War on Poverty was launched. Many of the decisions made during this period have been oriented toward eradicating poverty all through out the world. It was originally conceived as an economic problem. But then, this slowly made way for a number of standing issues that were found to be the cause of poverty and not just money7. However, a number of plans were put into action during this period on various recommendations. Nixon-Moynihan8 proposal on the Societal – system approach was thought of as one of the best solutions of those days. Of course, economic issues are a major cause of concern during this period, but people who ever planned without taking into account the other issues have failed to achieve any noticeable target. Most of these policies that were worked out for poverty reduction, stayed as policies, said Amitai Etzioni. There was more of policy production than of poverty reduction. This happens when the stress is laid more on what is the nature of policy that is in place and an appeasement act is put up for the stage. After 1970s Beyond 1970s, many other dimensions started to dominate the issues concerning the world of policy making. The governmental policies were now greatly influenced by ethical considerations, rationality of decisions and decision making itself, apart from the factors of democracy and the principle of consensus9. All these seem to affect the way decisions are made in a democratic government forum. And the way policy analysis is performed has also changed considerably. There is a continuous and on going interest factor that is being espoused by groups of people. This happens for their personal gains and for the specific consideration of a group of people. There are always numbers of factors that get influenced by every action. This action might help some and could bring out opposition of others. But what ever be the outcome of this action, it is important that the delay in studying the policy issues is only to the advantage of the general public. The conditions for making the policy themselves keep changing10. After the movement of emancipation11 immediately after the World War II, it was the turn of the gender equality and the consensus based administration that was really taken into the consideration. In the course of the work, it was also found that the advisory is now a set of executives who would provide the ministers and the nominees of a democratically elected government. This group of advisors could provide information to the decision maker that is in line with the technological as well as sociological needs of the country12. This made the system to be considerable larger in terms of efficient administration and there were lots of questions that have to be considered before making a specific recommendation or advice. Specialists were needed to ensure that appropriate decisions are made in the cutting edge technology and science13. When the government wanted to have economical decisions like merging with the European Union, they needed the help of experts in that area and they are able to provide the needed guide lines to the people making the decision. Based on these, the country is also able to ensure that the decisions are in line with the needs of the country and does not suffocate the country as a whole. Conclusion Based on the information gathered, it could be seen that: 1. Immediately after World War II, the thrust of the movement was more towards equality against the law. But this was primarily made to stand on its own legs only by ensuring that the law adopted by the new set of people is in line with the majority of the people. 2. The influence of economic changes and the impact of economy on the policy analysis grew. 3. Finally, the policy analysis became more clouded with sociological issues as well and the decisions were taken based on the impact to the society and the economy. Polity was more concerned about these changes in the current context. 4. The change in the policy analysis has been happening with the social changes and the importance of the decisions that has to be taken by the governing person or body as indicated by Maarten Hajer. Appendix Argument summary table Pre World War II Policy analysis was more inclined to be monarchy oriented and was not governed by ethics or such other socially minded issues. Post World War II Policy analysis became more and more equality oriented in the first place, with the new nations taking their birth. Equality was the primary criteria in this period. 1970s The thrust again shifted and it was now on economics. The policies were decided and clouded by the economic imperatives that the country had to answer. Post 1970s The policies are now more oriented towards ethical and social justice. It is now whether there is support for a justified war or whether there is human rights violation, etc., These became the new criteria. Read More