Chapter 17: Policymaking

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.17 | 2 Government Purposes and Public Policies Public policy: a general plan of action adopted by government to solve a social problem, counter a threat, or pursue an objective Choosing not to do anything is also a decision: maintaining the status quo All public policies are the means by which government pursues certain goals within specific situations

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.17 | 3 The Policymaking Process Disagreement is often rooted in basic value differences Types of Policies –Distributive policies: government policies designed to confer a benefit on a particular institution or group –Redistributional policies: policies that take government resources, such as tax funds, from one sector of society and transfer them to another –Regulation: government intervention in the workings of a business market to promote some socially desired goal

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.17 | 4 The Policymaking Process Public Policy Tools –Incentives: induce people to change their behavior for a favorable outcome –Disincentives: discourage particular behavior –Direct provision of services or programs –Setting rules: what various businesses or individuals may do in the marketplace

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.17 | 5 The Policymaking Process A Policymaking Model –Agenda setting: the stage in which problems get defined as political issues –Policy formulation: the stage in which formal policy proposals are developed and adopted –Implementation: the process of putting specific policies into operation –Policy evaluation: analysis of a public policy so as to determine how well it is working

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.17 | 6 Agenda Setting -Highly Visible Event, -Ideological Shift -Technological Change Issue Definition - American public develops a concept of the problem - Interest groups work to “spin” support for the issue - Not everyone excepts the same definition

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.17 | 7 Policy Formulation –Proposal by President or development of legislation by Congress –Administrative agencies formulate policies through regulation –Many stages –Incremental changes

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.17 | 8 Implementation –May involve notifying intended targets of agency actions of new or changed regulations –Some policies encounter more difficulties in implementation than others –Implementation can be a very political process

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.17 | 9 Policy Evaluation –Draws heavily on approaches used by academics –Feedback can be positive or negative

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.17 | 10 The Policymaking Process

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.17 | 11 Little Room for Maneuver

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.17 | 12 Who is Paying Their Fair Share?

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.17 | 13 Fragmentation and Coordination Multiplicity and Fragmentation –Fragmentation: in policymaking, the phenomenon of attacking a single problem in different and sometimes competing ways –Fragmentation is fundamental to the nature of policymaking in the U.S.

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.17 | 14 Fragmentation and Coordination The Pursuit of Coordination –Mechanisms of coordination Inter-agency task forces Reorganization Office of Management and Budget –Fragmentation may be solved when an industry asks national government to develop single regulatory policy

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.17 | 15 Fragmentation and Coordination Government by Policy Area –Issue network: a shared-knowledge group consisting of representatives of various interests involved in some particular aspect of public policy. Issue networks are an obstacle to majoritarian democracy –Public opinion, elections remain as majoritarian influences on policymaking

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.17 | 16 The Nonprofit Sector Nonprofit organizations: organizations that are not part of government or business and cannot distribute profits to shareholders or anyone else Most nonprofits are supported by a mix of public and private funds Nonprofits have a role to play both in administering and developing policy

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.17 | 17 America’s Nonprofits