PP
Question 3
Please provide definitions of the following theoretical approaches to the study of public policy making and discuss and explain the policy categories listed below. You must cite an example for each of the policy category types.
A. Policy Theoretical Approaches:
• Group theory- public policy is the product of the group struggle. Some public policies are born out of group struggle. When a group seeks government intervention it becomes an interest group. The main requirement is for the group to have access to the right people, which requires being well-organized, excellent leadership, and little competition, which will give a good chance of getting the public policy approved. As a result, the dominant will gain the
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Disadvantage – the policy agenda concerns or issues of the elite may not reflect the issues or concerns of the greater community.
• Political Systems Theory – public policy where the environment consists of phenomenona that are external to the political system. Its inputs are demands and support and its outputs are laws and decisions. Public policy is created because political systems respond to the rising demands from the environment. All the important decisions and bargaining happens outside the government in the environment. An example: disgruntled voters in a nation decide to turn to violence in order to get their voice out. This is a demand. The government officials talk among themselves and gather internal feedback. Then this demand is changed into an output with a reward such as services and opportunities as well as deprivations such as taxes and imprisonment. Easton believed that the input was necessary because the government needs to generate internal feedback and then support for that internal feedback in order to create laws and run the country.
Advantage – action taken by citizen are heard. Disadvantage - Theory can be considered relatively abstract (theoretical)
• Rational Choice Theory – this public policy argues that policymaker’s pursuit there own self-interest instead of any national-interest. Policy is meant to maximize social gain unless the cost exceed it benefits. For instance, the Trump Administration Executive Order on the Immigration
Deborah Stone begins her book, Policy Paradox, by stating, “a theory of policy politics must start with a simple model of political society, just as economics starts with a simple model of economic society.” Deborah Stone examines two policy-making models to describe the paradox’s of the process model for public policy. The two models include: the market (rational model) and the Polis (community) model. Stone states she contrasts these two models to “illuminate some ways the market model distorts political life.” As discussed in class, the market model follows five steps:
This article provides the audience with an adequately clear and convincing stance to explain what public policy is, and other academic literacy related to public policy, which included some famous theories. The main theme of this article is that public policy is intricate and no scholar can analyze any policies with one particular theory or model. In addition, the author argues that the public policy is multidimensional and it influences every citizen’s life profoundly.
This paper is a review of chapter’s one (1), two (2) and three (3) in Thomas A. Birklands (2016) fourth edition regarding policy process. The reading attempts to define and show what is meant by policy process, how government, politics and the public are intertwined, problems that are associated with the policy process and how we address the problems. Current day events as well as past history are applied to the practice of policy process which assists in defining the process and highlighting its connection and importance. Thomas A. Birklands refers to the Clinton administration, the Obama administration and the George W. Bush administration, the DARE Program, World War II, and the Vietnam War, in the chapters and leads us down a path discussing
In this assignment I am going to analyse how government policies are developed, covering all aspects of the policy making process.
In this paper we will discuss the final stages of how a topic becomes a policy. The paper will discuss formulation, implementation, and the legislation stage. These stages must be done in this order to ensure the policy is being formed the correct way and not scattered around. This paper will also consist of the evaluation stage, analysis stage, and revision stage and describe the purpose and methodologies process for evaluating and revising a public policy.
My example of the rational choice theory of today is the mexican drug controls of December 2011. The drug trafficking organization in Mexico was highly rational, self-interested actors seeked to maximize profit.
Open approaches are definitive choices that are made in administrative, official, or legal extensions of government. They are definitive in the setting that the moves made at these levels have authenticity and are tying, at any rate until the point that changes are made in one of those extensions that influences the approach.
Since the policymaking institution only selects important issues the government will not always “ act on any issue until it is high in the policy agenda.” (Government in America, 12)
In this essay is about the relationship between the social policy and social problem, but before going into a deep understanding of the two related parts that involve in a society, let is defined each one of them and know what they are and how they connect. When it comes defining the social policy or social problem; there is no one solid definition for them as it has many definitions because of their widely involvement in the society. In Bessant Theories, Mark Considine (1994;2) , fairly recommended that policy is cleverly easy caption that is able to cover parts of actual complicated actions.
Interest groups are formed to influence policy within the levels of government by lobbying elected officials to vote for policies favored by the groups. The basic definition of an interest group is a “group of citizens who are organized and attempt to influence legislation so that it reflects their interest or policy goals” (Marion & Oliver, p. 281. 2012). Some groups focus only on a single issue, while others focus on larger areas of public policy. Some interest groups are created and dissolve over a period of a single election, while others have a long standing of influencing elections and public policy choices. Some choose to focus not only on government, but on persuading the public or other non-governmental organizations to support
The first element of government that halts progress in America is the hyperpluralist theory, an extension of the pluralist theory. Edwards, Lineberry and Wattenberg state that “According to pluralist theory, because of open access to various institutions of government and public officials, organized groups can compete with one another for control over policy and no one group or set of groups dominates” (16). Basically, the pluralist theory states that for every group, there exists another group with opposing views or goals and they help serve each other through compromise. The hyperpluralist theory, on the other hand, argues that these different groups can counteract each other, diminishing any progress that the other group achieved. Without power over the others, a group cannot push its agenda without the opposing group pushing its own agenda to set that group back. A positive aspect of this theory is that it prevents one group from dominating; however, it discourages any changes from happening in government. Edwards, Lineberry, and Wattenberg
Rational choice theory, also known simply as choice theory, is the assessment of a potential offender to commit a crime. Choice theory is the belief that committing a crime is a rational decision, based on cost benefit analysis. The would-be offender will weigh the costs of committing a particular crime: fines, jail time, and imprisonment versus the benefits: money, status, heightened adrenaline. Depending on which factors out-weigh the other, a criminal will decide to commit or forgo committing a crime. This decision making process makes committing a crime a rational choice. This theory can be used to explain why an offender will decide to commit burglary, robbery, aggravated assault, or murder.
Many of the theories covered this term view “policy subsystems,” as a relatively small group of administrators, legislators, and lobbyists who controlled basic public
The elite is the selected few but does not reflex the needs of the masses
First I will provide an overview of what rational choice theory is and why it has staked such a prominent position in the discipline of political science. In this section I conclude that rational choice theory has indeed developed advanced methodologies at telling us how rational agents should behave. Then in my second section I will show, using the empirical case of the free-rider problem and collective action, as well as the case of suicide terrorism, that rational choice theory cannot adequately account for actual political phenomena. In my third section I will provide some reasons for why this is the case. Finally, in my concluding section I will posit a theoretical framework incorporating some refinements to the assumptions behind rational choice theory that would better aid a predictive (but not universalist) political science.