Essay Question ( 5 pages only)
Moe Alfawtawa
public_policy_analysis_-_summer_2014_notes.pptxPublic Policy Analysis (PPA)
Presentation
BY
Dr. Henry Akwo Elonge
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PPA
Introduction to Public Policy Analysis
What is Public Policy: Public policy is concerned with what governments choose to do, why they do it and what difference it makes in society.
Public policies may regulate, distribute and even extract resources from members of the society
Policy Analysis attempts to describe, analyze and explain public policy. It is the description and explanation of the causes and consequences of governmental activities
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Specifically, Policy Analysis involves:
A primary concern with explanation rather than prescription
A rigorous search for the causes and consequences of public policies
An effort to develop and test general propositions about the causes of public policies and to accumulate reliable research findings
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Limitations of Policy Analysis:
The limits of government power. What governments can/cannot do
Public dis-agreements over the nature of problems in society
Subjectivity in analysis and interpretation
Limitations on research design and methodologies
Complexity of human problems/ Human diversity
“Today’s solutions constitute tomorrow’s problems”
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Expert Definitions of Public Policy:
David Easton( The Political System – 1953) defines public policy as” the authoritative allocation of values for the whole of society>”
Harold Lasswell and Abraham Kaplan (Power and Society – 1970) define public policy as a projected program of goals, values and practices
Carl J. Friedrich ( Man and His Government – 1963) stresses that the policy concept should have a goal, an objective and a purpose.
Charles Jones ( Introduction to the Study of Public Policy – 1977) breaks down the notion of public policy into various components and parts and measurable impacts
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According to Weimer and Vining, policy analysis is client-oriented advice relevant to public decisions and informed by social values.
Michael Kraft and Scott Furlong indicate that analysis means deconstructing an object of study, that is breaking it down into its basic elements to understand it better. It is the examination of components of public policy, the policy process or both.
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Utility of models in Policy Analysis
Models are simplified representations of reality or some aspect of the real world; It may be an actual physical representation or a diagram or road map Models
Simplify and clarify our thinking about politics and public policy
Identify important aspects of policy problems
Help us communicate with each other by focusing on essential features of political life;
Direct our efforts to understand public policy better
Suggest explanations for public policy and predict its consequences
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Models are mainly abstractions of the real life. Are they Useful in policy analysis?
Can models order and Simplify reality. Yes they can. But too much simplification may also lead to a false sense of the reality. Models are only importation for analytical reasons
Models identify what is significant or not; it must draw attention away from irrelevant variables. Note that what is real/relevant is a function of an individual’s personal values.
Congruence with reality- Models can hardly be congruent with reality but they can help us understand some aspects of reality
Models can provide meaningful communication provided there is general agreement on the parameters of such a model
Models may also direct inquiry and research into public policy; To do so they must be operational and easy to understand
Finally, modals can suggest explanations of public policies and help us understand causes and consequences of these policies.
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Examples of models include:
Institutional Models
Process Models*
Rational Models**
Incremental models
Group Models
Elite Models
Public Choice Models*** and
Game theory (rational) models****
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Process Model includes:
Problem Identification
Agenda setting – Public opinion, Elites, Top Executives, Political leaders, Interest groups and the Media (4th Branch of Gov’t)
Policy Formulation – Congress, Think tanks (Brookings American Enterprise Institute, Heritage Foundation, Council on Foreign Relations and Interest Groups such as PACS)
“How a Bill Becomes a Law”
Policy Legitimation – Executive and Legislative Staff are call proximate policy makers
Policy Implementation – Regulation and Policy making (Fed Register); adjudication and policy making, bureaucratic discretion and bias
Policy Evaluation – Non-Scientific and Scientific methods of Evaluation
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Rationalism: Policy and Maximum Social Gain involves:
Knowing all of Society’s value preferences and their relative weights
Knowing all of the policy alternatives available
Knowing all the consequences of each policy alternatives
Calculating the ratio of costs to benefits of each policy alternative
Selecting the most efficient policy alternative
Rationality assumes that all value preferences of society can be known and weighted; it requires complete and accurate data and a highly predictive capability and the ability to be able to calculate accurately, costs and benefits.
There are many obstacles to rationalism
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Public Choice theory deals with the application of economic theory to policy analysis
It is based on the notion of “homo enonomicus” which assumes a self-interested individual seeking to maximize personal benefits
It assumes that all actors in society seek to maximize their personal benefits in politics as well as in the market place; but through this they can also attain their mutual interest and the general interest of society
Public Choice theory recognizes the fact the government must perform certain functions in society that the marketplace is unable to handle, that is it must remedy certain market “failures”
Government must provide certain public goods such as national defense ( costs of these goods exceed their value to certain groups
Externalities are market failures which require government interventions
An externality occurs when an activity of one individual/firm imposes uncompensated costs on others or on society e.g. water pollution
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Game Theory : Policy as rational Choice in Competitive Situations studies decisions in situations in which two or more rational participants have choices to make and the outcome depends on the choices made by each. It is applied to areas in policy making in which the is no independently “best” choice that one can make OR in which the best outcomes depend upon what others do. For example the game of “chicken” in international relations
An important concept in this theory is that of deterrence – that is the effort to prevent an opponent from undertaking an action by inspiring fear of the consequences of the action
Deterrence is really a psychological defense: it tries to prevent opponents from undertaking a particular action by creating in their minds the fear of costly retaliation
Example The nuclear weapons game between the US and the Soviet Union
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PPA: Responsibility of Policy Analysts
Analysis must take into consideration first, the interest of its clients; it forces us us to confront conflicts among competing values.
How then should analysts conduct themselves as givers of professional advice? Three values are important in this instance:
Analytical integrity; Responsibility to the client; and adherence to once personal conception of the good society
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The three values provide an adequate ethical standard for the work of the analyst.
To demonstrate analytical integrity analysts must be objective technicians, providing objective advice about the consequences of proposed policies; they must draw upon the tools of their respective disciplines and apply them to policies in an objective manner and never consider clients as “evil”; they should not be too close to the personal interests of the clients and should be also free from their personal biases
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As Client Advocate, analysts should advocate the views of the clients with analytical integrity; they must brelegate their policy preferences to a secondary position once they make commitments to their clients
As issue advocates they should be an instrument for making progress towards their conception of a good society
Analysts should always search for a balance in their work.
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Analysts respond to value conflicts through voicing out their concerns; Exiting and being Disloyal
Ethical Challenges include:
Demands for cooked results
Misrepresentation of results – confidentiality
Scientific rigidity
Conflict with client interests and values
Methodologies of research and analysis
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Policy analysts should explicitly recognize our obligations to protect the basic rights of others, to support our democratic processes as expressed in our constitutions, and to promote analytical and personal integrity
Responsibility to the clients is imperative
Analysts must maintain a realistic modesty about the predictive power of analysis
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