Introduction to Theories of Public Policy Outline Uses

Introduction to Theories of Public Policy • Outline – Uses of Models – Types of Models

Dye: Uses of Models • Simplify and clarify our thinking about politics and public policy • Identify important aspects of policy problems • Help us to communicate with each other by focusing on essential features of political life • Direct our efforts to understand public policy better by suggesting what is important and unimportant • Suggest explanations for public policy and predict its consequences

1. What constitutes Public Policy? 2. Stages in Public Policy Process 3. Models of the Policy Process 4. Implications/Assumptions

1. Institutionalism Public policy as institutional output • Who: executive, legislative, and judicial branches • How: policy is authoritatively determined, implemented, and enforced by these institutions (legitimacy, universality, and coercion) • Implications/assumptions: individuals have little impact; structure/design affects outcomes

2. Process Model Public policy as political activity • Who: voters, interest groups, legislators, presidents, bureaucrats, judges • How: ID problem, set agenda, formulate policy proposals, legitimate policies, implement policies, evaluate policies • Implications/assumptions: who participates has a critical or determinant impact on the process

3. Group Theory Public policy as group equilibrium Who: interest groups, their allies in government • How: struggle among interest groups with legislature/executive as referee to manage group conflict and establish rules of the game • Implications/assumptions: groups will always join to press for particular issues, all interests will have an opportunity for representation

4. Elite Theory Public policy as elite preference • Who: elites that have power, ability to allocate value • How: implementation of the preferences and values of the governing elite; public officials merely carry out policies decided on by the elites • Implications/assumptions: public is apathetic elites agree upon norms; political action is merely symbolic; protects the status quo

5. Rationalism Public policy as maximum social gain Who: decision makers (all social, political, economic values sacrificed or achieved by a policy choice) irrespective of dollar amount (Bentham, Mills) • How: select policy alternative(s) that allows gains to society to exceed benefits by the greatest amount • Implications/assumptions: assumes that the values preferences of the society as a whole can be known and weighted

6. Incrementalism Public policy as variations on the past • Who: policy makers, legislators, others with a stake in ongoing programs or problems • How: continuation of past government activities with only incremental modifications • Implications/assumptions: accepts the legitimacy of established programs; fear of unintended consequences; sunk costs in other programs may minimize the opportunities for radical change

7. Game Theory Public policy as rational choice in competitive situations • Who: players/decision makers who have choices to make and the outcome depends on the choice made by each (assumes rationality in making choices) • How: each player has goals and resources, a strategy developed given possible moves of opponent, and payoff values that constitute the outcomes of the game • Implications/assumptions: repeated plays should lead to better policy outcomes

8. Public Choice Public policy as collective decision making by self-interested individuals • Who: rational self-interested individuals will in both politics and economics cooperate to achieve their goals • How: individuals come together in politics for their own mutual benefit; government must respond to market failures • Implications/assumptions: individuals have sufficient information to know what is in their best interest

9. Systems Theory Public policy as system output • Who: individuals, groups, or nations depending upon the scope of the problem • How: environment may stimulate inputs into political system, producing outputs and feedback • Implications/assumptions: systems implies an identifiable set of institutions and activities in society that functions to transforms demands into authoritative decisions requiring the support of the whole society; implies that the elements of the system are interrelated, that the system can respond to forces in its environment, and that it will do so to preserve itself

10. Kingdon-Garbage Can Model • Who: participants inside and outside government • How: choice opportunity is a garbage can into which various kinds of problems and solutions are dumped by participants as they are generated; policy outcomes are a function of the mix of the garbage: problems, solutions, participants, and participant resources in the can and how the can is processed • Implications/assumptions: each of the actors and processes can operate either as an impetus or as a constraint; streams operate largely independent of one another