Glosnap: Introduction to Public Policy

“The sum total of government action, from signals of intent to the final outcomes.” This is how Paul Cairney, professor of Politics and Public Policy at the University of Stirling defined policy.

Stated most simply, public policy is the sum of government activities, whether acting directly or through agents, as it has an influence on the life of citizens. In other words, it is the actions of the government and the intentions that determine those actions, and the outcome of the struggle in government over who gets what. Whatever governments choose to do or not do, public policy consists of political decisions for implementing programs to achieve societal goals.

Kingdon's key concept “Multiple Streams Framework” is frequently adopted to understand the agenda setting of governments.

• Problem: perception of problems as public problems

• Policy: consists of experts and analysts examining problems and proposing solutions

• Political: composed of national mood, administrative or legislative turnover, interest group campaigns

• Policy Entrepreneurs: key actors in the agenda setting

• Window of Opportunity: feedback and spillovers, i.e. the impact of one policy change on other policies

Phase 1: Initial moves towards pension policies

This book takes pension policy making as an example. In the first phase, relatively rudimentary public pensions were provided for only some groups in the population in most of the countries.

Problems	An ageing population and increasing reluctance on the part of employers to keep older workers
Politics	The emergence of democracy, a readiness to see poverty in old age as not the fault of the individual
Policies	Either ideas derived from insurance or more universal models of public assistance for the elderly
Policy entrepreneurs	Politicians on the Left; friendly society leaders recognising increased problems with voluntary initiatives
Windows of opportunity	Electoral shifts to the Left

Phase 2: pension policy consolidation

In the second phase of consolidation, it involves either the development of comprehensive public schemes or the formation of combinations of public and private provisions.

Problems	Poverty amongst those not in schemes; equity problems because of mixtures of different schemes; insolvency of some private schemes
Politics	Championing of universalist solutions by the political Left
Policies	Universal models; models involving public/private combinations
Policy entrepreneurs	Politicians of the Left; private companies eager to secure new business or protect existing business
Windows of opportunity	Electoral shifts to the Left; scandals about private schemes

Phase 3: pension cutting

While development and consolidation issues are still on the agenda, a key policy preoccupation is with cutting public pension commitments and there are efforts to promote private pensions.

Problems	Substantial increases in the elderly population; threats of insolvency for both public and private schemes
Politics	Championing of privatised solutions by the political Right
Policies	Cuts to promised entitlements; ways to increase prefunding
Policy entrepreneurs	Private pension providers: international organisations
Windows of opportunity	Electoral shifts to the Right; fiscal crises

A “policy cycle” consists of five stages, which are “Agenda Setting”, “Policy Formulation”, “Decision Making”, “Implementation” and “Evaluation”. Note that the evaluation eventually affects agenda setting, most likely in the following policy. This book covers them one by one.

Title: The Public Policy Process (7th Edition)

Author: Michael Hill, Frédéric Varone

Year: 2016

Region: UK

Publisher: Routledge

Genre: Politics, Social Sciences

Score: 6.5/10