chapter 1 policy analysis 120314_060625

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Prepared by

Pamela Marquez

Copyright © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved

Policy Analysis: What Governments Do, Why They Do It,and What Difference It Makes

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Outline(Click on buttons to go to the relevant slide)

What Is Public Policy?

Why Study Public Policy?

What Can Be Learned from Policy Analysis?

Policy Analysis and Policy Advocacy

Policy Analysis and the Quest for Solutions to America’s Problems

Policy Analysis as Art and Craft

1.1

1.3

1.2

1.4

1.5

1.6


Key Objectives

• Identify the meaning and scope of the concept “public policy.”

• Formulate research questions and hypotheses for the analysis of public policy.

• Distinguish between policy analysis and policy advocacy.

• Identify and evaluate the limits of our ability to evaluate/analyze public policy.

Copyright © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved Back to Learning Objectives

What Is Public Policy?

• Definition: “whatever governments choose to do or not to do”

• A study of public policy examines what governments do, why they chose certain actions, and the impact of these actions.

• Public policy is defined as what governments chose to do or chose not to do.

• As government has grown in the last century, the scope of public policy has also expanded.

• Although the scope of public policy has expanded greatly in the last decades, it is not all inclusive.

1.1


Why Study Public Policy?

• Political science goes beyond an understanding of governmental institutions and processes.

• It includes public policy, which focuses on the causes and consequences of government actions

1.2


What Can Be Learned from Policy Analysis?

• Description • Causes• Consequences

1.3


Policy Analysis and Policy Advocacy

• Definition: advocacy versus analysis• Analysis includes

– A focus on explanation– A thorough search for the causes and consequences

of public policies– An effort to test theories with reliable findings

1.4


Policy Analysis and the Quest for Solutions to America’s Problems

• Limits on government power• Disagreement over the problem • Subjectivity in interpretation• Limitations on design of human research• Complexity of human behavior

1.5


Policy Analysis as Art and Craft

• Art versus craft• Wildavsky on policy analysis:

“Policy analysis is one activity for which there can be no fixed program, for policy analysis is synonymous with creativity, which may be stimulated by theory and sharpened by practice, which can be learned but not taught.”

1.6

Back to Learning ObjectivesCopyright © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved

Which of these define public policy?

A. The theoretical basis for government action

B. Government actions and what governments choose not to do

C. The consequences of government actions

D. Finding out what governments do

1.1


Traditional political science focuses on

A. political processes.

B. human behavior.

C. policy analysis.

D. institutions.

1.2


Which of these is NOT a major focus of policy analysis?

A. Forming public policy

B. Describing public policy

C. Examining the impact of public policy

D. Investigating what determines public policy

1.3


Policy advocacy differs from policy analysis because it

A. focuses on the consequences of public policy.

B. describes public policy.

C. supports a given policy.

D. investigates the consequences of policy.

1.4


Which of these is not a substantial hindrance to policy analysis?

A. The complexity of human behavior

B. Lack of applicable models

C. Lack of consensus concerning the problems to be solved

D. Limitations on human research

1.5


According to Wildavsky, policy analysis is essentially

A. scientific.

B. creative.

C. useless.

D. unproductive.

1.6

chapter 1 policy analysis 120314_060625

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