Questions for ConsiderationQuestions for Consideration

What is policy?What is policy? How do politics affect policy?How do politics affect policy? How is policy createdHow is policy created What strategies are used in policy?What strategies are used in policy?

What is Policy?What is Policy?

What is policy?What is policy?

Intentions of government actorsIntentions of government actors Interpretations of various stakeholdersInterpretations of various stakeholders Political compromise among Political compromise among

policymakerspolicymakers By-product of games and relationshipsBy-product of games and relationships Includes both ‘practices’ and also, the Includes both ‘practices’ and also, the

inactions of governmentinactions of government Images of an ideal societyImages of an ideal society

What is policy?What is policy?

Policy as TextPolicy as Text Policy as Discourse PracticePolicy as Discourse Practice Policy as Social PracticePolicy as Social Practice

How do politics affect How do politics affect policy?policy?

Political Organizing Political Organizing PrinciplesPrinciples

Choice and Competition (C)Choice and Competition (C) Autonomy and performativity (A)Autonomy and performativity (A) Centralisation and prescription (P)Centralisation and prescription (P) Equality of opportunity (E)Equality of opportunity (E)

How is policy created?How is policy created?

Models of PolicymakingModels of Policymaking

StageStage

IncrementalisIncrementalismm

Agenda SettingAgenda Setting

Punctuated Punctuated EqualibriumEqualibrium

Vs.Vs.

How is Policy created? Stage ProcessHow is Policy created? Stage Process

Issue Definition

Agenda Setting

Policy Formulation

Implementation

Policy Adoption

Evaluation

How is Policy created? KingdonHow is Policy created? Kingdon

Policy entrepreneurs become aware of the problem.

Policy specialists are continuously coming up with solutions.

Something occurs in the political arena that makes it amenable to new ideas.

Streams are coupled by an entrepreneur

Window of OpportunityCreated by:Problem events orPolitical events.

Kingdon’s Agenda Setting Model

Incrementalism Versus Incrementalism Versus Punctuated EquilibriumPunctuated Equilibrium

LindbloomLindbloom Baumgartner & JonesBaumgartner & Jones

What strategies are used in What strategies are used in Policy?Policy?

Theodore Lowi’s Techniques of Theodore Lowi’s Techniques of Control (1964)Control (1964)

McDonnell and Elmore’s Policy McDonnell and Elmore’s Policy Instruments (1987)Instruments (1987)

Lowi’s Techniques of ControlLowi’s Techniques of ControlType Distributive Regulatory Redistributive

Purpose To give favor or benefit to very specific and narrow interests

To constrain the actions, or sanction the actions, of a group of interests

To take benefits from one group and give them to another

Type of Politics

Elite - high access to decision makers, obscure issues with not much public knowledge, low conflict, no policy goal, decisions are made in committees or in the executive and then ratified by congress or other legislative body

Group Theory - various interests coalesce around the policy issue, the issues focus make the coalitions very unstable, ideological nature means compromise rarely occurs, decision is fought out on the floor of the legislative body

Iron triangle, subgovernment-involves large associations of groups, these associations are highly polarized and ideological, access to the decision can only be gained through one of the points of the triangle, typically compromise does not occur but concessions will be made to the loser, administration will eventually become ideologically aligned with winners and then legislative body takes on only a sanctioning role.

Example Pork barrel, defence contracts, highways, Jobs

environmental regulations, special education legislation (as of late), School accountability

special education legislation (original), Funding for the arts

Potential to become symbolic

Very Low High Extremely High