How policy is made

Policy can be defined as a set of ideas and proposals for action culminating in a government decision To study policy, therefore, is to study how decisions are made Burch (1979, p108) distinguishes between two main types of government decisions: Rules, regulations and public pronouncements (e.g. Acts of Parliament, Orders in Council) Public expenditure and its distribution

Models of policy making

The conventional model The ruling-class model The pluralist model Corporatism The party government model The Whitehall model Rational decision making Incrementalism

The policy cycle

Policy is normally best understood as part of a cycle made up of various stages Hogwood and Gunn(1984) have identified a number of stages: Deciding to decide Issue definition

Forecasting Setting objectives and priorities Option analysis Policy implementation Monitoring and control Evaluation and review However, Lindblom disagrees with this analysis He argues that Deliberate or orderly steps . . . are not an accurate portrayal of how the policy process actually works. Policy making is, instead, a complexly interactive process without beginning or end (Lindblom and Woodhouse, 1993, p. 11, quoted in Parsons, 1995, p. 22) This lecture will look at three stages in the policy process: initiation, formulation and implementation

Agenda setting

John Kingdon perceived it necessary for three streams to conjoin for an item to be added to public policy: The recognition of something as a problem (problem stream) The identification of possible solutions (policy stream) The requisite opportunities time, accession to power of a party prepared to act and so forth (political stream) For example poverty was not seen as a problem by many till Liberalism and Socialism emerged

Policy initiation

Each government decision has a long and complex provenance, but all must start somewhere Policy initiatives, can originate in all parts of the political system but are often quite hard to identify

Policy initiatives can be started by: The general public Cause groups, media and academic experts Extra parliamentary parties and party groupings Parliament Ministers departments, official inquiries and think tanks Prime Minister and Cabinet

General public

The publics role in policy making is usually limited to (the democratically vital function of ) voting for a particular policy package at general elections However they can also have an impact during referendums (e.g. entry to the EU) or when the public feels particularly strongly about an issue For example, legislation on dogs was enacted after a spate of attacks by dogs on children one summer in the 1980s, and handguns were banned after the Dunblane shootings of March 1996 However they do not always have an impact e.g. public feeling about the war in Iraq did not stop Blair participating in the conflict

Cause groups, media and academic experts

Often can government policy can be influenced by influential groups, the media an certain academic experts Groups like Greenpeace currently have some impact on government thinking due to their mass membership Equally the media is very influential, especially Tabloids like the Sun and the Mirror In practise this translates into political power for their owners, such as Rupert Mudoch

Often governments have to be extremely careful not to offend their owners for fear of receiving bad publicity

Extra parliamentary parties and party groupings

Both the Labour and Conservative extra-parliamentary parties find it easier to influence their respective leaders in opposition than in government This can be done via funding e.g. the Trade Unions and Labour During party conferences The research departments can initiate important proposals For instance the Fabian society and No Turning Back Group are both important political think tanks Individual politicians can lobby their leaders on issues they feel are important

Parliament

The role of Parliament in initiating policy can be considered under two headings: Party sources and party groups Non-party sources Party groups (some of which have membership outside Parliament) such as the Bow Group, Monday Club, Tribune and Campaign Group can all have influence on policy making Select committees all make regular reports and can have impact of government policy Blair ran into trouble during his time as Prime Minister for seemingly ignoring input from parliament

Ministers departments, official inquiries and think tanks

Strong-minded ministers will always develop policy ideas of their own either as a reflection of their own convictions or to get noticed and further their ambitions

A Royal Commission set up by the government can be the precursor to major policy changes Margaret Thatcher didnt trust Royal Commissions but her successors have all made use of them Many policy ideas can come directly from the civil service but also influential think tanks

Prime Minister and Cabinet

Strong Prime Ministers, especially when backed by a strong mandate can often dominate policy making Depending on their personality they can take as large (or small) role in policy initiation as they feel comfortable with Margaret Thatcher initiated many of her policies herself However John Major was happier to delegate more policy making to his cabinet and the civil service Blair was seen as a much more Presidential leader with policy being made by himself and small group of trusted close colleagues

The concept of the core executive

The idea of the core executive is that decision making takes place at the highest level, constituted by a body of leading figures drawn from: The Prime Ministers Office The Cabinet The Cabinet Office The head officials of the departments concerned with the particular issue

Policy formulation

Once a policy idea has received political endorsement it is outlined in further detail

This process involves certain key players from the initiation process including: Civil servants Often key pressure group leaders Outside experts And, usually at a later stage, ministers

The bureaucratic process

This will entail numerous information-gathering and advisory committee meetings and a sequence of coordinating meetings with other ministries Some of these meetings might be coordinated by the Cabinet Office When ministers become involved the measures will be progressed in Cabinet committees and ultimately full Cabinet Finally they are passed on to parliamentary counsel, the expert drafters of parliamentary bills

The legislative process

This process involves several readings and debates in both chambers Opposition MPs and peers may seek to delay and move hostile amendments, but more important are rebellions within the government party The task of piloting measures through the legislature falls to ministers, closely advised by senior officials Often very few people are involved in government policy formation with some scholars putting the figure as low as 3,500 This is made up of ministers, civil servants, pressure groups and experts

Policy implementation

Once a government and parliament have decided on a policy they then have to implement it However this process can often be extremely complicated with several factors impacting upon it In order to achieve perfect implementation: There must be a unitary administrative system The norms and rules enforced by the system have to be uniform There must be perfect obedience or perfect control There must be perfect information and perfect communication as well as perfect coordination. There must be sufficient time for administrative resources to be mobilised

Constraints upon policy makers

There are often many constraints that act upon policy makers. There include: Financial resources Political support Competence of key personal Time Timing Coordination Personality factors Geographical factors International events The influence of Europe Policy networks