Policy Making and Policy Analysis:


an introduction



Caitriona McLeish & Steve Sorrell
WHAT IS PUBLIC POLICY?
 http://www africanconservation org/

“Policy is rather like the elephant -

you recognise it when you see it but cannot easily define
nd
it”
(Sir Charles C Cunningham Address to AGM of Royal Institute April 22 1963)
 A course of action produced as a response to a
perceived problem formulated by a specific
political process and adopted implemented and
enforced by a public body

Policy is more than a decision it is active and inherently political

‘Polity’ and ‘politics’ important in explaining policy change and

policy differences across sectors and across countries
Typologies 


Lowi (1972)
Interested in the extent to which policy initiatives may encounter
resistance
• Distributive policies: distributing new (state) resources
• Redistributive policies: changing the distribution of existing resources
• Regulatory policies: conditions &/or constrains behaviour
• Constituent policies: establishing or modifying state institutions

Wilson (1989 1995): interested in how the costs and benefits were
distributed
Hogwood (1987) interested in the the extent to which their benefits
can be distinguished
HOW DO WE APPROACH STUDYING 

POLICY MAKING AND POLICY
ANALYSIS?
Policy cycle model


Problem
definition

Policy Policy
evaluation formulation

Policy Policy
implementation adoption
How is policy made? 


Rationalist approach
• Policy is a problem solving activity
• Seeking the optimal solution to the problem identified

Incrementalist approach
• Policy makers act with limited information & have limited time
• Policy makers are ‘satisficers’

Garbage Can model

• Policy making isn’t a rational process and doesn’t flow from
problem to solution
• Solutions exist independently from problems
What is policy analysis?

The proposal and systematic evaluation of

alternative policy options to address specific policy
problems

Policy analysis is conducted for a specific client

The product of policy analysis may be as simple as a statement

linking a proposed action to a likely result or significantly more
comprehensive and quite complex
What is policy analysis

Policy analysis can be considered as having its own cycle

What does policy analysis do?

Policy analysis
Core question How can we design and implement better
policies?
Main aim Ex-ante prediction
Motivation Problem-driven
Focus Specific policy choices
Main foundation Public/welfare economics public choice
theory
Orientation Providing practical advice
Main audience Clients
Political influence Useful for policy decisions
Weaknesses Narrow rationalist lacking depth myopia
How does understanding the policy
process assist policy analysts?

A nuanced understanding of policy

processes can improve political Politics
sensitivity and help in assessing: stream

• the political feasibility of adopting

Policy Problem
specific policies (e g timing)
stream stream
• the practical challenges of
implementing specific policies
• the appropriate choice of political
strategy
Preview of policy making lectures and
seminars
Lecture 1 Overview of the module and some of the concepts required to
understand public policy
Seminar 1 Roundtable & discussion of reading on government attempts to promote
S&T knowledge
Lecture 2 How problems are defined by different groups & how do they get onto
the political agenda
Seminar 2 Agenda setting case study discussion

Lecture 3 The processes of policy formulation & adoption; factors influencing

political feasibility
Seminar 3 Assessing political feasibility group discussions

Lecture 9 How are policies implemented & how interests may affect the outcomes

Lecture 10 Some key theoretical perspectives on the policy process and policy
change
Lecture 11 Why do states cooperate & what can we say of the different institutional
arrangements that result
Seminar 11 Role Play!
Assessment

Individual essay
2000 words
50% of the mark

You can use a given question

amend a given question to
reflect your interests or
design your own question
 INTRODUCTION:

INSTITUTIONS AND ACTORS INVOLVED
IN THE POLICY MAKING PROCESS
Basic definitions

Institutions: sets of rules that can be enforced by state actors; they

are created to meet the demands of specific circumstances and
facilitate collective action; they tend towards stability

Actors: individuals, corporations or other collective entities who

possess policy preferences and the desire to realise them through
participation in the policy making process
Constitution

Federal Constitution of the Swiss Confederation

Source: wwwmyswitzerland com
 Division of powers (horizontal)

Executive branch: implements policy

• “The government”

Legislative: can make policy

• “The Parliament”

Source: www bbc co uk

Judiciary: interprets & applies the law

• “The courts”

Source: https://old-bailey com

Division of powers (vertical)

Federal politics: power is shared between the state as a hold and

geographically defined subunits

Examples of federal systems include: USA Australia Belgium

Canada Germany and Switzerland

Effective means of mutual control

• many produce desirable public policies
• can cause problems where decisions at the federal level require
the consent of the subnational/regional level
Constitutional regime types

There are three forms of democratic government: parliamentary

presidential and hybrid or semi presidential

Regime type Characteristics

Parliamentary Only the assembly is elected
Origin of the executive is derivative to that of the assembly
The requirement of parliamentary confidence means that the executive's survival
is tied to approval of an assembly majority
Presidential The President elected separately from the legislative and so hard to remove
from office
The terms of both the president and the legislative are fixed but they are not
subject to mutual confidence
The President wields substantial powers over the executive branch and over the
law-making process
Hybrid (semi presidential) The president is popularly elected and is endowed with meaningful powers;
There is also a Prime Minister and cabinet subject to assembly confidence
The government must respond to both the legislative and to an elected president
 Constitutional regime types across democracies 2002

Region Parliamentary Presidential Hybrid

Americas Canada, Jamaica Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Argentina, Bolivia, Peru, Venezuela
Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El
Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras,
Mexico, Nicaragua, Paraguay,
United States, Uruguay
Post Communist Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Belarus Lithuania, Poland, Romania,
Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Slovak Russia, Ukraine
Republic

Western Europe Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Portugal, Finland, France,

Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Switzerland
Italy, Luxembourg Netherlands
Norway Spain Sweden United
Kingdom
Asia Australia Fiji Israel India Japan Bangladesh Pakistan Philippines Sri Lanka Taiwan
Jordan Malaysia Nepal New South Korea
Zealand Papua New Guinea
Singapore Thailand Turkey
Africa Botswana Senegal South Africa Gambia Ghana Malawi Namibia
Uganda Zambia Zimbabwe

Source John Carey: Presidential v parliamentary government in Handbook of New Institutional Economics 2005 p93
Electoral institutions

Determines who is going to have the greatest political influence for

a particular period of time

Two basic systems that transform votes into parliamentary seats

• Majoritarian: highest vote gets seat
• Proportional: seats shared in proportion to votes won

Important implications for policy making and help us understand

the competitive landscape and power
International institutions

Supranational
• nations delegate a limited
amount of their
sovereignty to it
• can enact legislation that
is binding
• e g the EU
Source: europa eu
International institutions (2)

Intergovernmental
• member states do not
surrender any sovereignty
to it
• engage in voluntary co-
operation and co-
ordination except at times
of crisis/disaster where
they can compel action Source: www un org

• e g the United Nations

Public Actors

The Executive
• Parliamentary & semi presidential systems: head of government and
the ministers in the cabinet
• Presidential system: president decides the extent to which he/she will
rely on their cabinet

The Legislative
• provide legitimacy for the political system; legislate; have control and
oversight functions

The Judiciary
• Can make judgements to force policy makers to address issues
• Can exclude actors
Private Actors

Interest groups
• Private eg business groups teaching unions
• Public eg non profit organisations for environmental issues

How do they affect policy

• Inside lobbying
• Outside lobbying

NB: interest groups are different from social movements

Private Actors (2)

Experts: individuals or groups of individuals that can have an

impact on policy making on the grounds of the information they
can supply
Experts trade in relevant knowledge
Experts can be part of an ‘epistemic community’ (Haas 1992)
 CASE STUDY

HOW HISTORY HAS IMPRINTED ITSELF
ON THE US POLICY MAKING SYSTEM
Inspiration for case study
Founding documents of the USA

Source: www.statesymbolsusa.org
Branches of the US Government

Source: USA.gov
Brown v Board of Education

Source: The New York Times

Source: National Museum of American History
Horizontal diffusion of power

Source: USA.gov
Lobbying

Source: http://www.michellehenry.fr/lobby.htm
 Lobbying in the US

* Unique registered lobbyists who have actively lobbied Source: https://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/index.php

2016 election

Photo Source: Huffington Post

45th President

Source: BBC