What is the policy cycle model and list all its components
- It is a framework for understanding government action.
- Agenda setting, policy formulation, decision making, policy implementation and policy evaluation
Describe agenda setting
- Identifying problems that require government attention.
- Deciding which issues require most attention.
- Defining the nature of the problem
Describe policy formulation
- Setting objectives
- Identifying cost and estimating effects of solution
- Choosing from list of solutions
- Selecting policy instruments
Describe decision making
- Information gathering and processing
- Conflict resolution within and between: government, other public actors and private actors
Describe policy implementation
- Establishing / employing organization to take responsibility
- Ensuring that organization has resources
- Making sure policy decisions carried out as intended
Describe policy evaluation
-Assessing whether policy: was successful, was implemented correctly and had desired effect
Benefits of policy cycle model
- Simple and understandable
- Can be applied to all political systems
- Allows isolation of individual stages
- Continuous: Shows policy is “never complete,” can be improved
Critiques of policy cycle model
- Only describes; does not adequately explain
- Oversimplifies a complex world
- Underplays politics in policymaking
- Result: no longer central to policy studies
- But: While no longer central… it is still used by many scholars, still a useful framework and it helps understand more complex theories
What is the political agenda
It is a list of subjects or problems to which government officials, and people outside of government closely associated with those officials, are paying some serious attention at any given time
Who sets the agenda
-Political elites(PM, political parties, bureaucracy, etc), the public(advocacy group, social media) and mass media
What role does the Prime Minster and Premier play in political agenda
- Parliament technically responsible for passing laws, most policies…
- Governing party sets the agenda: Power centralized in PM/Premier, Media interested in PM/Premier, = PM/Premier have latitude to influence agenda
What role does political party play in political agenda
- The governing party tend to less influential as they tend to mirror the PM and Premier concerns
- Opposition parties: can press government on issues beyond control
- Official opponent: given formal opportunities in Parliament
Why is the bureaucracy important?
- The government is too huge to be ‘managed’ by politicians
- Elected policymakers can only pay attention to tiny proportion
- They devolve decisions
Reasons why the bureaucracy is important
- Some things only bureau can do (by law)
- Unmatched access to material resources
- Employs people w/ wide range of expertise
- Vast quantity of information about society
- Permanency: better institutional and policy knowledge than superiors
- Work done in relative secrecy: difficult to oppose
What role does advocacy groups play in agenda setting
- They try to put issue on public’s agenda to influence political agenda through advertisements, publish reports, engagement with media
- Some members of the group share privileged access to government
How can social media/public influence agenda
- Polls: Measure national mood, can influence government
- Social Media: Mass interest can bring issue to mainstream media
What is the Multiple Stream Approach
-An approach to explain agenda-setting + policy formulation
-Three independent streams:
-Problem: issue framed as requiring gov’t intervention via events, crises, etc.
Politics: Gov’t change, national mood, political climate makes change likely
-Policy: Solutions already available; gov’t then chooses
-Change in problem or politics stream opens a policy window
