CHAPTER 3 VOCAB PUBLIC POLICY

Question 1

GROUP THEORY

Answer 1

A policymaking theory that sees public policy as the product of a continuous struggle among organized interest groups; tends to believe that power in the U.S. political system is widely shared among interest groups, each of which seeks access to the policymaking process.

Question 2

ELITE THEORY

Answer 2

A policymaking theory that emphasizes how the values and preferences of governing elites, which differ from those of the public at large, affect public policy development.

Question 3

INSTITUIONAL THEORY

Answer 3

A policymaking theory that emphasizes the formal and legal aspects of government structures. Institutional models look at the way governments are arranged, their legal powers, and their rules for decision making.

Question 4

POLICY EVALUATION

Answer 4

A step in the policy process that assesses whether policies and programs are working well. Also called program evaluation.

Question 5

POLICY FORMULATION

Answer 5

A step in the policy process that results in the development of proposed courses of action to help resolve a public problem.

Question 6

POLICY IMPLMENTATION

Answer 6

The actual development of a program’s details to ensure that policy goals and objectives will be attained; it is during this part of the policy process when one sees actual government intervention and real consequences for society.

Question 7

POLICY INSTURMENTS

Answer 7

The tool, such as regulation or education, that government uses to intervene in a given problem or issue.

Question 8

POLICY LEGITMATATION

Answer 8

A step in the policy process that gives legal force to decisions or authorizes or justifies policy action.

Question 9

POLICY STREAM

Answer 9

What might be done about a problem—that is, the possible alternative policies.

Question 10

PROBLEM DEF

Answer 10

The step in the policy process whereby a particular issue is defined or explained in a particular way that people can understand. Problems can be defined in a number of ways.

Question 11

PROTECTIVE OR SOCIAL REGULATION

Answer 11

Regulatory policies that protect the general public from activities that occur in the private sector.

Question 12

PUNCUATED EQUILIBRIUM MODEL

Answer 12

Suggests that we can get dramatic policy change when the conditions are right. Thus we may have long periods in which policy stability is the norm, in part because those who dominate the policy process are “privileged groups of elites” who are largely satisfied with the status quo.

Question 13

RATIONAL CHOICE THEORY

Answer 13

A policymaking theory that draws heavily from economics; assumes that in making decisions, individuals are rational actors who seek to attain their preferences or further their self-interests. The goal is to deduce or predict how individuals will behave under a variety of conditions.

Question 14

REDISTRIBUTIVE POLCIES

Answer 14

Policies that provide benefits to one category of individuals at the expense of another; often reflect ideological or class conflict

Question 15

REGULATORY POLICIES

Answer 15

Government restriction of individual choice to keep conduct from transcending acceptable bounds. Often used in health, safety, and environmental policies.