General Exam Flashcards
Policy content (structure)
- Objectives are the aim of the policy, its goals.
- Principles consist of the vision of the world that is reflected by the policy, the set of values. Example: In the Soviet Union, following the principle of ensuring employment to its citizens, the state was the main provider of jobs.
- Procedures have to do with the bureaucracy, the administrative steps that must be present in a piece of law or legislation.
- Instruments are the financial and economic resources that need to be allocated.
Policy process (the set of different stages)
- Agenda-setting: is the moment when the problem becomes politically relevant when it is discussed regularly and publicly by a number of actors. Is something often outside the control of the government, is different from their own agenda. Entails the problem emergence. Problem recognition.
- Formulation: is the moment to come up with solutions (professor referenced Shakespeare) after the problem is recognized. Here you have to take a position and communicate it. Lobbying happens at this step (and despite the bad reputation, lobbying is not necessarily negative, but rather it must be regulated). Proposal of a solution. (In principle, foreign policies are of everyone’s interest; for example, adopting policies to prevent terrorist attacks)
- Adoption: is the decision-making. Choice.
- Implementation: is tied with bureaucracy (professor referenced Franz Kafka). Putting solution into effect.
- Evaluation: is the feedback. Monitoring the results.
Stages of the Policy Cycle
- Problem recognition (agenda-setting)
- Proposal of a solution (formulation)
- Choice (adoption or decision-making)
- Putting solution into effect (implementation)
- Monitoring results (evaluation)
Main features of policy science
- Multidisciplinary
- Problem-solving oriented
- Explicitly normative
Key actors
- Institutional actors (governments, Parliaments, judicial bodies, Presidents, bureaucracies)
- Non-institutional actors (political parties, interest groups, social movements, media, individuals)
Positivism
There’s an optimal solution, maybe unreachable, but there is. This solution is not flexible.
Facts can be analyzed neutrally and ‘best solutions’ can be found technically. Quantitative methods.
Post-positivism or Constructionism
‘Facts’ can be socially constructed and solutions can be found only politically (there is no best solution in abstract terms). More use of qualitative methods and usually used for policy evaluation
The solution is socially constructed, you wanna have every actor helping building the policy and agree to that in the end. No best solution. Solution is built in a democratic way, political social.
Deductive Approaches
Deductive approach (i.e. understanding is developed on the basis of applying general considerations to specific phenomena)
- Public choice: actors (not only consumers, but also voters, parties, bureaucrats, etc.) as rational utility maximisers. It is a deductive theory in that it is based on a rational choice framework, which is taken as a given and from which various deductions are made concerning policy-relevant and other kinds of activity. In this model, political and policy processes and outcomes are understood as interactions among actors pursuing their individual self-interest. Thus, for example, voters are deemed to vote for parties and candidates that will best serve their interest. Politicians are seen as constantly vying for election in order to promote their interests in the income, power, and prestige derived from holding office, and thus offer policies that will win them voters’ support. Put simply, for public choice theorists, individual utility maximization promotes the general good.
- Class analysis: groups (not actors) try to maximise their interest and the state is a product of the ‘capitalists’. Class and group theories accord primacy to collective entities, the organized interests and associations that seek to influence policy agendas, policy options, and policy outputs. These are thought to exist above and beyond the individuals who compose them and thus are not amenable to individual-level analysis.
Inductive Approach
Inductive approach (i.e generalizations are developed on the basis of careful observation of empirical evidence)
- Pluralism: Pluralists argue that the most realistic description of politics and policymaking is a marketplace with more or less perfect competition. In theory, in this political marketplace many (or plural) perspectives—as represented by individuals, political parties, and interest groups and interests—compete to have their views heard by the government and their favoured policies enacted. According to this conception, because of competition between varied and diverse interests, no single interest is likely to have its views win consistently over others. Groups legitimate the state.
- (Neo)Corporatism: In this system, society is seen as a corporate—that is, united and hierarchical—body in which the government dominates and all sectors of society (e.g., business, the military, and labour) are required to work for the public interest as defined by the government. The state is the primary source of power and deals with all the issues and select groups that can take part in decisions. Collective action is a source of policy-making, but the State legitimates the groups.
- Neo-institutionalism: the institutional setting is a major constraint for both individuals and groups. Therefore, maximisation and State-groups relationships vary, and informal rules may be quite important.
- Statism: the societal constraints are even more important, different arrangements will give birth to different state-market relationships
Modes of Regulation
- No regulation (‘tragedy of the commons’) does not exclude people, does not preserve, no cost
- Privatisation (low regulation): preserves, excludes people, the limited collective cost
- State property (high regulation): preserves, does not exclude, universal cost
- Common property (autoregulation) – preserves, includes selectively and costs shared. Example: fisheries and forests.
Coalition Magnet (Article Beland & Cox)
‘Coalition magnet’ is defined as the capacity of an idea to appeal to a diversity of individuals and groups, and to be used strategically by policy entrepreneurs (i.e., individual or collective actors who promote certain policy solutions) to frame interests, mobilize supporters and build coalitions.
To become coalition magnets, three things need to happen to these ideas that allow them to impact power relations and policy decisions.
1) Idea Articulation: the ideas are effectively manipulated by policy entrepreneurs as those entrepreneurs seek a new language to define a policy problem.
2) policy development (policy proposal); the ideas are embraced or promoted by key actors in the policy process.
3) Coalition Scale: the ideas bring together actors whose perceived interests or policy preferences had previously placed them at odds with one another, or the ideas might awaken a policy preference in the minds of actors who were not previously engaged with the particular issue.
Examples: Sustainability, Solidarity, Social Inclusion
Importance of Policy Mapping
Mapping policy actors means also mapping them in each policy phase, in order to unveil their preferences and select the most appropriate strategies for:
– organising supporting coalitions
– predict «enemies’» moves
– reach out for external support (or legitimation)
Why do actors get involved? Strategic vs Goal Attainment Involvement
Strategic involvement vs goal attainment involvement: goal attainment means that it’s much more encompassing than just a mere policy game, it goes beyond the policy game. Strategic means that there is a priority set within the actor, it is a top priority that the actor is trying to pursue. Goal attainment goes beyond the policy, it also plays the political game.
Policy Change
- Policy structure: objectives, principles, procedures, financial instruments (and economic resources)
- Policy change occurs when the dimensions of the policy structure change
- Once the change is described, the focus moves to the determinants of policy change
The word change is really ambiguous → set a deadline (t_0 and t_1) and see the change that happened in
the period of time. We may find change or policy continuity.
Policy actors - Subsystems
- Policy networks: set of relationship among political and social actors linked by shared interests
- Advocacy coalitions: set of relationship among political and social actors linked by shared beliefs
- Policy community: set of relationship among political and social actors linked by shared knowledge
Policy Actors Roles
Policy Initiator: actor that starts (is the motor of) the policy process. Is impactful in agenda-setting (identifies and highlights the problem) and formulation (in the case of solutions that are chasing problems). Set the scene for the policy game.
Policy Supporters: actors providing support under the form of a policy community or policy network.
Policy Opponents: actors contrasting the policy initiator and supporters, usually by establishing an opposing coalition.
Policy Broker: broader reading of the policy process, commonly considers other ongoing or future policy games. Tries to gather more support and serve as a conciliator. Is strategic and goes beyond the specific policy game we are working on. Maybe they want to form a coalition that will stand for a future policy game in which they are the initiator or supporter.
Policy Design
• Policy design needs to consider character and
contexts
• Contexts: – macro (political regime, economic system, etc.) – micro (state cohesion/fragmentation, state/administrative
capacity, etc.)
• Character: – parsimonious tool usage
– scaling up of coercion
– matching tools and targets
• Putting an issue on the agenda is good start, but if
there also is an adequate, supporting, policy design,
it is much better…
Determinants of Agenda-Setting
Convergence thesis: very similar issues from country to country as a result of globalization.
Resource-dependency model: endogenous, power of non-institutional actors. Not linked to macro level, but to what happens between borders, power balance between actors.
Political business cycle: looks at the expenditure of the government and depends on its positioning in relation to the elections.
Agenda-Setting
The key component of agenda-setting is serious attention by a number of actors (mainly the government) at any given time. There must be continuous attention on that topic.
Elections as a key moment in the definition of the agenda.
Media has a very important role: ‘priming’ and selective support.
Policy Formulation
Definition: identification and assessment of possible policy solutions to the problems which emerged during the agenda- setting stage
Very positivist moment (rational).
In the formulation we are no longer discussing the relevance of the issue but rather at solutions to cope with the problematic issue.
We are shaping preferences, positioning. Only actors pushing for the cause have clearly defined preferences from the beginning. During this stage, there is a preference consolidation.
Main actors policy formulation
Governments (both politicians and bureaucrats), Interst Groups (TRade Unions, Business Associations), experts and think tanks (may act as policy brokers, putting people at the same table, having a vision that goes beyond immediate interests), political parties (trying to get their voice in, even though governmental parties have the final say as they have the power).
Every actor other than social movements. They are crucial in agenda-setting but lose importance in other policy stages because, even though they are very good at prioritizing problems and raising awareness, they are less capable to move on an develop solutions that can be shared by other actors. They need to slightly change their preferences and adapt to the policy game in the policy formulation phase, but this rarely happens, especially at the national and international level (it is easier to happen at the local level).
Definition of Lobbying
Definition: any specific communication activity aimed at exercising pressure and influence over a policy process
Lobbying has to do with the way through which interest groups interact with institutions to represent their interests. Lobbying is about communication and convincing other actors.
Specific knowledge of decision-making is required in order to enhance the effectiveness of lobbying activity.
It is much easier to lobby at the international level (European) for business associations than for trade unions because their goals are common (reducing tariffs, barriers, etc) while unions work very differently from country to country.
