Lecture 9

Question 1

A policy can be defined as ____

Answer 1

a deliberate system of principles to guide decisions selected by a government or an institution to achieve rational goals

Question 2

How are the decisions of policies made? (3)

Answer 2

Based on certain basic principles or ideologies
To achieve stated or intended goals
Through the stated actions to achieve these goals

Question 3

Who does policy analysis? (5)

Answer 3

Governments
Opposite parties
Independent organizations
Independent researcher
Independent citizens as stakeholders

Question 4

Within public administration, policy analysis examines: (5)

Answer 4

Identification of the purpose of the policy
What is promised (goals that reflect values)
What is done
What are the consequences
How the powerholders deal with the negative consequences

Question 5

What are the major models of policy-making / policy analysis? Briefly describe them (7)

Answer 5

Comprehensive approach
Uses social indicators to compare countries and examine their policy effects

Rational model
This model tries to understand all the alternatives, take into account all their consequences, and select the best.

Incremental approaches
new policies are only slightly different from old policies.

Mixed scanning model
-Bridge the gap between the rational and incremental models.

Values competition model (rein)
-That social and public policies are a choice between competing values

Social justice model (gil)
Recognizes that social policies benefits some and not others.
Focuses on transforming the values/structures/dynamics of a society’s particular way of life

The garbage can model
the chaotic reality of organizational decision making in an organized anarchy
Takes a crisis to happen for any real change to come about
Describe as “irrational behaviour.”
Example is government reacting to covid

Question 6

The following statement is true of which policy-making model? : Countries are compared to each other based on poverty, the social equality of women, quality and availability of education, spending on health care as a percentage of GNP, criminal rates and correctional services and child welfare.

Answer 6

A: comprehensive approach

Question 7

Which social policy model uses analyses of social indicators to provide a comprehensive understanding of the impacts of various national social policies?

Answer 7

Comprehensive approach

Question 8

Why is the comprehensive approach called the comprehensive approach?

Answer 8

Because it begins with global objectives based on social values and then translates these values into comprehensive public policies, social institutions, social programs and social services

Question 9

What are the drawbacks of the comprehensive approach? (2)

Answer 9

Different countries have different social contexts (different combination of demographic, historical, social, economic and political contexts and conditions.
Applying this approach does not guarantee the same outcomes for a different country (Switzerland compared to more diverse country)

Question 10

What idea is the rational model based on?

Answer 10

Bounded rationality

Question 11

What does bounded rationality assume?

Answer 11

When people make decisions, their rationality is limited by the available information, the tractability of the decision program, the cognitive limitations of their minds and the time available to make the decision.

Question 12

What is the sequence of tasks for the rational model? (5)

Answer 12

Identify and clarify a social problem
Identify and rank goals with respect to the problem
Develop strategies that can remedy the problems or accomplish goals
Carefully examine all possible outcomes
Decide on which policy best achieves governmental / organizational goals

Question 13

What are the limitations of the rational / comprehensive models?

Answer 13

In practice, the conditions needed to function are unlikely to be met

Question 14

In order to function well, decision making with rational-comprehensive approach must satisfy two conditions to permit accurate predictions of the consequences associated with the available alternatives:

Answer 14

Agreement on objectives and

Sufficient knowledge base

Question 15

Why does the rational model fail, as suggested by Lindblom (creator of the incremental approach)?

Answer 15

Because it is unreasonable to assume one can account for everything, which men simply do not possess, and therefore incomplete at the design level

Question 16

What is the incremental model ?

Answer 16

Views policy making as “muddling through” by making incremental adjustments to already existing policies
Builds on policy from the current landscape, branching out step-by-step and by small degrees

Question 17

Lindblom refers to the rational comprehensive approach as the _____ and the incremental approach as the _______

Answer 17

“root method” and “branch method.”

Question 18

In the last 60s years, decision making and policy analysis have moved from ______ to ________.

Answer 18

“rational comprehension approach” “incrementalistic approach”.

Question 19

Contemporary political theories recognize more of a:

Answer 19

Pluralist political framework

Question 20

Benefits of the incremental approach? (3)

Answer 20

Most likely to be understood and accepted
Steps can be made quickly because they are only incremental
By proceeding through a succession of incremental changes, serious lasting mistakes can be avoided.

Question 21

Weakness of incremental approach? (5)

Answer 21

Limitations of analysis to a few somewhat familiar policy alternatives
It is a sequence of trails, errors and revised trials
It explores only some, not all, of the important possible sequence of a considered alternative
Fragmentation of analytical work to many partisan participants in policy making, each attending to their piece of the overall problem domain.
Preoccupied with resolving local or immediate issues stemming from social policy and do not pay attention to the causes of the problem in the first place

Question 22

What does the Mixed-scanning policy model try to do?

Answer 22

Bridge the gap between the rational and incremental models.

Question 23

Mixed scanning model suggests that:

Answer 23

Substantive political and social issues need to be addressed by rational decision making: after that, adjustments need to be made to the policy to reflect unforeseen social realities and unintended consequences.

Question 24

What are the limitations of the mixed scanning model?

Answer 24

Assumed that once a problem is identified, something will be done about it
Ignores power and how it’s distributed
Does not assign social workers responsibility to bring about change
Does not address the fact that social workers work in agencies that are given their mandates by those holding political power

Question 25

What does the Values competition model (rein’s) theorize?

Answer 25

That social and public policies are a choice between competing values

Question 26

Regarding the values competition model (rein’s), what are the input and the output?

Answer 26

The input is the competing values and the output is the social policy outcome

Question 27

(rein’s model): The consideration of various consequence (outcomes) is dependent on the values of those_____

Answer 27

Assessing policy.

Question 28

Social policy suffers from detached ideology when:

Answer 28

The debate about values is limited to ideology rather than the real world and the needs of real people. In this circumstance, policy choices are made according to values without regard to the outcomes and consequence to others

Question 29

The model refers to the irrational behaviours in extreme cases of aggregate uncertainty in decision making environments.
Disconnects problems, solutions and decision makers from each other. Decisions do not follow a rational order from problem to solution, but are outcomes of several relatively independent streams of events within the organization. Instead, the decision makers in organization go through the “garbage can” and look for a suitable “solution.”

Answer 29

What is the garbage can model?

Question 30

The garbage can model describes three types of policy processes:

Answer 30

Problems
Solutions
Politics

Question 31

Within the garbage can model, resolving a crisis depends on :

Answer 31

How the public views the problem
What the current political agenda is
Who the participants are

Question 32

True or False: Garbage can model describes what should be rather than what is more likely the case in reality.

Answer 32

A: False, it is an irrational model of social policy decision making and the one largely employed at a government and organizational level

Question 33

How to minimize “detached ideology”?

Answer 33

Increase the involvement of stakeholders / consultation from the source / diversity
Individual level: clients - better informed
Organizational level: more stakeholders
Evidence to support of outcomes
Evaluation to take it accountable - what is standard? What is criteria to achieve ?

Question 34

There are 4 main types of pressure groups that can influence policy in Canada:

Answer 34

Business groups (eg. Business council on National Issues)
Labour groups (eg. The Canadian Labour Congress)
Professional groups (eg. CASW)
Advocacy groups