Policy cycle Flashcards
What is meant by agenda setting?
The process by which the demands of various groups in the population are tanslated into items that governments consider for action.
short:
It’s the process of turning public demands into issues for government action
What is meant by gap theory in agenda setting? And what are the flaws in this theory?
The wider the gap between the present situation and the norm, the more likely it is that action will be taken.
But 1: often grave problems are neglected (climate change, poverty, sex discrimination)
But 2: sometimes small issues get attention
But 3: concepts of power, institutions and information are missing.
What is the difference between a problem and a condition?
Condition (e.g. aging population): aspect of social life (outside of the bounds of government control)
Problem (e.g. elderycare) : Undsirable effect connected to a condition (manipulable: receptive to government action).
What kind of complex problems are there?
1) interdependent = connected to other problems (e.g. education, unemployment)
2) subjective = depends on where you stand (e.g. use of drugs)
3) artificial = depending on the definition (e.g. nitrogen)
4) dynamic = changing over time (e.g. migration and safety issues globally)
What is problem intractability? And name an example for intractable and tractable problems.
The degree of difficulty involved in developing and implementing solutions to policy problems, whether due to cost or other factors.
Tractable = car collision deaths
Intractable = drug abuse
What are the characteristics of a wicked problem?
1) lack of knowledge about the problem and solutions (for a long time climate change)
2) absence of agreement on values and objectives among the relevant stakeholders (migration, nitrogen)
What elements are involved in the access to an agenda
Content: differs depending on nature of social and economic circumstances (e.g. unemployments, subsistence levels)
Temporality: some issues call for immediate action, others can be given more consideration (e.g. ASML project beethoven)
What involves initiation of agenda setting?
1) inside initiation = from within governments (e.g. pension reform)
2) outside initiation = from society (e.g. migration, climate change)
What is ariticulation and how does it aid agenda setting?
Framing of the problem: make something look better or worse without changing what it actually is.
End goal: policy monopoly to get issue priority
What are barriers in decision making?
People who have interest in a no-decision scenario will try to block a decision. Barriers between different processes:
desires - demands - controversy - decisions - results
What are the different agendas?
1) Public agenda (informal agenda) = “issues which have achieved a high level of public interest and visibility”
2) political agenda (formal agenda) = “list of items which decision makers have formally accepted for serious consideration”
3) policy agenda (formal agenda) see political agenda
What are the three streams in agenda setting according to Kingdon?
1) policy stream = proposals, alternatives, solutions
2) problem stream = solutions
3) political stream = events, organized political forces, government, decision-makers looking for work.
What is a policy window? What kind of policy windows are there?
The concept of a “policy window” or
“opportunity opening” through which an issue may be placed onto a government agenda drives home the point that the agenda-setting process is sometimes governed by contingencies that force problems to the forefront.
1) Routinized windows (elections, budget cycles)
2) Discretionary windows (decision-makers open windows)
3) Random windows = an event sets problems on the agenda which were not there yet (terrorism and safety industry; e.g. 9/11)
4) Spill-over windows = an event which opens a new window but connected to problems which are already talked about (crisis; energy crisis/sustainability; e.g. fatbikes and electrical bikes)
What are the challenges in agenda setting?
1) Problem analysis: symptoms vs. causes (example: poverty and inequality vs inequal chances, disfunctioning educational system etc)
2) Crises call for swift action, but root causes are rarely addressed (example: energy prices and government income support in 2023 vs investment in sustainability)
3) Window dressing = saying that you take action without taking action and superficial policies damaging trust of organisations/people (example: war on drugs)
4) Blame avoidance = policymakers try to minimize their accountability for potential negative outcomes or unpopular decisions. Policy makers shift attention to less controversial problems and avoid making a decision -> policy inaction or half-measures. (e.g. climate change)
5) Saturation of the policy agenda (overloaded agenda elections November 2023)
6) Hijacking = when a group seizes control of an issue, reshaping it to serve their own interests rather than addressin gthe original problem -> shift focus from intended goals, potentially sidelining important aspects of the issue (example: dividend tax promoted by businesses; trickle down economics/Truss; emergency legislation/Wilders)
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What are the challenges in getting agenda status?
1) Shaping the problem definition
- Evidence-based problem
definition (‘busting myths’ vs
‘framing’)
- Inviting other parties (societal
stakeholders, partner
organizations) to the table
2) Managing agenda entrance strategically
- Timing (Recognizing policy
windows)
- Differences across political
regimes
3) Strategic alliances between state and non-state actors
- Cooperation with non-state
actors
- ‘Front-loading’/avoiding
resistance (Coproduction,
bottom-up approaches)
- Lobbyists
What is the definition of policy formulation?
the process of generating a set of plausible policy choices capable of addressing problems identified during agenda-setting
What are the phases in policy formulation?
1) Specify problem source
2) generate options (aims and tools)
3) set objective
4) build support
5) screen and sonsolidate options
What are policy instruments and what are their specifics?
What is used to directly or indirectly affect policy outcomes.
1) Communicative
instruments
(e.g. stimulate/discourage)
- changing behaviour by
providing information
- more knowledge about
choices and values
- cheap, fast, no short term
effect)
2) Financial instruments
(subsidize/tax)
- changing the costs and
benefits of decisions
- can have high impact, as
long as it is used
3) Legal instruments
(obligation/right/permit)
- social norms are enforces
by legal norms, enabling
behaviour or making it
impossible to act in a
certain way
- effective when
enforcement is in place or
the norm is embraced
4) Physical instruments
(obstacles to slow down
traffic speed)
- changeing the possibility
for certain behaviour
- effective as long as in
place
What are the differences between the different policy tools?
Hard law = coercive
Soft law = guiding and steering
substantive = direct
procedural = indirect
What kind of policy tools are there?
1) public = governmental organisations
2) private = businesses (market); civil society (NGOs); private sphere (family)
What are the different policy advisory systems?
1) public service (e.g. senior departmental policy advisors; strategic policy units
2) internal to government (e.g. ministers office; temporary advisory policy units; parliaments)
3) external to government (e.g. private sector; NGO’s; community organisations; trade unions)
What are the archetypes of policy making?
1) Evidence-based policymaking = Structured, logical and intentional design
2) Politically driven policymaking = Ad hoc, ‘meaningless’, non-design
What are the crucial capacities and capabilities of politically-driven policymaking?
1) Political sensitivity rather than technical expertise
2) Legitimizing non-technical processes (argumentation)
3) Political bargaining
4) Patching’ and ‘stretching’
What is the risk of Politically-driven policymaking?
Risk of empirically unfeasible policies
What is the definition of evidence-based policymaking?
In this model, a policy problem is defined and research evidence used to fill an identified knowledge gap, thereby solving the problem’
Key players are technical experts
What are the crucial capacities and capabilities of evidence-based policymaking?
1) Information resources (availability, e.g. covid crisis)
2) Capable individual analysts (ability, e.g. information specialists)
3) Information infrastructure (accessibility, e.g. medical records)
4) Social demand and support for EBPM (desirability)
What is the critique of evidence-based policymaking?
1) Overly ambitious
2) Real ’evidence’ is mostly hard to find
What are the challenges in policy formulating?
1) political = Vague or abstract goals; Unstated intentions; Public opposition; Administrative opposition; Closed policy communities
2) Technical = Understanding problems; Setting objectives; Finding suitable solutions
3) Organizational and operational = Elections; Administrative structures and responsibilities; Automation and standardization
What are strategies to overcome the challenges in policy formulation?
1) Improve understanding of problems and objectives (root cause of problem)
2) Broaden the sources for policy formulation (tackling status quo bias)
3) Anticipating, building political support, networking (Political responsiveness)
What are the different models in decision making?
1) rational decision model (individual decision maker: technical information; utility maximalisation)
2) Incremental decision model (more dicision makers: optimazation based on political feasibility)
3) garbage can model (many decision makers and uncertainty (lack of knowlegde/info): mementary statisfycing, accepting acceptable result)
What are the challenges in decision making?
› Short time horizons
› Lack of reliable information
› Lack of expertise in policy analysis
› Small / homogenous group involved in decision making
› Limited view on impact
What are strategies in decision making?
› Invest in visualising relevant criteria
› Use a baseline scenario
› Deal with uncertainty
› Improve analytical capacity
› Promote horizontality (against silos)
What are factors of succes in decision making?
› Strong leadership
› An organisational culture that facilitates high-quality decision
making
▪ Diverse environment
▪ Contact with implementers
▪ Willingness to learn
What are the risks of technical analysis?
▪ Group think
▪ Bias towards quantifiable
measures
▪ Bias towards positive impacts
▪ Bias towards what is known
Rational model in general:
▪ How realistic is the decision model?
What are the elements of decision making?
› A proposal
› An authoritative policy actor
› A set of selection criteria
› Comparison and ranking of criteria
› A determination of the selected
option
What is the definition of policy implementation?
the activity in the policy process in which actors attempt to convert policy intentions and resources into actions resulting in specific policy outputs and ultimately in the achievement (or not) of intended policy outcomes.
Why are implementers vulnerable in a ‘blame game’?
What are the implementation issues?
1) Optimism bias: the policy makers assume that the implementer can take care of the rising problems by themselves.
2) the implementation process is complex, dynamic and not linear
3) there are a great amount of actors involved in the implementation (NGOs, government, private, target groups)
4) implementation processes define winners and losers very clearly which is in contrast with the vague formulations in the policy formulation stage.
Explain the bottom-up perspective
The bottom-up perspective emphesises the role of the local implementers, like frontline workers and local agencies which adjust the policy to the specific contexts. This recognizes the value of the implementers knowledge and the ability of adjusting the policy to a more practical policy which improves the flexibility of the policy.
Explain the top-down perspective
policy implementation coming from higher up in authority levels. The emphasis is on clear goals, formal instructions and control mechanisms so the execution of the policy on lower levels can be steered and monitored. With this perspective the success of the implementation is dependent on the strict following of the original policy design and a hierarchical structure.
What is implementation as network governance?
1) interdependence between organisations (public organisations, not-for-profit and private actors
2) continuing interactions between network members (exchanging resources and negotiating shared purposes)
3) game like interactions (rooted in trust, regulated by rules negotiated and agreed by network participants)
4) a significant degree of autonomy from the state (not accountable to the state; self organising)
What is discretion and what are the issues with dicretionary power?
the power or right to decide or act according to one’s own judgment
issues:
1) Conflicting interests
- pro’s are mostly loyal to other norms
that the policy
- pro’s prioritise services to citizens over
economic efficiency
- potential bias?
2) Difficulty of managerial control
- pro’s base their decision on silent
knowledge and intuition
- pro’s are unable to demonstrate the
effect of the provision of services has
let.
What types of implementation are there and how are they related to the degree of conflict and ambiguity?
low conflict/low ambiguity = Administrative implementation (building permits)
high conflict/low ambiguity = Political implementation (nitrogen with farmers)
low conflict/high ambiguity = Experimental implementation (speciaal onderwijs)
high conflict/high ambiguity = Symbolic implementation (paris agreement, not very concrete plan when closed)
Where does the context in policy implementation matter?
- Degree of political and policy stability
- Strong political support for program
outputs - Strong bureaucratic capacity for
analytical and implementation tasks
- Strong political support for program
- Degree of environmental turbulence
- Stable environments enable building
networks: “partnering approach” - Rapid changing environments ask for
entrepreneurial skills.
- Stable environments enable building
What are challenges in policy implementation?
1) political barriers: mission related (slow authorization, weak support, bureaucratic opposition, poor implementer incentives)
2) competence barriers: changing priorities, poor design, vague missions, uneven feasibility.
3) operational capacity barriers: fund limitation, weak management/network, coordination capacity, lack of clear operational plans.
What are strategies in successful implementation?
1) include implementation in policy formulation
2) Get operational fast, while mobilizing resources.
3) invest early and heavily in building capacity within implementation networks.
4) Manage change (invest in stakeholder analysis)
What are the enforcement styles?
1) formalism: firm implementation deadlines, specific environmental standards linked to clear penalties and a reluctance to consider mitigating circumstances.
2) Coercion (dwang): emphasizes the force of law with strong sanctions when not followed
3) Educative: emphasizes the communicative function of the law where the educative tool is used to educate regulated enterprises and the general public with the goal to achieve more responsible behavour
4) prioritization: pragmatic enforcement tried to achieve the most effective result within the context restraints and considering the present circumstances
5) Accomodation: emphasizes the reconciliation of the demands of the key stakeholders in the regulatory enforcement.
