Public policy exam review

Question 1

Different types of agendas

Answer 1

1. Agenda universe - all subjects that are considered to be significant for political discussion
2. Public agenda - subjects that are members of a political community collectively considered politically relevant
3. Political agenda - selection of subjects from the public agenda
4. Decision-making agenda - collection of subjects of which politicians, administrators and policy makers believe they need to be converted into actual policy programs/laws regulations
5. POlicy agenda - subjects are being transferred into policy measures

Question 2

Social classification of target groups (cultural perspective) types and characteristics

Answer 2

1. The advantages - group that meets the standards
2. Contenders: power but negative image
3. dependents: difficult possition - seek help from others
4. Deviants: social image and no power

Question 3

Multiple streams approach

Answer 3

agenda setting as the creation or use of window of opportunity:

a. Problem stream: focusing on events (rationalism, culturalism)
b. Political stream: interests groups, shift in power (political perspective)
c. Policy stream: institutional factors (institutionalism)

Question 4

Policy entrepreneurs

Answer 4

individuals who invest time, energy, reputation and money to promote a position fro anticipated future gain

Question 5

Network analysis and network governance

Answer 5

1. trying to combine all the different interests of many different actors
2. governance brings different frames together to find a solution

Question 6

Incrementalism (political perspective)

Answer 6

changes are made step by step - small changes instead of big ones
- muddling through: policy is constantly being adapted

Question 7

Street-level buraucrats according to the perspectives

Answer 7

1. Rational - bottom of the hierarchy so they follow orders
2. POlitical - policy discretion; they are given a lot of alternatives; they react to the resources they have
3. Cultural - based on experience and interpretation through a shared understanding
4. Institutional - they have to follow rules and protocols - changes are difficult to make

Question 8

3 types of bureaucracy

Answer 8

1. Street-level: human interference
2. Screen-level: bureaucrats operating on screens
3. System-level: automatic system - growth in use of ICT

Question 9

Types of oversight

Answer 9

1. Monitoring - keeping track of whether policies are being implemented correctly
2. Enforcement - what happens when a policy is violated or not respected - compliance to legal framework
3. Supervision - interactions between public bodies with defined roles

Question 10

Types of supervision

Answer 10

1. Repressive (principal-agent problem): Principal tries to assess whether the agent adheres to the agreement through inspection, protocols, and indicators – single-loop learning
2. Supportive (stewardship approach): learning takes place through a process of double-loop learning, which allows for a critical reflection of the appropriate policies and supervision criteria
3. Polycentric: process of supervision within the broader network of stakeholders – naming and shaming

Question 11

Dilemmas in monitoring, supervision and enforcement

Answer 11

1. Position dilemma: due to different interests
   a. Some agents articulate their independent positions and refuse to interact and communicate
2. Role dilemma: Taking risks, causing moral hazard
   a. Role of supervisor:
   - Interventionalist: supervise closely - eliminates the problem of moral hazard
   - Non-interventionist: more distant - more chances of moral hazard
3. Attitude: Relation between supervisor and supervisee is based on distrust
   a. Supervisee may be inclined to perform the expected behavior
   b. Supervisee tries to safeguard himself from the distrust by following extensive procedures

Question 12

What is systematic evaluation?

Answer 12

o Goals of learning and accountability are achieved systematically and periodically
o Referring to a specific event which needs a systematic evaluation

Question 13

What is ad hoc evaluation?

Answer 13

o One-time evaluation  in response to events

Question 14

Ex ante and ex post evaluation?

Answer 14

o Ex ante: Evaluation is done before a policy is implemented

o Ex post: Evaluation is done after implementation

Question 15

Input evaluation?

Answer 15

o Focus on resources put into a policy to achieve its aims

o Quality and quantity of inputs

Question 16

Goal achievement?

Answer 16

o Focused on whether the policy met its objectives

Question 17

Effectiveness and efficiency?

Answer 17

o Effectiveness: Focused on the broader outcomes of a policy
o Summative evaluations: whether formal goals were achieved
o Formative evaluations: why the goals have or have not been achieved
o Efficiency: Cost-benefit analysis
o Have the effects been efficiently achieved

Question 18

Process evaluation?

Answer 18

o Focused on different processes involved in a policy

Question 19

Internal and external?

Answer 19

o Internal: Performed by organizations involved in the policy
o External: Performed by outside actors

Question 20

Evaluation criteria in the rational perspective

Answer 20

o Effectiveness, efficiency, and coherence
o Internal consistency – all stakeholders know what is expected from them
o External – one policy does not contradict another

Question 21

Evaluation criteria in political perspective

Answer 21

o Politics of evaluation o Actors protecting their interests
o Measurement of support – policy is successful if it is supported by a sufficiently broad range of actors

Question 22

Evaluation criteria in the cultural perspective

Answer 22

o Creation of a shared policy story
o Subjective
- a shared meaning/interpretation of a policy
o Frame of reality
o Effectiveness + efficiency are too subjective

Question 23

Evaluation criteria in the institutional perspective

Answer 23

• Multi-rationality
o Recognizes multiple rationalities, a combination of the others
• Multiple stakeholder analysis
• Efficient, effective or coherent + feasibility (technically and organizational) of a policy
• Focus on institutional embedding – legitimacy, whether it opposes other previous policies

Question 24

Six models for evaluation

Answer 24

1. Goal-attainment model= were the results produced by the intervention
   o Pro: representative of democracy
   o Con:
   - goals are not enough of a criteria to measure merit due to its obscurity
   - unanticipated side effects are not included so a tunnel vision is adapted
2. Side-effects model= searches for results in the target area
3. Relevant model= worth of the policy is assessed
   o Similar to goal achievement
4. Client-oriented model= members of the target group perform the evaluation based on their own merit criteria
   o User satisfaction
5. Stakeholder model= evaluation done by those who have interest in the intervention and its effects
6. Collegial model= colleagues use their own professional criteria of standards/quality to evaluate performance of their colleagues
   o Peer-review, self-evaluation

Question 25

Definitions of policy learning for each perspective

Answer 25

• Rational: a condition for policies to be efficient and effective
• Political: promote support for a policy
• Institutional: key factor in institutional survival and maintaining legitimacy
• Cultural: understand how common policy stories can be produced

Question 26

Types of dynamics

Answer 26

• Policy innovation: New policies are developed both at an instrumental and fundamental level
• Policy succession: relates to the previous policy (expansion)
• Policy maintainance: secondary adjustments to an established policy
• Policy termination: destruction of a policy - because it’s not working for example
• Positive feedback: change can happen
• Negative: the policy is not going to change - factors that affect the change
• Incremental policy change: slow change, slow degree of change
• Non-incremental: fast change, and fundamental

Question 27

3 levels of learning:

Answer 27

1. First order of learning: oriented at improving policy instruments
   . Contributes to policy maintainance
2. Second order: learning that does address the choice and selection of policy instruments. Focus is on the outcome of the policy
   . Policy succession
3. Third order: learning at the level of policy paradigms. Focus is on the goal.
   . Termination or innovation - it deals with fundamental beliefs

Question 28

4 types of policy learning:

Answer 28

• Reflexive: important actors discuss and engage in critical dialogues
• Epistemic: certified actors (experts) that address fundamental ideas
• Learning trhough bargaining: knowledge is used as a strategic source
• Policy transfer: knowledge transfer between actors and political social interactions
• Learning in the shadow of hierarchy: hight tractability and high certification of actors - experts working on the issue but they are supervised by knowledge.
• Experts are restricted

Question 29

Why are policies hard to change?

Answer 29

Political:
• Political actors push their beliefs forward and make it difficult to change
Institutional:
• path dependency and institutions make it harder to change
Cultural:
• hard to change because people have different ideas that are not objective
• Shifting of frames - hard because there are many actors
Rational:
• change is possible if you have the right instruments

Question 30

Role of learning in policy change

Answer 30

Rational:
• evidence-based
• technocracy - they assume that learning its political in its nature
• Learning is important (Single and double-loop learning) because it is evidence-based
Political:
• based on power - if one of the actors doesn’t want to learn they can prevent that by making people learn in a specific way
• They don’t prioritize learning because they can influence it
Cultural:
• they don’t believe in policy learning -
• They believe frame reflection: shifting or clarifying frames
• That iss what makes policies change
• They don’t prioritize learning
Institutional:
• Learning is not important because they value systems and institutions above all (path dependency)