(S.21) Identifying Policy Problems and Getting Them on the Agenda Flashcards
Walkerton incident
- bacteria-laden cattle manure from local farms washed into towns water supply
- Required by provincial law for water to be routinely sampled/tested: reported water was contaminated with E.Coli
- GM of public utilities division requested a retest
- Did not disclose initial test results to anyone else, including public health
- Within days, 7 died and 2,000 got sick
- Previous objectives/guidelines about water treatment safety became municipal standards (no longer voluntary)
- Led to 5 separate laws being introduced
outbreak of E.Coli in Calgary
- think it came from shared kitchen by daycares
- hundreds of cases and hospitalizations
- Alberta gave those affected $2000 each and shut down 7 daycares
Policy makers typically care about an issue due to a ______
crisis
focusing events
- Sudden
- Relatively uncommon
- reasonably defined as ‘harmful’/possibility future harms
- harms concentrated in a particular geographical area/community of interest
- Known to policy makers and the public simultaneously
*May create policy windows
Policy windows
= Points in time when the opportunity arises for an issue to come onto the policy agenda and be taken seriously with a view to action
- allows discussions to be had to take action
- Important for issues in the background (ex. Opioid crisis)
T or F: Focusing events are a sure way to get something on the policy agenda
F: sandy hook
Policy agenda
list of issues to which an organization, usually the government, is giving serious attention at any one time with a view to taking some sort of action
___________are a good source of finding out what is on the policy agenda
Mandate letters
- but don’t show what is NOT on the agenda/don’t say WHY it is not on there
Agenda setting
= process by which certain issues come onto the policy agenda from the much larger number of issues potentially worthy of attention by policy makers
Policy change begins with _______
agenda setting
Get issues on the policy agenda by Focusing events or ‘Politics-as-usual’ / ‘incrementalism’
Focusing events = happen in ways we cannot control (do not want to create crisis)
‘Politics-as-usual’ / ‘incrementalism’: policy change occurs, if it does at all, through a gradual accumulation of small changes
‘Rational’ Model of Policy-Making
- how policy decisions OUGHT to be made, not how they ARE
- Linear model: starting with problem, thinking of solutions, thinking of alternatives, pick the best
T or F: ‘Rational’ Model of Policy-Making is the best way to getting issues on the policy agenda
F: how people used to pitch, not this simple
why can burden of disease be responsible for getting things on the agenda is
Pointing to more deaths/morbidity from a particular issue tends to get people to care about it (ex.COVID)
- not always the case
Problem Recognition & Framing
…problems do not exist ‘out there’; they are not objective entities in their own right…”
* Need to convey to people and explain why it is a problem
Problem framing/if things are seen as a problem depends on:
*Decision-maker
- Some will be sympathetic, others won’t
*How one defines/frames a problem will impact whether it gets on the policy agenda
*How one defines/frames a problem predicts policy solutions
- ex. COVID = same as flu, think to use same policies
- ‘Law of the instrument’
- If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail
- Policy makers have specific ideas of how to respond, may be wrong decision
-might be inappropriate solutions but if this is the framing they have on how to respond to policy issues then they will apply it
- Need to know what kind of framing resonated with people
- To encourage policy makers, and as a policy maker looking for support
Depending on how you frame it, will admit very different policy solutions - ex.opioid crisis
2 ways we frame this issue
1. problem of law enforcement: not policing people enough, getting drugs off the street
2. People will take them anyways, we should invest in things to avoid deaths and overdoses (safe injection)
Agenda Setting Models
empirically-based models that help to explain why particular issues get on organizations/governments policy agendas, or why they do not reach policy agendas
- Hall et al.’s model of legitimacy, feasibility, and support
- Kingdon’s Policy Streams/Multiple Streams model
Hall et al.’s model of legitimacy, feasibility, and support
only gets on a government agenda when issue & likely response are high in legitimacy, feasibility and support
- Legitimacy: issues which policy makers see as appropriate for government to act on
- COVID, “my body my choice”, decision does not lie with government/uni - Feasibility: issues for which there is a practical solution
- no practical solution, no change
- Smaller institutions may not have resources to make change as opposed to governments
- no practical solution, no change
- Support: issues to which the public and other key political interests want to see a response
- Burden of disease may not be enough to get people to care
- Petitions try to get a # of people behind a given issue for policy makers to take note
- Burden of disease may not be enough to get people to care
Kingdon’s Policy Streams - Policies are only taken seriously by governments when:
- PROBLEM they are addressing = perceived as a public matter requiring government action
(similar to Hall’s legitimacy) - POLICY solutions being proposed = perceived as technically feasible and consistent with dominant social values
(similar to Hall’s feasibility) - POLITICIANS/policymakers have motivation and opportunity to enact policy solutions
Kingdon’s policy stream - trashcan model
All operate independently of each other, but sometimes they come together and create a policy window
- PROBLEM STREAM: indicators of the scale and significance of an issue which give it visibility
- Comes down to burden of disease and how much visibility is given to said burden
○ Is there a problem?
○ Is there consensus regarding the cause(s) of the problem?
○ Do people know about the problem?
○ Problem recognition & framing’
- Comes down to burden of disease and how much visibility is given to said burden
- POLICY STREAM: the set of possible policy solutions or alternatives developed by experts, politicians, bureaucrats and interest groups, together with the activities of those interested in these options
- Are there practical, feasible policy solutions to address the problem? - POLITICS Stream: political events such as shifts in the national mood or public opinion, elections and changes in government, social uprisings, demonstrations and campaigns by interest groups
- political will to address the problem?
- Not getting on agenda if politicians don’t care
Kingdon’s policy stream - Ex. Opioid Crisis
Problem Stream
- clear and lot of visibility on that there is an opioid crisis
- Significant issue with increasing prevalence
Policy Stream:
- There are some possible solutions
- Will not completely eradicate but help (Safe injection sites)
Politics Stream:
- Ford cut some injection sites as citizens were upset (care about re- election)
- Can have clear issues, possible solutions but dead end because politicians have ulterior motives
Policy agenda isn’t only based on models mentioned, ______ goes on underneath
POWER
- Crucial to look at who has sufficient power over powerful people that make decisions
WHO data (2018) on how they get their funding
assessed contributions
= as a member of UN, you’re a member of WHO and you need to pay $$ to help fund
voluntary contributions (CVCA)
= Countries want to give more than required to help fund global health
= Goes towards pre-existing core programs/priorities WHO has
voluntary contributions specified
= Country/organization gives $$ but is contingent on them spending it in a specific way
Significant amount of WHO budget is from what
voluntary contributions specified
○ Bill and Melinda Gates foundation = 2nd largest funder of WHO
T or F: Understanding the power to keep things off the policy agenda is as important as understanding the power to push certain issues on the government’s agenda
T: has a lot more to do with power than getting things on
