Week 2 - What Theories Inform Public Policy

Question 1

What is parsimonious?

Answer 1

The least complex explanation for an observation explains a lot with a little
- its simple, accurate and consistent

Question 2

What is theory?

Answer 2

Theory is an explanation of why things happen the way they do and is more than an empirical observation or formulation of what we know by experience
- theory is not limited to the explanation of a single isolated phenomenon but, can also be generalized to explain events that have not actually been observed

Question 3

Theoretical explanations are based on what?

Answer 3

based in abstract reasoning based on
empirical observation
- the key to judging a theory is to see how well it stands up to the facts of reality as we actually observe them
- a good theory can either pass empirical testing or be deduced from the facts of reality, while a bad one cannot

Question 4

Why will people continue to support a theory even when it is not consistent with scientific facts?

Answer 4

Because it serves their interests to do so

Ex. If a societal group benefits from a certain theory they may resist against possible changes to the theory

Question 5

What are normative political theories?

Answer 5

Theories that do not merely try to explain public policy but also make moral judgments about its outcomes
- the intent is to justify some sort of action on the grounds of the moral judgments about its outcomes

Question 6

What are positive theories?

Answer 6

Theories that attempt to explain the policy process as it is, without making moral judgments about it

• emphasize scientific inquiry and empirical testing
• do not have any explicit political interest, ideology, or agenda to promote
• positive theories may support or undermine implicit political interest, ideologies, and agenda

Question 7

What are the purposes of theory in public policy?

Answer 7

• to simplify and clarify our thinking about governments and politics
• to identify important political forces in society
• to communicate relevant knowledge about political life
• to direct inquiry into politics
• to suggest explanations for political events and outcomes

Question 8

What are structuralist theories?

Answer 8

A category of theories of public policy that holds the policy process and its outcomes to be determined by the broad characteristics of society, such as class, gender, culture and economics

Question 9

What are society-centric theories?

Answer 9

Give primacy to actors within society including interest groups (pluralism), classes (Marxism), and individuals (rational choice) as the driving force to explain public policy decisions

• role of societal actors
• will dictate what the state will do

Question 10

What are interest groups?

Answer 10

An organized group of individuals who share common beliefs who work together to influence public policy decisions

Question 11

What is pluralism?

Answer 11

Suggests that interest groups form freely and openly compete with each other to bend the ear of the state. The state has no bias or power to wield certain outcomes it merely responds to the demands of the interest group with the loudest voice

Question 12

What is the pluralist model?

Answer 12

A theory of public policy that sees the policy process as an open competition among groups to be essentially open - interest groups influence the outcome of government decisions

• view economic factors as important determinant of political conflict but also see other lines of division such as ethnicity, language, gender, region
• in democratic societies a competition among elites

Question 13

What is neo-pluralism?

Answer 13

Acknowledges that inequality persists within interest groups and concedes that certain interests, notably business interests, are better served and thus wield greater influence over public policy. As a result, public policy is responsive (or skewed) to business interests over other interests

Question 14

What is Marxist theory?

Answer 14

A theory that views public policy as a product of class divisions in society - while looking at the means of production

• this theory surmises that classes are unequal whereby the owners of the means of production dominate those who only have their labour to sell (subordinate)
• this theory holds that the state is biased in support of the dominant class and thus public policy, generally is skewed

Question 15

What are the four main elements of Marxist Theory?

Answer 15

• The division of society into classes
• the pre-eminence of class
• the inequality of classes
• the bias of the state

Question 16

Which model is the most influential of the structuralist views on public policy?

Answer 16

Marxist Theory

Question 17

What is false consciousness?

Answer 17

The subordinate classes in society develop a false consciousness regarding their own interests
- working classes believe that what is best for liberal-capitalist democracy must be best for them too

Question 18

What is neo-Marxist theory?

Answer 18

The state cannot simply always give into the dominant class and thus they argue there is some tension within the state on how to manage public policy and the interests of both classes
- surfaces at Public Policy in two different types of policies: Legitimation and Accumulation

Question 19

What are legitimation policies?

Answer 19

Policies that reduce interclass conflict by providing subordinate classes with benefits that reduce their dissatisfaction with the inequalities generated by the capitalist economy
Ex. Social welfare policies and labour legislation are examples of state actions that promote social harmony by legitimizing the existing capitalist system in the eyes of those classes who benefit least from its operation 
- these policies indirectly support the interests of capital because they maintain the social conditions necessary for profitable business activity

Question 20

What are accumulation policies?

Answer 20

Policies that directly support profit-oriented business activity
Ex. Grants, tax subsidies

Question 21

What does Marxist theory say about capitalism?

Answer 21

Marxist state that the subjective sense of belonging to a social class is weak in many capitalist societies and that social divisions have become more complicated as a result of changes in the economies of societies
- argue that there is a tension between the state's responsiveness to popular demands and its structural need and ideological disposition to support the general interests of capital

Question 22

What is Marxist’s view on the Contradiction of State?

Answer 22

Argue that there is a tension between the state’s responsiveness to popular demands and its structural need and ideological disposition to support the general interests of capital

Question 23

What are state-centric theories?

Answer 23

Postulate that it is the state that shapes the possibilities for public policy
- the most dominant state-centric theory is institutionalism

Question 24

What is institutionalism?

Answer 24

A theory of public policy that views policy outcomes as being structures by the designs of political institutions

• based on the belief that public policy outcomes are determined by the structural configuration of the state itself - there are many policy implications that can arise from the structure of the state
  ex. the federal government can still intervene in the provincial areas of jurisdiction

Question 25

The type of policies that can be adopted by a government largely depend on what?

Answer 25

The current society’s political institutions and how they are designed
- these institutions are influenced by the political ideas and economic relationship

Question 26

What is Neo-Institutionalism?

Answer 26

Emerged with the concentration on both formal (i.e courts) and informal institutions (i.e values and ideas)

• the unit of analysis is the institution
• the state plays an active and crucial role in establishing the rules of the game that, in turn, has an influence on social actors
• the state is not neutral

Question 27

What is incrementalism?

Answer 27

A theory of public policy that explains current policy as the result of minor changes to previous policy decisions and predicts slow, insignificant development

• current policy decision really represent incremental changes from existing policies
• Changes are slow and deliberate

Question 28

Why is there reluctance for policy-makers to make radical changes?

Answer 28

Due to the absence of complete information about the potential outcomes
- associated with the amount of uncertainty in society, economy, and environment

Question 29

What are dynamic theories?

Answer 29

Theories of public policy that see the policy process as open to competitive influences
Ex. Pluralism, Game Theory and Public Choice

Question 30

What is environmental determinism?

Answer 30

A theory that sees the public policy process as structure by broad societal factors like culture and gender

• the circumstances beyond government control that influence the nature of the societal culture
• based on the belief that public policy is largely predetermined or at least heavily influenced by factors that lie outside the control of policy makers
• Marxist model qualifies under this category

Question 31

What is systems theory?

Answer 31

A bridge between structural and dynamic theories

• systems theory is an approach to the study of public policy that views the policy process as a self-perpetuating system that structures its outcomes in order to maintain itself
• the behaviour of individuals is interpreted in light of what the social system requires to maintain itself

Question 32

Why does the classical model of pluralism view the public policy process as dynamic rather than structuralist?

Answer 32

Some groups have greater resources than other and some demands receive more hearing from governments than others
- hold organization and power to be open to all, but some parts of society are less likely to influence state action

Question 33

When state action (real or anticipated) is perceived harmful by the business world, what tends to happen?

Answer 33

They react by cutting back on production, deferring or cancelling new investment and shifting production to other countries

Question 34

What are policy communities?

Answer 34

Public policy became divided up into separate policy areas dominated by long-term participant groups with specific policy interest and agendas that were able to prevent new participants from influencing policy area

Question 35

What are policy networks?

Answer 35

The relationship that developed between group interest and policy maker and other interest within the policy community

Question 36

What is the public choice model?

Answer 36

An approach to understanding public policy that uses analogies with economic understandings of human behaviour to explain politics

• attempts to explain the political behaviour of individuals and interest groups, as well as the policy decisions of governments, in terms of a theory of rational choice developed in microeconomics
• central figure is the economic man

Question 37

What are the two major theoretical approaches?

Answer 37

State centric (institutionalism and incrementalism) 
Society Centric (Marxism, Pluralism and Public Choice

Question 38

What is Globalization?

Answer 38

a theory that explain the policy process in terms of the influence of the global advancement of trade, technology, transportation and liberal ideology
- Policy options available to governments of individual states are increasingly limited by
1) Large multinational corporations in industries from natural resources
2) International Institutions
Ex. UN
- Argue that the structure of governance institutions such as the UN favours the advancement of international capitalism by punishing countries that adopt policies contrary to liberal economics