Chapter 12
Comparative Politics: Structures and Choices 2e
By Lowell Barrington
Public Policy and Government
Performance
Learning Objectives
 Explain the differences between domestic, foreign,
and intermestic policy.
 Discuss the differences among first, second, and
third order policy changes, and explain why third
order changes are relatively rare.
 Explain how socioeconomic structures, political
structures, and leadership can affect policy
outcomes, and discuss the extent to which policy
is made through a process of rational decision
making.
 Discuss major policy debates and key factors
affecting policy outcomes in the Topic in Country
cases.
Public Policy
 Comparative Public Policy
 Seeks to understand the causal factors
influence policy outcomes
 Also looks at policy outcomes to evaluate their
effectiveness
 Public Administration
 The inner workings of government institutions
http://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechconsidered/2013/11/19/246
049281/technology-outpacing-policymakers-needs-of-nsa
Public Policy
 Foreign, Domestic, and Intermestic Policy
 Domestic policy: The set of government
approaches designed to improve economic, social,
and political conditions within a country
 Foreign policy: The set of government approaches
related to international relations, national security,
and defense
 Intermestic Policy: Shares traits of both domestic
and foreign policy
Public Policy
 Major Types of Domestic and Intermestic
Policy
 Economic Policies
 Fiscal policy
 Monetary policy
 Development policy
 Trade policy
 Regulatory Policy
 http://www.sba.gov/content/automotive
Public Policy
 Major Types of Domestic and Intermestic
Policy
 Social Welfare Policies
 Old age and retirement policy
 Health care policy
 Unemployment policy
 Redistributive policies
 Education Policy
Public Policy
 Major Types of Domestic and Intermestic
Policy
 Identity-Related Policies
 Citizenship policy
 Immigration policy
 Integration policies
Public Policy
 Degrees of Policy Transformation
 First order policy change
 Policy details change
 Goals and instruments stay the same
 Second order policy change
 Policy instruments change
 Goals stay the same
 Third order policy change
 Goals change
 A major policy reform (e.g., welfare reform in U.S.)
Understanding Policy Outcomes
 Internal Structural Factors
 Economic Structural Factors
 Level of economic development, class structure,
degree of economic globalization, and type of
economic system
 Political culture and ideology
 Identity structure
 Political structure
Understanding Policy Outcomes
 External Structural Factors
 Demonstration effects, imposition through
conquest, and conditionality
 Internal Choice Factors: Leadership
and Rational Policymaking
 Leadership
 The rationality of the decision-making process
 External Choice Factors
Topic in Countries
 The United Kingdom
 Mixed economy with a strong welfare state;
MPs of both parties support NHS, but have
different views on implementation
 Implementation of evidence-based
policymaking (EBP); low levels of public
confidence in government
Topic in Countries
 Germany
 Social Market Economy (SME) offers broad
protection based on conservative values;
welfare state unsustainable in current form
 Policies that discourage job growth have led to
high unemployment; welfare state system
experiencing shortfall
Topic in Countries
 India
 Major policy debates include water access;
proper role of Hindutuva (Hindu Nationalism);
response to terrorists
 Disruption and coalition governments make
policymaking difficult, exacerbated by the
scale of problems such as identity and water
issues
Topic in Countries
 Mexico
 Policy debates center on fiscal, monetary &
trade policy; Nat’l health insurance program
launched in 2004
 Gov’t has struggled to implement effective
policies to reduce crime and corruption
Topic in Countries
 Brazil
 Economic development is top policy concern;
balance of equality vs. growth
 Government widely seen as inefficient and
corrupt; President Rousseff struggling with the
challenge of addressing inequality without
alienating internal and external economic
elites
Topic in Countries
 Nigeria
 Tackling corruption remains largest policy
issue; proper use of oil wealth; identity
divisions
 Oil wealth has not led to improvements in
health care or education; external actors can
impact the effort to reduce corruption
Topic in Countries
 Russia
 Major policy debates include moving from
oligarchic capitalism to state capitalism and
how to address identity issues (Chechnya)
 Yeltsin introduced elements of capitalism into
the economy; Putin took office amid feelings
that the government was corrupt and
incompetent
Topic in Countries
 China
 Continued dramatic shift away from socialist
economy; greater policy autonomy for regional
governments
 Government highlights achievements and
downplays negative news; has displayed
surprising openness at times on issues such
as efficiency and SARS
Topic in Countries
 Iran
 Achieving both greater equality and economic
growth; tightening government regulations in
areas such as gender relations
 Oil profits in the hands of the bonyads, not
shared with the general population
 Government promised to increase social
welfare spending after the Green Revolution
Think and Discuss
When examining the major policy issues
and the factors that influence them in the
nine TIC cases, what themes emerge
across these otherwise very different
countries?