The Policy-Making Process
The Policymaking Process
Every policy has a unique history, but each generally goes through
five basic steps.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Agenda Setting
Policy Formulation
Policy Adoption
Policy Implementation
Policy Evaluation
Setting the Agenda
 “Agenda building may occur as the result of a crisis, a
technological change, a mass media campaign, as well as through
the efforts of a strong political personality or lobby groups.”
 Most important decision affecting policy-making is deciding what
belongs on the political agenda
1. Shared beliefs determine what is legitimate.
2. Legitimacy affect by
a. Shared political values
b. Weight of custom and tradition
c. Impact of events (war, depressions)
d. Changes in ways political elites think about politics
The Legitimate Scope of
Government Action
 Always gets larger
 May be enlarged without public demand even when
conditions improving
 Groups: a motivating force in adding new issues
 May be organized (corporations) or disorganized (urban
minorities)
 May react to sense of relative deprivation – people’s feeling that
they are worse off than they expected to be (example – riots of
the 1960s)
 May produce and expansion of government agenda (example –
new commissions and laws)
 May change the values and beliefs of others (example – white
response to urban riots)
The Legitimate Scope of
Government Action
 Institutions: a second force adding new issues
 Courts
 Make decisions that force action by other branches: school
desegregation, abortion, Change the political agenda
 Bureaucracy
 Source of political innovation: size and expertise, Thinks up
problems to solve, Forms alliances with senators and their staffs
 Senate
 Contrary to the intent of the Framers – a major source of change
 Media
 Help place issues on political agenda, Publicize those issues raised
by others, such as safety standards proposed by Senate
The Legitimate Scope of
Government Action
 Action by the states
 Sometimes laws are pioneered in states
 Evolution of political agenda
 Changes in popular attitudes that result in gradual revision of
the agenda
Making a Decision
 Nature of issue
1. Affects politicking
2. Affects intensity of political conflict
 Costs and benefits of proposed policy a way to understand
how issue affects political power
 Cost: any burden, monetary or nonmonetary
 Benefit: any satisfaction, monetary or nonmonetary
 Two aspects of costs and benefits important:
 Perception affects politics
 People consider whether it is legitimate for a group to benefit
Making a Decision
 Politics a process of settling disputes about who benefits and
who ought to benefit
 People prefer programs that provide benefits at low cost
 Perceived distribution of costs and benefits shapes the kinds
of political coalitions that form but not who wins
Making a Decision
 Each decision has costs and benefits
 Widely Distributed: Spread over many/most citizens
 Cost example: Income Taxes
 Benefit Example: Retirement Benefits
 Narrowly Concentrated: Limited to a relatively small
group
 Cost Example: Expenditures by a factory that reduces
pollution
 Benefit Example: Subsidies to farmers
Four Points of Public Policy
 Majoritarian Politics: a policy in which almost
everybody benefits and almost everybody pays.
 Distributed Benefits, Distributed Costs
 Gives benefits to large numbers
 Distributes costs to large numbers
 Initial debate in ideological or costs terms (for example,
military budget)
Four Points of Public Policy
 Interest Group Politics: A policy in which one small
group benefits and another small group pays
 Concentrated Benefits, Concentrated Costs
 Gives benefits to relatively small group
 Costs imposed n another small group
 Debate carried on by interest groups (labor unions versus
businesses)
Four Points of Public Policy
 Client Politics: a policy in which one small group
benefits and almost everybody pays.
 Concentrated Benefits, Distributed Costs
 Relatively small group benefits; group has incentive to organize
 Costs distributed widely
 Most people unaware of costs, sometimes in form of pork barrel
projects
o Pork-barrel legislation = legislation that gives tangible benefits to
constituents in several districts or states in the hope of winning
votes in return.
o Logrolling = a legislator supports a proposal favored by another
in return for support of his or hers.
Four Points of Public Policy
 Entrepreneurial Politics: a policy in which almost
everybody benefits and a small group pays the cost.
 Distributed Benefits, Concentrated Costs
 Gives benefits to large numbers
 Costs imposed on small group
 Success may depend on people who work on behalf of
unorganized majorities
 Legitimacy of client claims is
important, for example,
the Superfund
Types of Policy Politics: Breakdown
Costs
Benefits
Majoritarian
Large group
Large group
Interest Group
Small Group
Small group
Client
Large group
Small group
Entrepreneurial
Small group
Large group
The Case of Business Regulation
 The question of wealth and power
 One view: economic power dominated political power
 Another view: political power a threat to a market
economy
 All four types of politics have had a unique history leading to
policies impacting various groups of people.
=
Meat Inspection
Act of 1906
Perceptions, Beliefs, Interests, & Values
 Problem of definition
 Costs and benefits not completely defined in money terms
 Cost or benefit a matter of perception
 Political conflict largely a struggle to make one set of beliefs
about costs and benefits prevail over another
 Types of arguments
 “Here-and-now” argument
 Cost argument
Perceptions, Beliefs, Interests, & Values
 The role of values
 Values: our conceptions of what is good for our community or
our country
 Emphasis on self-interest
 Ideas as decisive forces
 Deregulation
 Example: airline fares, long-distance telephone rates, trucking
 A challenge to “iron triangles” and client politics
 Explanation: the power of ideas
 Presidents since Ford have sought to review government
regulation
 Many groups oppose deregulation
Perceptions, Beliefs, Interests, & Values
 Limits
 Some clients are just too powerful, for example, dairy farmers,
agricultural supports
 But trend is toward weaker client politics