A Systems Model of Public Policy-Making
ENVIRONMENTS
Physical system
FEEDBACK LOOP (outcomes - effects
on society and individuals may cause new
problems to be identified)
Economic system
Demographics
External political
systems
Cultural system
Constitutional
system
THE POLITICAL SYSTEM
Input
Structures
Inputs
Legislative
Individuals
Mass Media
Interest
groups
Government
Institutions
Demands Executive
Benefits
Judicial
Supports
Actors
Party systems
Roles
Electoral
systems
Processes
Deprivations
ENVIRONMENTS
Physical system
Economic system
Demographics
External political
systems
Cultural system
Constitutional
system
ENVIRONMENTS - the environment is any
condition or circumstance that is external to the
boundaries of the political system being
examined. Thus, a political system may
respond to social, economic, or physical
conditions, or it may respond to inputs from
other (external) political systems. At any rate, it
is proper to think of environmental conditions in
terms of systems and in the plural.
INPUT STRUCTURES - the channels, linkages, and connections
from the environments to government institutions. These
individuals and organizations/institutions serve to recruit political
actors, nominate and elect public officials, represent people, set
agendas for public discussion and action, and communicate
demands and supports to public officials.
THE POLITICAL SYSTEM
Input
Structures
Individuals
Mass Media
Interest
groups
Party systems
Electoral
systems
INPUTS - Inputs into governmental structures include demands
for specific policy action and general support for the political
system or one of its parts. Diffuse support contributes to the
long-term maintenance and stability of the political system.
THE POLITICAL SYSTEM
Inputs
Demands
Supports
GOVERNMENT INSTITUTIONS - these are the familiar legislative,
executive, judicial, and bureaucratic branches of government.
These institutions may be referred to as conversion structures
because because they convert demands and supports into public
policy outputs. Government institutions pass the laws, appropriate
the money, and make rules and regulations, whether formal or
informal, for implementing policies.
THE POLITICAL SYSTEM
Government
Institutions
Legislative
Executive
Judicial
Actors
Roles
Processes
OUTPUTS - are of two kinds: policy statements and implementing
actions. Policy statements include legislative statutes, executive
orders, administrative rules and regulations, and judicial decisions, as
well as informal policy pronouncements. Implementing actions are
those activities undertaken by administrators and other political actors
to carry out the policy statement. Outputs are generally characterized
as either benefits or deprivations imposed on a particular target group.
THE POLITICAL
SYSTEM
Benefits
Deprivations
OUTCOMES are the short
and long term
effects that
policies have on
environmental
conditions.
Outcomes feed
back into the
policy process
and have an
impact on the
formulation of
new policies.
Thus, as the
feedback loop
indicates, the
policy process
is a continual
cycle.
FEEDBACK LOOP (outcomes - effects
on society and individuals may cause new
problems to be identified)
THE POLITICAL
SYSTEM
Benefits
Deprivations
THE UTILITY OF THE SYSTEMS MODEL
In studying politics and public policy, the systems model can
be used to:
• Convey the idea of government as part of a larger system made
up of political actions;
• Identify the parts of the political system and the relationship of
each part to the others;
• Show the linkages or connections between the environments and
political structures, as well as linkages among parts of the
political system itself;
• Demonstrate how external variables in the environments
stimulate political activity and perhaps may ultimately necessitate
public policies;
• Allow us to develop possible explanations for government
performance by focusing on the various parts and their
interconnections;
• Show that policy outputs and outcomes are the product of
political activity occurring within the system; policy is the result
of political processes.