Chapter
Seventeen
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The Policy-Making Process
Setting the Agenda
The political agenda: deciding
what to make policy about.
The current political agenda
includes taxes, energy, welfare, and
civil rights
Shared beliefs determine what is
legitimate for the government to do
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Scope of Government Action
Government always gets larger
People generally believe that
government should continue to do
what it is doing now
Changes in attitudes and events
tend to increase government
activities
Government growth cannot be
attributed to one political party
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Growth in government
spending by administrations
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The Influence of Institutions
The courts make decisions that force action by
other branches: e.g. school desegregation,
abortion, gay marriage
The bureaucracy is a source of innovation and
forms alliances with senators and staff
The Senate is a source of presidential candidates
with new ideas
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Other Influences
Groups may react to a sense of
relative deprivation
The media helps place issues on the
political agenda
The national government may later
adopt ideas pioneered by the states
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Costs, Benefits, and Policy
Cost: any burden, monetary or
non-monetary, that some people
must, or expect, to bear from the
policy
Benefit: any satisfaction, monetary
or non-monetary, that some people
must, or expect, to receive from the
policy
Politics is a process of settling
disputes over who benefits/pays
and who ought to benefit/pay
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Classifying and Explaining the Politics of
Different Policy Issues
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Kinds of Politics
Majoritarian politics: distributed
benefits, distributed costs
Interest group politics:
concentrated benefits, concentrated
costs
Client politics: concentrated
benefits, distributed costs
Entrepreneurial politics:
distributed benefits, concentrated
costs
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.
costs and benefits
widely distributed
frequently decided by
majority opinion
examples
social security
national defense
MAJORITARIAN
POLITICS
Majoritarian Politics
Example: Antitrust legislation in
1890s was vague with no specific
enforcement agency
During the reform era, politicians
and business leaders committed to
a strong antitrust policy
Enforcement was determined
primarily by the ideology and
personal convictions of the current
presidential administration
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costs and benefits
narrowly concentrated
highly organized
groups lead the way
causes conflict; winner
v. loser
examples
INTEREST GROUP
POLITICS
labor relations boards
Nazi rallies in Jewish
neighborhood
FCC regulations
Interest Group Politics
Organized interest groups are
powerful when regulatory policies
confer benefits on one organized
group and costs on another equally
organized group
Example: In 1935 labor unions
sought government protection for
their rights; business firms were in
opposition
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costs widely
distributed; benefits
are concentrated
those getting benefits
are well organized
those with cost often
unaware
examples
farm subsidies
pork barrel projects
favorable government
regulations for an
industry(milk, airline)
CLIENT POLITICS
Client Politics
“Agency capture” is likely when
benefits are focused and costs are
dispersed—an agency is created to
serve a group’s needs
Example: National regulation of
milk industry, sugar production,
merchant shipping
The struggle to sustain benefits
depends on insider politics
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benefits widely
distributed
costs are concentrated
frequently led by an
activist; group anger
over group benefit can
also lead to this
ENTREPRENEURIAL
POLITICS
examples
safety for automobiles
ralph nader
who pays
antipollution
requirements
who pays?
Entrepreneurial Politics
Relies on entrepreneurs to
galvanize public opinion and
mobilize congressional support
Example: In the 1960s and 1970s a
large number of consumer and
environmental protection statutes
passed (e.g., Clean Air Act, Toxic
Substance Control Act)
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LGBT lobbyists convince a city
council to pass an ordinance
outlawing discrimination against
them in jobs and housing
CLIENT POLITICS- benefits
concentrated; costs distributed
WHICH POLICY?
A presidential candidate promises
to cut the size and power of the
federal bureaucracy
ENTREPRENEURIAL POLITICSdistributed benefits; costs
concentrated
WHICH POLICY?
Congress considers the military
situation in Europe and decides to
appropriate (spend) money to
increase troop strength.
MAJORITARIAN POLITICS- costs
and benefits distributed
WHICH POLICY?
The Massachusetts congressional
delegation seeks to have the F-18
fighter plane built because its jet
engines are produced in that state
CLIENT POLITICS- benefits
concentrated; costs distributed
WHICH POLICY?
a civil rights group sues for a
citywide desegregation program
involving busing.
CLIENT POLITICS- benefits
concentrated; costs distributed
WHICH POLICY?
a governor creates a commission on
the status of women and appoints
several members of the feminist
movement to it
INTEREST GROUP POLITICScosts and benefits are concentrated?
WHICH POLICY?
A campaign is mounted to have a
nuclear weapons freeze.
ENTREPRENEURIAL POLITICSdistributed benefits; costs
concentrated
WHICH POLICY?
Deregulation
Example: airline fares, long
distance telephoning, trucking
Deregulation is a challenge to iron
triangles and client politics
It is based on the idea that
governmental regulation was bad
in industries that could be
competitive
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