Power Players of Public Policy
The Basics of Politics
According to American Public Policy, public policy always refers to the actions of the government and the process both behind the scenes and in the public eye that determine a course of action for resolving an issue of public concern. Policy evaluation involves the examination of past, current, or proposed policies and evaluating those policies for efficiency and effectiveness. (Cochran, Mayer, Carr, & Cayer, 2006) Policies are broken down into four loose categories: distributive, regulatory, self-regulatory, and redistributive, each fulfilling a different public need. When citizens or action groups express concern over a social problem, often through means of legislation or a court ruling, solutions to these problems may become public law.
Policy Process
The process of policy-making revolves around three basic steps: problem identification, policy demands, and agenda formation. (Cochran, Mayer, Carr, & Cayer, 2006) In the first step, the government identifies and defines a public problem. Afterwards, the policy-maker must take into consideration the policy demands from the constituency. Finally, the policy must be carefully tailored to meet and mitigate the policy demands from the public while also solving the original public issue it sought to rectify. In the process of policy, it is important to gather all necessary information, divide responsibility, resources, and time to accomplish goals, and ultimately research the proper methods to carry out and best enact policy ventures.
There are many institutions involved in the public policy process, and each offers both new demands and policy options. In order to understand the process of public policy, it is important to examine the entities involved to better grasp how ideas become translated into law.
In the process of policy development there are several key players: constituents, lobbyists, political parties and the elected policy-makers themselves. A problem may be presented to a policy-maker or party by a constituent, a lobbyist on behalf of a special interest group. If an issue of public concern is presented before Congress, the dominant party usually takes the responsibility of charting legislation to solve the matter.
Constituents
Constituents comprise most of the American population. Their voting power can often dictate and influence politicians voting patterns and policy concerns. Their demands may focus on job creation, healthcare, and foreign policy. However, many groups are not directly represented through voting such as felons, children, and immigrant population.
Lobbyists and Special Interest Groups
When the constituent population does not directly advocate changes in policies regarding these populations, their plight may be advocated through special interest organizations. These institutions may be paid lobbyists or pro-bono advocate groups. In general, these organizations speak for a portion of the population, raising awareness through the constituent base to increase their voting power and directly influencing policy by appealing to the politicians themselves.
Political Parties
Similarly, political parties act as a conglomerate organization to advocate platforms covering a broad range of issues. They may be supported by smaller interest groups. Parties gather and organize groups of individuals to enact public policy by raising awareness of the needs and concerns.
The Three Branches of Government
The final piece of the puzzle involves the politicians and policy-makers themselves who act as a deciding vote for public policy in Congress, the Supreme Court, and the Executive branch. Together these individuals and organizations impact policy formation, gathering information and conducting surveys to characterize the problem and solution in ways that favor their intended solutions and ideologies.
From conerned citizens looking for change in their lives, to the lobbyists who are paid to express other's concern, to the politicians looking to be reelected, the process of public policy is a result of a large network of individuals.
Washington D.C.
|
What do you think about this article?
More in Politics & Society
Latest Articles