Introduction To Political Science Week 5 - Public Policy And The Bureaucracy PDF

INTRODUCTION TO POLITICAL SCIENCE Week 5 – Public Policy and the Bureaucracy Instructor: prof. Robin Devroe Fall semester 2024-2025 Based on slides courtesy of prof. dr. Jonas Lefevere, prof. dr. Didier Caluwaer...

INTRODUCTION TO POLITICAL SCIENCE Week 5 – Public Policy and the Bureaucracy Instructor: prof. Robin Devroe Fall semester 2024-2025 Based on slides courtesy of prof. dr. Jonas Lefevere, prof. dr. Didier Caluwaerts & prof. dr. Silvia Erzeel  READING Public administration & bureaucracy Required reading: Newton & Van Deth, chapters 8 & 15  GUIDING QUESTIONS 1. What is (public) policy? 2. How are policies made? 3. What is the function of bureaucracies, and how are they organized? 4. What is the difference between politicians and bureaucrats? 5. What is the power of bureaucrats, and how can they be controlled?  TOPICS IN TODAY’S CLASS 1. What is policy? 2. The policy cycle 3. Bureaucracies & their organization 4. Politicians vs. Bureaucrats 5. Key takeaways  TOPICS IN TODAY’S CLASS 1. What is policy? 2. The policy cycle 3. Bureaucracies & their organization 4. Politicians vs. Bureaucrats 5. Key takeaways WHAT DO WE MEAN WHEN WE STUDY “PUBLIC POLICY”? WHAT DO WE MEAN WHEN WE STUDY “PUBLIC POLICY”? Lasswell: “politics is about who gets what, when & how” Policies are outcomes of political decision-making Policies = the set of interrelated decisions made by governments with the aim of steering public, social and economic life  Governments: also governments of private organisations (business,…)  ‘public’ policy because it affects public life  Set of policies: to tackle societal problems, governments lay out an integrated set of decisions that together form a policy WHAT DO WE MEAN WHEN WE STUDY “PUBLIC POLICY”? Policies are outcomes of political decision-making  4 types (analytical constructs):  Regulative: regulate the behavior of actors in society (e.g. maternity leave)  Distributive: governments provide good & services and distribute these among its citizens (e.g. highways)  Redistributive: redistribute wealth in society (e.g. progressive tax systems)  Constitutive: enforcing and guaranteeing people’s fundamental civil liberties and/or policies about how to organize government itself (e.g. state reform) Process of political decision-making (see next slide)  TOPICS IN TODAY’S CLASS 1. What is policy? 2. The policy cycle 3. Bureaucracies & their organization 4. Politicians vs. Bureaucrats 5. Key takeaways HOW ARE POLICIES MADE? THE POLICY CYCLE 1 Policy initiation (= agenda setting) 2 Policy 5 Policy evaluation formulation 3 Policy adoption 4 Policy (= Decision implementation making) HOW ARE POLICIES MADE? THE POLICY CYCLE 1 Policy initiation (= agenda setting) 2 Policy 5 Policy evaluation formulation 3 Policy adoption 4 Policy (= Decision implementation making)  AGENDA SETTING Process through which it is decided what issues politics needs to deal with Crucial distinction: Public agenda vs policy/political agenda Deterministic models:  Important, serious, real problems  Economic cycle: economic conditions determine which issues will make it on the political agenda  Political business cycle: receptiveness of the political agenda depends on the electoral cycle Agency models: focus on actors that are able to get issues on the agenda From below (citizens); media as important intermediary From above Agenda setting ‘from below’ Agenda setting ‘from above’ Agenda setting: favorable conditions The power of numbers Positional power Policy mood Simple communication and clear imagery Media attention Agenda setting: imagery Agenda setting: media attention Opmerkelijk blijft intussen dat de It remains remarkable that media aandacht van de media voor deze vele attention for the many hundreds of honderden doden, zeer ongelijk is. traffic casualties, is highly skewed. Omdat de verkeersdoden ,,druppelsgewijs'' Because these victims die ‘one at a sterven, halen ze zelden of nooit de time’, they rarely if ever make it to the frontpagina's van de kranten. We front page of the newspapers. We’ve hebben leren leven met deze learned to live with these road fatalities. verkeersdoden. De The weekend accidents and kids-killed- weekeindeongevallen en de op-weg- on-route-to-school have become naar-school-doodgereden- routine disasters. Good for small kinderen zijn routinerampen geworden. articles on page two. Goed voor kleine stukjes op pagina twee. Because this newspaper does not Omdat deze krant zich daar niet bij resign itself to this, it will again pay neerlegt zal ze ook dit schooljaar weer special attention to road safety this bijzondere aandacht besteden aan de school year. verkeersveiligheid. Peter Vandermeersch, editor in chief newspaper ‘De Standaard’ in an op-ed titled “ANALYSE. Doodgereden kinderen zijn HOW ARE POLICIES MADE? THE POLICY CYCLE 1 Policy initiation (= agenda setting) 2 Policy 5 Policy evaluation formulation 3 Policy adoption 4 Policy (= Decision implementation making) Policy formulation = the process through which policy options (= solutions) are elaborated Limited number of actors (policy communities) Both a technical-rational and competitive phase Policy formulation: technical- rational Define the problem and issue Set the objectives Analyze the policy options Choose the instruments: NATO-model (Hood) Nodality: giving more information about the undesired behavior Authority: ban or prevent the undesirable behavior Treasure: impose taxes Organization: changing the infrastructure 20 Policy formulation: technical- rational Example: policy on smoking Nodality: pictures on the pack of cigarettes Authority: shop owners can be punished for selling cigarettes to –16yo Treasure: increasing taxes Organization: cigarette machines are equipped with id-card scanners 21 Policy formulation: competitive Struggle between different problem definitions and solutions Actors try to “frame”, i.e. define, their solutions in such a way as to gain maximum support and increase the chances of policy adoption E.g. framing of the US health care reform bill 22 Policy formulation: competitive Example: refugee crisis facing Europe Socio-cultural right framing: Problem: threat to national identity and culture / human traffickers profit from exploiting refugees Solution: limit intake of refugees Socio-cultural left framing Problem: humanitarian crisis of people that have had to flee their home country Solution: increase intake of refugees 23 Policy formulation: competitive Example: climate change policies: Advocates’ framing: Sustainability Future generations Opponents’ framing: Climate change is a hoax Climate change policies are bad for the economy 24 HOW ARE POLICIES MADE? THE POLICY CYCLE 1 Policy initiation (= agenda setting) 2 Policy 5 Policy evaluation formulation 3 Policy adoption 4 Policy (= Decision implementation making) Policy adoption (decision making) = the process through which public officials decide which proposed set of policy options to adopt 2 possibilities: decision vs. non-decision 2 decision-making models: Rational model Incremental model 26 Policy adoption: Rational model Politicians have a clear blueprint available to understand what is needed to get from the current situation to the desired situation Utility maximization (cost-benefit analysis) Assumptions: All information is available All information can be cognitively processed All effects can be thoroughly assessed Decision-making is depoliticized (not ideological) 27 Policy adoption: Rational model Problems with this model?  The ‘best’ solution may not be the democratically desirable solution  Individuals are not (always) rational  Bounded rationality: people cannot take everything into account + are biased in their perceptions  How to calcultate utility? 28 Policy adoption: Incremental model Trial-and-error Feasibility instead of effectiveness Assumptions: Information = inadequate and incomplete Policy context = confusing and chaotic Decision-makers are prudent and conservative Decision-makers are many, so negotiation and bargaining is needed Problem: better at explaining stability than change 29 HOW ARE POLICIES MADE? THE POLICY CYCLE 1 Policy initiation (= agenda setting) 2 Policy 5 Policy evaluation formulation 3 Policy adoption 4 Policy (= Decision implementation making) Policy implementation = process of putting outputs/decisions into practice; action is driven by the bureaucracy Until 1970’s: implementation is a mechanical process which ‘just happens’ by the bureaucracy 2 models to understand how policy is implemented: Top-down Bottom-up 31 HOW ARE POLICIES MADE? THE POLICY CYCLE 1 Policy initiation (= agenda setting) 2 Policy 5 Policy evaluation formulation 3 Policy adoption 4 Policy (= Decision implementation making) Policy evaluation Important distinction: output vs. outcome Once policies are implemented, their effects have to be evaluated Policy termination Policy continuation Policy feedback/alteration Types of evaluation: 3 Es (economy, efficiency, effectiveness) Process Client satisfaction Rarely performed in practice 33  TOPICS IN TODAY’S CLASS 1. What is policy? 2. The policy cycle 3. Bureaucracies & their organization 4. Politicians vs. Bureaucrats 5. Key takeaways  WHAT IS THE FUNCTION OF BUREAUCRACIES? Public administration Responsible for implementing policy Policy advice Give decision-makers advice on policy issues But: reversal of power Ensure stability and continuity But spoils system  HOW ARE BUREAUCRACIES ORGANIZED? Model 1: Weber’s ideal type bureaucracy Hierarchy: pyramid Functionalism and rationalism Centralization of the decision-making Legalism Neutrality Permanent positions Expertise  HOW ARE BUREAUCRACIES ORGANIZED? Model 2: New Public Management (1970’s) Market logic: Big government is bad government Skeletal state: minimal functions of government Privatization: shifting parts of the PA to the private sector Introduction of management techniques Strategic management HRM Customer service: governments provide services to citizens  TOPICS IN TODAY’S CLASS 1. What is policy? 2. The policy cycle 3. Bureaucracies & their organization 4. Politicians vs. Bureaucrats 5. Key takeaways DIFFERENCE BETWEEN POLITICIANS AND BUREAUCRATS Politician Bureaucrat Selection Elected Appointed Term of office Short term Long term Level of expertise Lay Expert Rationale Political (getting Professional reelected) (effective, efficient and economical) Primary orientation External (tries to Internal (tries to make convince citizens) sure the organization runs smoothly) Measure for success Public opinion Following the rules Numbers Few Many  POWER OF BUREAUCRATS Strategic position: importance of having connections Logistical power Larger in numbers More permanent positions Full-time advisors Status: context-dependent  BUREAUCRATIC POWER Problems: Lack of accountability Corruption and maladministration Control mechanisms: Accountability: Make bureaucrats accountable to government, parliament, or courts Politicization: if bureaucrats gain too much power, allow for regular alternation at the top (spoils system) Counter bureaucracies: personal advisory staff to politicians (cabinet) Ombudsmen: citizens’ right to complain about administrations  TOPICS IN TODAY’S CLASS 1. What is policy? 2. The policy cycle 3. Bureaucracies & their organization 4. Politicians vs. Bureaucrats 5. Key takeaways NEXT CLASS Political behaviour, pressure groups and social movements Reading: Newton & Van Deth, Chapter 9 Newton & Van Deth, Chapter 10 51