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Lesson 1
PUBLIC POLICY: MEANING, NATURE, SCOPE AND
IMPORTANCE
Structure:
1.0 Objectives 1.1 Introduction 1.2 Definitions of Public Policy 1.3 Concept of Public and Policy 1.3.1 The Notion of Public 1.3.2 The Notion of Policy 1.4 Meaning of Policy 1.5 Nature of Public Policy 1.6 Scope of the Public Policy 1.7 Importance of Public Policy 1.8 Conclusion 1.9 Model Questions 1.10 References
1.0 Objectives:
- Students would know about the definition, meaning and nature of public Policy.
- Students would be able to learn about the scope and importance of public policy.
1.1 Introduction:
The lives of the citizens everywhere are formed by public policies, whether we are aware of them or not. The dream for improved life while its achievement rest on our own efforts, will probable to contain public policies to aid the result of it. Public policy is a subject or field of inquiry has a long past, though the current public policy analysis have a specific American and 20th^ century fragrance. The public policy seeds were sown in 1940s and made a significant influence on the government and academic organizations over these years. In the early1950s public policy has developed as academic search and from then it has been securing new measurements and is stressed tough to attain the position of a discipline in the area of Social science. As a study of „products‟ of government, policy forms a significant
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component in many a course and academic programme in various disciplines like political science, public administration, economics and business management.
1.2 Definitions of Public Policy:
Dye, says that,…institutional studies usually described specific government institutions…without systematically inquiring about the impact of institutional characteristics on policy outputs…However, the linkage between institutional arrangements and content of policy remained largely unexamined. The definitions of public policy are as follows:
According to Thomas Dye, defines public policy as “whatever governments choose to do or not to do”.
Dimock, stated public policy as “deciding at any time or place what objectives and substantive measures should be chosen in order to deal with a particular problem”.
According to Chandler and Plano, who define public policy as “the strategic use of resources to alleviate national problems or governmental concerns”.
Freeman and Sherwoods, stated that it is the public answer to the interest in refining the human circumstances. In these definitions there is deviation between what governments agree to do and what they essentially do. Public policy is a controller which government has planned for direction and practice in certain problem areas.
In the current times, the study of public policy has evolved into what is virtually a fresh branch of social sciences called as, „policy sciences‟. In 1951, Harold Lasswell, for the first time, the concept of policy science was framed. Presently, the policy sciences have departed far away from immature ambitions for societally applicable information.
1.3 Concept of Public and Policy:
In the literature of academics, the term „public policy is regularly utilized in our present day life and we regularly refer to the policies which are implanted like, national, education policy, agriculture policy, health policy, wage policy so on. In fact this is the area where public are involved. The concept of public policy is assumes, that there is domain of life which has totally individual and is not private, which is believed in collective.
1.3.1 The Notion of Public:
It is very significant to recognize the notion of „public‟ for a discussion of „public policy‟. We regularly use the words such as „public interest‟, „public sector‟, „public opinion‟, „public health‟, and so on. The public policy, has to do with which are labelled as the public, as
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- A process.
1.4 Meaning of Policy:
The meaning of the term „policy‟ is varying like other concept of social science. Unluckily, the policy itself is somewhat which take diverse procedures. David Easton defined policy as the „output‟ of the political system, and „public policy‟ as „the authoritative allocation of values for the whole society‟. The measures of this alteration in the methods of the accepted from other definitions progress by the scholars in this field.
Henry defines public policy as, “A script (cpirse pf actopm) adopted and pursued by the government”. Anderson stated, that policy be observed as “Purposive course of action followed by an actor or set of actors in dealing with a problem or matter of concern”. According to Sir, Geoffrey Vickers, policies are judgments giving way, unity and steadiness to the course of act for which the decision making body is accountable.
Friedrich look policy as, …a proposed course of action of a person, group, or government within a given environment providing obstacles and opportunities with the policy was proposed to utilized and overcome in an effort to reach a goal or realize an objective or purpose.
According to Parsons, who stated about it as, “A policy is an attempt to define and structure a rational basis for action or inaction”. In present terminology a policy is broadly defined as a course of action or plan, a set of political purposes.
It might well be sufficiently defined “policy” as a purposive development of act taken or accepted by those in power in chase of convinced goals or objectives. It must be added here that public policies are the policies accepted and executed by government bodies and officials. They are framed by what Easton appeals the „authorities‟ in a political system. Namely, “elders, paramount chiefs, executives, legislators, judges, administrators, councilors, monarchs, and the like”. He stated as, these are the persons who “engage in the daily affairs of a political system”, are “recognized by most members of the system as having the responsibility for these matters” and take action that are “accepted and binding most of the time by most of the members so long as their act within the limit of their roles”.
1.5 Nature of Public Policy:
It is very much evident that policy might take different procedures like legislation, executive orders or the official acts. They actually comprise of a set of intentions or objectives a combination of devices or means for attainment of intensions, a description of governmental
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or non-governmental units indicted with the accountability of transporting out the intensions, and distribution of resources for the necessary tasks. To recognize public policy, it is very much needed to examine the nature. A policy may contain with specific or general, broad or narrow, simple or complex, public or private written or unwritten explicit or implicit, discretionary or detailed and quantitative or qualitative.
Public policy is in fact a skill because these tasks regularly some information about the social sciences and in this case the stress is on the „public policy‟ which is known as „government policy‟, selected by a government as a „direction for action‟. From the perspective of public policies, actions of government could be put broadly into two groups and they are:
- Definite or Specific policies and
- General, vague and inconsistent policies.
In reality a government rarely will have a fixed of supervisory values for all its actions and in fact the significant public policies are frequently made more clear specifically where the issue of law, regulation or strategy is involved. The Supreme Court can give its decisions, by new interpretations to some of the articles of the Constitution which can be develop into new policy.
These policies may be too unclear or too broad and may not be reliable to each other, in turbulent atmospheres like the current ones government has to make regular actions without reference to any particular policy, sometimes government announces some sort of policy for political convenience or for some reasons, in such cases, government will not have any intention to carry it successfully. Hence, it is likely to have a policy without action or it can have action without policy. Public policies alive only in set of practices and precedents. The public policies are embodied only in an unwritten Constitution of United Kingdom is the best instance of this form of a public policy.
Public policy contains major segment of actions, like, development policy, economic growth, socio-economic growth, equality, social justice, or any other such policy may be accepted by national policy. Hence, it can be observed a single policy in various written documents, it may be narrow, covering a particular action, like family planning which is reserved to certain division of the people or it can be for extensive range of the people in the country, for instance, government can accept that, no child is adult unless he attains the age of 16 years (recent amendment). Public policy is an area commonly defined by policy areas like health, education, housing, economic, environment, transport and social and it is mostly set that interdisciplinary and intergovernmental relations taking place. These policies can be
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publically built transport facilities, communicate by the post offices or quasi-public telephone system, drinks his public drinking water, disposes of his garbage through a public removal system, reads his library books, picnics in his public parks, is protected by public police, fire, and health systems. Ideological conservatives not withstanding his daily life is inextricably bounds up with government decisions on these various public services”.
Public policy stress on the problems of the public, according to Heidenheimer, the public policy is the study of “how, why and what effect governments pursue particular courses of action and inaction”. Dye, stated about it as, “what government do, why they do it, and what difference it makes”.
According to Lasswell, policy orientation is multi method, multi-disciplinary, problem which emphasizes worried to plan the context of the policy procedure.
1.7 Importance of Public Policy:
It is evident that the public policy is the significant factor in the democratic government and it emphasizes on the public and its problems, in fact it is a discipline which is branded as public. The concept of public policy assumes that there is an area of life which is totally individual but said in public. Likewise, public policies have a significant purposes to work in the society where the democracy is prevails. The important role of the public policy is to make the society to lead a better life and to maintain the delivery of the goods and services are significant, it is regarded as the mechanism for developing economic-social system, a procedure for determining the future and so on.
1.8 Conclusion:
It is evident that the area of public policy has an important role in the public domain, it can upsurge the growing density of the society. Public policy is not only worried about the explanation and extension of the reasons and concerns of the government actions. It also has the development of scientific information about the services determining public policy. The examination of public policy aids us in determining the social ills of the matter under the examination.
Policies do more than effect alteration in the situations of the society, they bring the people together to follow the uniformity in the state. These public policies are the main devices for any democratic nation and they improve the social and economic procedures from the present of the future. Hence, the examination of the public policy has become a significant element of the academic society as well.
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1.9 Model Questions:
- Describe about the meaning, nature and definition of the Public Policy?
- Write in detail about the Scope and importance of the public policy in the society and role of government in making public policy?
1.10 References:
1. Joyee M. Mitchell & William C. Mitchell, Political Analysis & Public Policy: An
Introduction to Political Science, Thomson Press limited, New Delhi, 1972.
2. R.K. Sapru, Public Policy, Art and Craft of policy Analysis, PHI learning private limited,
New Delhi, 2011.
3. Brian W. Hogwood & Lewis A. Gunn, Policy Analysis for the Real world, Oxford
University, Press, 1986.
4. Arvind Sivaramakrishnan, Public Policy and Citizenship, Battling managerialism in
India, Sage publications, New Delhi, 2012.
5. Louis W. Koening, An Introduction to Public Policy, Prentice-Hall, New Jersy, 1986.
6. Hoghiar Singhs Pradeep Sachdeva, Public Administration, Theory and Practice,
Pearson, Delhi, 2012.
7. Charles L. Cochran & Eloise F. Malone, Public Policy perspectives and choices, viva
books private limited, New Delhi, 2007.
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2.1 Introduction:
Policy science can be regarded as the area of investigation it is the modern edition of the common method to public policy. Though it has the presence since the starting of the civilization but the current policy sciences have emerged from the 20th^ century. In fact, it was in 1940s it came into existence and Harold Lasswell is considered as the founder or the father of the „policy sciences‟. This has developed and increased as a remarkable victory by changing and persuading the viewpoint of social scientists and the public institutions in the entire world. This success is due to the hard work of Lasswell and the person behind the movement of the policy science. His significant work which was in 1951, by name “The Policy Orientation”, the articulation and subsequent practice of the policy sciences have been rested upon the multifaceted communications of the social scientists and socio-political dealings.
2.2 Vision of Lasswell of Policy Sciences:
In 1951, when Harold Lasswell, published his essay „The Policy Orientation‟, policy science as a social science subject and practice, in the book titled, „The Policy Sciences”, coedited by Daniel Lerner. He labelled policy sciences as, the result of work to define a discipline for making and relating “society relevant knowledge‟.
2.3 Definition:
Lasswell defined, Policy Sciences as, “The disciplines concerned with explaining the policy making and policy executing process, and with locating data and providing interpretations which are relevant to the policy problems of a given period”.
The vision of Lasswell, about the policy sciences is as follows:
- It has multidisciplinary
- It contains the contextual and problem oriented and
- It is explicitly normative
The awareness of these aspiring objectives became the apprehension of the policy science community in 1940s, because each objective signifies diverse stresses on diverse social features and has an open influence on the progress and approval of the policy sciences.
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2.4 Multidisciplinary Perspective:
The notion of Lasswell on policy orientation as, multidisciplinary in nature, and he stated it as, “A policy orientation has been developing that cuts across the existing specialization. The orientation is twofold. In part, it is directed towards the policy process, and in part, towards the intelligence needs of policy”. He also described as, policy sciences must not be compared with „applied social sciences‟ or with „applied social and psychological sciences‟. The stress in this approach is upon the fundamental problems of man in society.
Lineberry, who is a social scientist, who claims that, the roots of the policy sciences rest upon the economics and not on the political sciences, which means, even though cost- benefit analysis, systems analysis, Programme Planning Budgeting System (PPBS) and the quantitative show off developed the collective code word for policy analysis, the necessity to lessen all policies to a fixed economic or quantitative pointers became omnipresent. For instance, PPBS, as experienced in the department of Defense in USA, was extended to Health, Welfare and Education departments in 1966.
It might be eminent that these disciplinary stresses were deemphasized, and according to D.A Stone, his, notion about it that, the broad inclination of the theories and programmes to exclude the normative thoughts like equity, was not suitable to the makers of the political policies. It is evident that the, disaster of PPBS and the restrictions of cost-benefit analysis were the hands-on facts of public policy difficulties which were not answered due to their complex and altering nature. The mounting consciousness and feelings to these difficulties directed the policy analysts to advise a fresh conceptual models and procedural methods in public policies.
According to Dror, who stated about policy sciences as, “Policy Sciences must integrate knowledge from a variety of branches of knowledge into a supradiscipline focusing on public policy making”. It is not that these struggles were gently given up by makers of the policy because of, two reasons. The first one is, this budding arena as a discipline not have the theoretical base and empirical material to upkeep such an enterprise. Secondly, there was a difficulty of a consensual group of single-mindedness as to the definition and objectives of the policy sciences. And lastly, the metatheory of Dror, at this phase would take to rebounded the policy sciences from the vital features.
2.5 Contextual and Problem Oriented Perspective:
A different viewpoint of the policy sciences, is problem oriented according to Lasswell. This difficulty mainly stresses on subject which targets to be multidisciplinary and contains in the
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2.7 Policy Process:
Dahl and Lindblom has condemned the policy analysis, because it being „unworkable and dangerous‟, and they stated that it had the pressures of the human and specifically organizational rationality which stops legal prerogatives to deliberate all likely substitute answers or being able to guess particular policy effects. They in fact recommended democratic and pluralist norms instead of rational and scientific standards and the scientific rationality was substituted by broader theory of reason the society.
According to, J. May and A. Wildavsky, in contrast to Quade‟s model, they stated a policy method cycle which contained, “agenda setting, issue analysis, implementation, evaluation and termination. Even though both the methods of policy analysis and policy process have their own utilizations and restrictions it might be an impractical and dangerous to separate them. Herbert Simon, who drawn a theory of decision making confined by ideas of „satisficing‟ and „bounded rationality‟. Amitai Etzioni, stated that these two methods are essential, in the current times, pains have been completed to influence a blend of the two characterized by a phrase called as „positivism‟. In reality the methods leak into and apprise each other. At the same time, Greenberg and others, stressed that the, “public policy, is almost never a single, discrete, unitary phenomenon. Indeed, the appeal of public policy studies…lies precisely in its richness‟.
2.8 Explicitly Normative Perception:
According to the outlook of Lasswell, policy sciences are characterized by normative components, he stated it as, and they are normative in their concern with the human value. Lasswell and Kaplan defined the policy sciences as offering, “intelligent pertinent to the integration of values realized by and embodied in interpersonal relations”, one which prizes “not the glory of a depersonalized state or the efficiency of a social mechanism, but human dignity and the realization of human capacities”.
Regardless, of these explanations normative features of the policy sciences were ignored because of the following reasons.
- Some of them, claim that the programmes of the government are mainly kept in check normative positions.
- Some of them argue that, quantitative techniques, like operation research, were basically value free and not anything to do with the apprehensions of morals or values. Unequivocal
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dogmas in practicalities of Dewey and bureaucracy of Weber underlay‟s this kind of supposition.
- Some of the policy analysts claim that, the principles were the select area of the maker of the policy and that, for analysts, to interrupt their principles would be uncalled for and against their professional capabilities. These claims have some sort of merit.
Lasswell also fixed the goal, state and method of the policy sciences in his writings he stated as, “It is probable that the policy science orientation…will be directed towards improving the knowledge needed to improve the practice of democracy. In a word, the special emphasis is upon the policy sciences of democracy, in which the ultimate goal is the realization of human dignity in theory and practice”.
2.9 Nature, Scope and Utility of Policy Sciences:
2.9.1 Concept and Meaning:
The coedited work of Lasswell, “The Policy Science” is considered as the first systematic effort to construct a fresh area of enquiry to treat with social problems. Lasswell attributed to having made positive changes to the study of public problems and politics in the works of 1930 and in 1948, which concluded in the publication of Lerner and Lasswell volume on The Policy sciences of 1951, for instance, in his work of 1948, Lasswell stated “sciences of policy sciences when they clarify the process of policy making in the society, or apply data needed for the making of rational judgment on policy question”.
Lasswell, in essay of 1951, „The Policy Orientation‟, recognized Dewey as a policy scientist involved in “evaluating and reconstructing the practices of society than in higher ratiocination about the higher abstractions from which his values are derived”.
Brooks adds: “policy science is the most recent, and certainly the most explicit manifestations of this quest for an independent vantage point, above the political fray, affording objective criteria upon which policy decisions can be made”.
At the same time, V. Subramaniam characterizes policy sciences as, „the practical application of all relevant knowledge in the social, physical and natural sciences, to specific policy problems identified well ahead of time.
The rationalist ideal includes a, “commitment to scientific planning”. This means are pair of the customary approaches to make decisions. Hence, the spectre of Duncan MacRea, recommended that the policy analysis philosophy be ended in order to attain grater wisdom
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- Identification of missing knowledge
- Acquisition of relevant data using social research techniques
- Interpretation of a problem solution and
- Policy choice
Therefore, the policy sciences can be a method which is guided towards the enhancing the knowledge required to improve the performance of democracy.
2.9.3 Ideology:
It is understood that, policy sciences are loaded with useful expectations. Tribe claims that the policy sciences target at applause of useful and self-centered individualism, efficacy and maximize production. Anyhow, these descriptions of the notion of use of policy sciences as a method to the selection of policy choice stays dynamic. The policy sciences chiefly contains the growth of the professional analysts who are specialists in lucid decision making they are an interdisciplinary method which is planned to give these analysts, an goal criteria by which decisions of the policies can be made.
2.9.4 Scope for Expansion:
From the beginning of the notion of the policy sciences activists of Harold Lasswell and community of policy sciences have been stressed to increase its scope and usages. From the 1970s and 1980s, the way of the development of policy sciences was influenced by:
- Policy scientist who struggled to expand the scope of the policy sciences, and by
- The social and political events of the period.
The community of policy scientists shaped during the late 1960s and they acknowledged both the limits of and the chances for their knowledge and skills. Lasswell set out the perspectives on policy sciences, and they are as follows:
- “The methods by which the policy process is investigated”
- “The results of the study of policy, and
- “The findings of the disciplines making the most important contribution to the intelligence needs of our time”.
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2.9.5 Evaluation:
The policy analysis evaluation is regarded as, „sine qua non‟ as it aids in learning from the public programmes and taking steps for enhancement. According to Rossi and Freeman who stated about evaluation as, “In the modern era, commitment to the systematic evaluation of programmes in such fields as education and public health can be traced to efforts at the turn of the century to provide literacy and occupational training by the most effective and economical means, and to reduce mortality and morbidity from infectious diseases”.
2.9.6 Implementation:
The attention of policy analysts in mid 1970s, was moved to the policy failure, it was thought that the failure was due to the administrative delivery structure. In the breakthrough study of Pressman and Wildavsky, establish that, no antecedent research on implementation. In reality there are number of difficulties in the execution of policy because of the federal structure of the nation like India. After identifying the dilemmas posed by policy execution, Williams suggested execution tactic that would aid makers of the policy rise execution difficulties. These makes can select the most effective policies and programmes.
2.10 Policy Sciences and Emerging Crises:
It is observed that in 1990s and in the beginning of 21st^ century, the policy sciences reexamined old themes in a struggle to resolve long standing struggles. Since then, the policy looks to be shifting from a simple theory of rational choice to a „theory of reason in society‟, from policy sciences to policy inquiry.
2.11 The Normative Values in Policy Sciences:
The chief apprehension of agenda was not whether policy sciences contain principles, rather, it was how it to be proficient. Dunn examined: “if policy analysts are expected to produce ethical as well as empiric-analytic knowledge, what methods should be employed to asses competing knowledge claims”.
It was recognized that there are four kinds of general methods to ethics and principles in the policy sciences looks to have gained significance during the 1980s and early 1990s. These methods are as follows:
- Social philosophical and political theory
- Ethical issues and social morality
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Jantsch, stated the human system can be understood simply as networks for processing information and formulating decisions. This method to human systems have two connected misrepresentations and they are:
- It emphasizes technological answers to social difficulties, with the exclusion of cultural design that is, social change over value adoption.
- It is reductionist in that it denies that the human systems are „more than the sum of individual expressions of their members‟.
2.13 New Direction and Perspective:
The pragmatism of John Dewey as the basis of the policy sciences which remains to be resounded presently in all policy text. Presently, the policy sciences have gone past immature ambitions for „societally relevant knowledge‟. The steady move from policy science to policy design is neither immediate nor comprehensive; only that, it gives an outlook of the future. The policy research endures to develop the most systematic and critical analysis of complex problems and recognized several emerging issues in the improvement of policy sciences like:
- Continuity of relevance
- Focus on policy inquiry
- Democratization of policy sciences.
2.14 Conclusion:
In this it was analyzed how in the present times, the scientific rationality has been substituted by a participatory policy analysis and which has a positivist model. This is very much concern for principles as they are present. In the current times of the 21st^ century, much consideration is also being paid to public involvement in the policy procedures. It seems that, it is very essential for the policy sciences to attain the objectives of Lasswell‟s “Policy Sciences of Democracy” because the situation of the human is regularly unreliably outside the quantitative seizure. Whereas, the post-positivist method, mixes with participatory policy analysis is not deprived of faults, though it promises a novel outlook for future. Hence, it can be sated that inspite of mixed outcomes and extensive criticism policy sciences stays logically feasible and common political plan.
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2.15 Model Questions:
- Describe about the definition, vision and perspective of Lasswell towards the Policy Sciences?
- Write in detail about the scope, nature and utility of the Policy Sciences?
- Discuss about the criticism of policy sciences method and substitutes?
2.16 References:
1. Joyee M. Mitchell & William C. Mitchell, Political Analysis & Public Policy: An
Introduction to Political Science, Thomson Press limited, New Delhi, 1972.
2. R.K. Sapru, Public Policy, Art and Craft of policy Analysis, PHI learning private limited,
New Delhi, 2011.
3. Brian W. Hogwood & Lewis A. Gunn, Policy Analysis for the Real world, Oxford
University, Press, 1986.
4. Hoghiar Singhs Pradeep Sachdeva, Public Administration, Theory and Practice,
Pearson, Delhi, 2012.
5. Charles L. Cochran & Eloise F. Malone, Public Policy perspectives and choices, viva
books private limited, New Delhi, 2007.
