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Elements of The Policy Making System

The document discusses the key elements and processes involved in a policy making system. It identifies various inputs like elections, public opinion, interest groups, and media that are processed within institutions like Congress and the executive branch to create outputs such as laws, oversight, and evaluations.

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102 views

Elements of The Policy Making System

The document discusses the key elements and processes involved in a policy making system. It identifies various inputs like elections, public opinion, interest groups, and media that are processed within institutions like Congress and the executive branch to create outputs such as laws, oversight, and evaluations.

Uploaded by

Thoughts and More Thoughts
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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ELEMENTS OF

THE POLICY
MAKING
SYSTEM

ARENAL, ALEJANDRO B.
PA 211
elements
of policy
making
system
All activities of unofficial actors outside
the government itself are all policy
inputs. The people who are working
within the system who are incharge of
processing these inputs that also are
the creators of policy outputs are what
we know as the Congress and the
executive branches. Individuals who
make up these institutions are essential
in policy making. A model of the policy
process that assumes a set of policy
demands or inputs, which are then
processed by the political system into
laws, programs, and the goods and
services the government provides.
INPUT
-ELECTION REPORTS
-PUBLIC OPINION
-COMMUNICATIONS TO ELECTED OFFICIALS AND PUBLIC
MANAGERS
-INTEREST GROUPS ACTIVITIES-
THE NEWS MEDIA

OUTPUT
-LAWS
-OVERSIGHT AND EVALUATION
ELECTION RESULTS
THIS INPUT IS THE MOST OBVIOUS AVENUE TO
LOOK FOR PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT. THIS IS
DONE BY VOTING WHICH IS THE MOST COMMON
FORM OF POLITICAL PARTICIPATION THAT
YIELDS THESE RESULTS TO BE PROCLAIMED
AS PROVIDING POLICY GUIDELINES OR
“MANDATES” TO PURSUE PARTICULAR
POLICIES.

VOTE VO
TE

GO VOTE!

ELECTION RESULTS CAN ALSO CHANGE POLICY AGENDAS


AND PRIORITIES AT THE SAME TIME. THESE ARE
IMPORTANT BECAUSE THEY DO HAVE AN INFLUENCE ON
THE BROAD POLICY AGENDA AND BECAUSE THEY
DETERMINE THE PARTISAN COMPOSITION OF THE
CONGRESS AND OTHER LEGISLATIVE BODIES.
PUBLIC OPINION
PUBLIC OPINION IS MOST COMMONLY
GATHERED THROUGH PUBLIC POLLS MOSTLY
CONDUCTED OR IN CONJUNCTION WITH
ACADEMIC INSTITUTIONS. THESE ARE
IMPORTANT AGAIN BECAUSE THEY PROVIDE
POLICY MAKERS WITH A BROAD MEASURE OF
PUBLIC SENTIMENTS ABOUT KEY TOPICS. IN
THE SAME WAY, IT CAN ALSO PROVIDE A
WAY OF UNDERSTANDING PUBLIC
ATTITUDES BETWEEN ELECTIONS. POLLS
HELP PEOPLE CLARIFY THE MESSAGE THEY
WANT TO CONVEY.
Communications to
Elected Officials
and Public
Managers

There are numerous ways that people


can communicate more or less
directly with decision-makers. Among
the most common avenues of
communication are letters, e-mails,
faxes, and telephone calls. However,
these are highly discouraged since the
feedback of such avenues is very
passive. It might get to officials but
not acknowledged by them
personally but only by their respective
representatives.
INTEREST GROUP
ACTIVITIES
THIS INPUT HAS A BAD NAME IN AMERICAN POLITICS.
REGARDLESS OF THAT THOUGHT, IT IS ALSO ONE OF
THE VITAL ACTORS IN POLICY MAKING. IT GIVES MORE
CONFIDENCE TO FIGHT FOR SOMETHING WHEN YOU ARE
IN A GROUP RATHER THAN BEING A MERE INDIVIDUAL. IT
MOBILIZES COMMUNICATIONS TO DECISION-MAKERS
AND AMPLIFY INDIVIDUAL VOICES IN POLICY MAKING.
THE NEWS MEDIA
This input is very essential in highlighting issues to be
raised by citizens, de-emphasized other irrelevant
ideas, and can therefore shape the public discourse
surrounding a policy issue. Media itself holds a very
great influence.
OUTPUT
-LAWS

There are two types of law namely statute laws which are
those that are drafted and passed in the legislature and
codified in the statute books; and case laws that are also
policy output of the government in the judicial branch that
determines the constitutional bounds under which the
legislature and the executive branch operates or explains
how the constitution requires them to make or not make
policies. In the same way, we have rules that have the force
of law and are often highly technical. These rules called
Regulations are what government agencies make to
administer the various activities of the government and are
published in the Code of Federal Regulations.

OUTPUT

OVERSIGHT
AND
EVALUATION

Both of these outputs are one of the highly needed in a


policy making system. Oversight, in simplest terms, is
overseeing to ensure that programs that the Congress
have already enacted are run efficiently and effectively
following a legislative intent. Methods of oversight
include Reports from the Congressional Research
Service (CRS), the COngressional Budget Office (CBO),
or the Government Accountability Office (GAO), and
oversight hearings. In the same way relating to
Oversight is policy evaluation or the process of
determining whether and to what extent a program is
achieving some benefit or its explicit or implicit goals.
This may be through formal studies conducted by
government or formal studies conducted by
consultants or academics.
In a system, various parts join together to work
towards a specific goal. A system sounds like some
serious thing you might find in an office
somewhere, but systems are all around us, even if
you don't know it. To put it simply, various inputs
interact within the system and are transformed into
outputs in the system's operations. Feedback is
collected concerning the outputs, and then
becomes information which is input back into the
operation. Inputs and outputs are dynamic,
changing as needed based on feedback, and
helping to produce more effective outputs.

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