Policy analysis encourages practitioners and scholars to critical policy issues

with the tools of systematic inquiry. There is an implied assumption in policy

analysis that developing scientific knowledge about the forces shaping public
policy and the consequences of the policy are socially relevant activities, and
such analysis is a prerequisite to prescription, advocacy, and activism.
Thomas Dye in his book, Understanding Public Policy, has stated that
precisely policy analysis involves:
a) A primary concern with explanation rather than prescription;
b) A rigorous search for the causes and consequences or public policies; and
c) An effort to develop and test general propositions about the causes and
consequences of public policy and to accumulate reliable research findings of
general relevance.

Following the wideiy accepted conceptual scheme of Thomas Dye, 'Policy

Models can be conveniently classified into the following seven types:
Group Theoretic Model
According to group theory, interaction and struggle among different societal groups is
the central facet of political life. Group is a collectivity of individuals distinguished by
some common attribute or shared relationship. Groups are categorised in many different
ways. A formal or organised group, such as political party or interest group, has
recognised goals and structures, affecting group interaction. Conversely, a group which is
informal lacks such explicit goals and organisational structure. Group theory ib an
approach which seeks to explain political behaviour primarily through the study of the
nature and interaction of social as well as political groups. It is often associated Policy
making with process and equilibrium analysis that offer systemic approaches to the study
of group objectives, the balancing of group interests, and the process of adjustment.
As per this theory, public policy is the product of group struggle. lndividuals having
common interests and demands join hands with each other as a formal 01 informal
group to get the policies made by the governments as suitable to their ends. David
Truman in his book, The Governmental Process, has said that "An interest group is a
shared-attitude group that makes certain claims upon other groups in the society and it
becomes politjcal when it makes a claim through or upon the institutions of government"
Elite Theoretic Model Briefly stated, as per this model, public policy is the product of
elites, reflecting their values and serving their- ends. Essentially. what thi model
postulates is that the society is divided into the few who have power and the many who
do not have it. Policy, in this social set-up, is not determined by the people or the masses.
It is the ruling elite which decides public policy and which is then carried out by thc
bureaucracy. By implication, therefore, public policy tends to flow from the top, and
generally docs not move up from the hottom. Also, changes in public policy are often
incremental rather than revolutionary

Finer in his hook, Theory and Practice of Modern Government, has illustrated the , Policy
Making Approaches elite position in a political system by the simile of an orange:
The explanation of the above figure is that the orange with its skin representing the elite of
society, floats in water; that portion of the skin that is above the waterline represents the
governing elite, and the segments which it .cover represents those ' associations in society
which have succeeded in competition to have their leadership participate or hold office in the
government. All those segments under the water-line, however, represent those associations
which have lost this competition, and whose policies are temporarily being subordinated to
those-of the victorious ones, and the portions of peel that cover them represent, for society
as a whole, the counter-elite that seeks to displace the governing elite at any point of time
Incremental Model

The incremental model is associated with the names of Charles Lindblom and David Braybrook. It
draws attention to several real-life constraints on public administration like time, cost, information,
and politics. As Lindblom points out, the prescribed functions and constraints of the public
administrators "restrict their attention to - , relatively few values and relatively few alternative
policies", Policy making from this viewpoint, is conceived realistically as marginal and
uncoordinated adjustments in ' situations of conflicting demands and interests and in the fear of
unforeseen consequences that an likely to flow out of actual division.
Policy makers in the actual world of administration have to start with already existing programmes
and budgetary allocations. To let them try to do is to add to or modify what already exists. The
incremental approach, thus, presents a picture of successive limited comparisons in the
background of historically evolved chain of past decisions which, under practical circumstances,
cannot be thrown overboard.
Past decisions are more often than not accepted as the basis of future choices. . The popularity of
the incremental model is due to the fact that it generally fits well with what actually goes on in
government and, therefore, conforms to real life administrative situations.
Institutional Model
Public policies are formulated and executed through institutions. Institution is an established
pattern of human behaviour consisting of structured interaction within a framework of relevant
values. The institutions not only constitute a crucial and significant juncture for policy making but
also determine the formulation or adoption of policies, its possible content and directions, and the
exact as well as the probable trends and contours that a body of similar or related policies acquire.

In the words of Louis Koeing, in his book, An Introduction to Public Policy, "The presence of an
array of potent interacting institutions, capable of checking each other elevates the need for
compromise and test the political skills of their incumbents. Institutions with their greater and
lesser positions of authority and influence and their career ladders cause policy-makers to
emphasise considerations of advancement in both the executive and legislative branches in
disposing of policy issues". An institution like thk legislature or the judiciary can be conceptualised
as a set of regularised patterns of human behaviour persisting over time. Political life usually
revolves round the governmental institutions such as the political parties, the legislatures.and so
on
Rational Model
This model is far more sophisticated than the earlier ones. It is an efficiency maximisation model
which postulates calculation of policy efficiency (hence rationality) on the basis of all social, economic and
p.olitica1 values achieved and/or sacrificed by the adjudication of public policy. In framing a policy, all
relevant values have, therefore, to be explicitly considered and sacrifices of some values must be more than
compensated by the attainment of some other values. This looks like calculating the 'costs and 'benefits' of
division which the economists are ustd to in assessing the cost-benefit analysis. Herbert Simon, whose name
is associated with the rational model, talks of there kinds of activities included in the policy-making process:
intelligence activity, design activity, and choice activity. To quote Simon from his book, The New Science of
Management Decision, "The first phase of decision-making process - searching the environment for
conditions calling for decision - I shall call intelligence activity (borrowing the military meaning of
intelligence). The second phase - inventing, developing, and analysing possible courses of action - I shall call
design activity. The third phase - selecting a particular course of action from those available - I shall call
choices activity".
Game Theoretic Model Gaming is a body of thought which deals with rational decision strategies in
situations of conflict and competition, where each participant or player seeks to maximise gains
and minimise losses. In it the strategy and decisions of one actor depends on the strategy or
decisions of the others in the competitive situations. This theory assumes rationality on the part of
players in ranking their preferences, estimating probabilities and determining the expectations that
each has about other choices. In the study of international relations, the game theoretic model of
decision-making has been quite popular in situations of regional and international conflicts and
arms race. As Dye has pointed out, in his bo.ok, 'Understanding Public Policy', "game theory is an
abstract and educative model of policy making. It does not describe how people actually make
decisions, but rather how they would go about making decisions in competitive situations if they
were completely rational. Thus game theory is form of rationalising but it is applied in competitive
situations in which the outcome depends on what two or more participants do". In a policy making
situation, the applicability of this model is rather limited yet, it is helpful i? a situation of
competitive decision-making, as in a committee system. It is applicable to policy making where no
independently 'best' choice exists and the 'best' outcomes depend on what others do.
Systems Theoretic Model
The policy-making process has been regarded by David Easton as a 'black box', which converts the
demands of the society into policies. While analysing political systems David Easton argues that the
political system is that part of the society, which is engaged in the authoritative allocation of ''
values.
Inputs are seen as the physical, social, economic and political products of the environment. They are received into the
political system in the form of both demands and supports. Demands are the claims made on the political system by
individuals and groups to alter some ' aspect of the environment. Demands occur when individuals or groups, in
response to environmental conditions, act to effect public-policy. The environment is any condition or event defined
as external to the boundaries of the political Y system. The supports of apolitical system consist of the rules, laws and
customs that provide a basis for the existence of apolitical community and the authorities. The support is rendered
when individuals or groups accept the decisions or laws. Supports are the symbolic or material inputs of - a system
(such as, obeying laws, paying taxes, or even respecting the national flag) that constitute the psychological and
material resources of the system.

AL the heart of the political system are the institutions and personnel for policy-making. These include the chief
executive, legislators, judges and bureaucrats. In the system's version they translate inputs into outputs. Outputs,
then, are the authoritative value allocations of the political system, and these allocations constitute public policy or
policies. The systems theory portrays pubic policy as an output of the political system. The concept of feedback
indicates that public policies may have a modifying effect on the environment , and the demands generated therein,
and may also have an effect upon the character of the political system. Policy outputs may generate new demands
and new supports, or withdrawal of the old , supports for the system. Feedback plays an important sole in generating
suitable environment for future policy.