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What Is Public Policy

The document discusses the concept of public policy. It provides background on public policy work through a case study of the US healthcare system. Key points made include: 1) Public policies have existed for as long as governments, guiding administration and intervention. 2) Public policy involves spheres requiring governmental action for public purpose and ownership. 3) Policies create orderly structures, direction for administration, and often entire public agencies/programs to implement policies. 4) Public administration cannot exist without policies to execute and sometimes formulate.

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152 views

What Is Public Policy

The document discusses the concept of public policy. It provides background on public policy work through a case study of the US healthcare system. Key points made include: 1) Public policies have existed for as long as governments, guiding administration and intervention. 2) Public policy involves spheres requiring governmental action for public purpose and ownership. 3) Policies create orderly structures, direction for administration, and often entire public agencies/programs to implement policies. 4) Public administration cannot exist without policies to execute and sometimes formulate.

Uploaded by

kaiser2cu
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 PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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WHAT IS PUBLIC POLICY?

PA 502: Public Policy


SOME BASIC BOOKS OF PUBLIC
POLICY
• If an American is in need of emergency medical
care, the first place that most seek treatment is
through the emergency room at their nearest
hospital. Even if the person has no medical
insurance, they can be sure they will receive
treatment if they go to the emergency room
B A C K G R O U N D O F A P U B L IC rather than a doctor.
P O L IC Y W O R K : C A S E S T U D Y
FROM THE USA • The reason they can count on this service is
because the men and women in Congress have
spent countless hours crafting public policies
around health care that outline how providers
will serve their patients.
POLICY IS OLD AS HUMAN CIVILIZATION

• Public policies are as old as


governments. Whatever be the
form, oligarchy, monarchy,
aristocracy, tyranny, democracy
etc., - whenever and wherever
governments have existed, public
policies have been formulated and
implemented.
THE IDEA OF ‘PUBLIC’ IN PUBLIC POLICY

• It is first important to understand the concept of 'public' for a discussion of


public policy.
• We often use such terms as 'public interest', ‘public sector', 'public opinion',
‘public health', and so on.
• 'The starting point is that 'public policy' has to do with those spheres, which are
so labelled as ‘public' as opposed to spheres involving the 'private’.
• The public dimension is generally referred to 'public ownership' or control for
'public purpose.' The public sector comprises that domain of human activity,
which is regarded as requiring governmental intervention or common action.
• However, there has always been a conflict between what is public and what is
private.
THE IMPORTANCE OF POLICIES IN REAL WORLD

• Policy creates orderly structures and a sense of direction.


• Public administration cannot exist in a policy vacuum. It
must have administrative structures that are directed by
leaders who wish to do something—if only to maintain
the status quo. (Shafritz et al 2017)
• Thus all of public administration is inherently an
instrument of policy—whether that instrument plays
well, poorly, or not at all. (Shafritz et al 2017)
• Lets just look at some of the definitions of Public
Administration!
‘ P O L I C Y ’ I N T H E D E F I N I T I O N S O F P U B L I C A D M I N I S T R AT I O N

• L.D White (1955): “Public Administration consists of all those operations having for their
purpose, the fulfillment or enforcement of public policy as declared by competent authority”
• Woodrow Wilson (1889): “Public Administration is detailed and systematic application of
law”
• M. E. Dimock: “Public Administration is the fulfillment or enforcement of public policy as
declared by the competent authorities
• Merson: “the science of Public Administration is an enquiry as to how policies may best be
carried into operation.”
• F.A. Nigro (1970): “Public Administration--has an important role in the formulation of
public policy and is thus part of the political process.
• James W. Fesler: “Public Administration is policy execution and policy formulation, public
administration is bureaucracy and public administration is public.”
• Dimock and Dimock: Like the study of politics, the study of public administration is a study of
what people want through government and how they go about getting it. In addition,
WHAT IS PUBLIC POLICY? POLICIES CREATE
ORGANIZATIONS!

• Any policy is a decision. A public policy is whatever a


government decides to do or not to do. It is what a
government does in response to a political issue or its
political commitment. (Shafritz et al 2017)
• A public program consists of all those activities designed
to implement the public policy: often this calls for the
creation of organizations, public agencies, and
bureaus, which in turn need to create more policies that
give guidance to the organization’s employees on how to
put into practice the overall public policy. (Shafritz et al
2017)
SOME DEFINITIONS FROM SCHOLARS

• Getting scholars to agree on a single, all-inclusive definition of public


policy is no easy task.
• Thomas Dye famously said – “Public policy is whatever a government
chooses to do or even not to do”.
• Robest Linebeny says, "it is what governments do and fail to do for their
citizens"
• James E. Anderson defines “public policy as a purposive course of action
followed by an actor or set of actors in dealing with a problem of matter of
concern.”
SOME DEFINITIONS FROM SCHOLARS: DECISIONS VS. POLICY

• Andersen definition has focused not on purposed or desired but on what is


actually done in reality. It separates decisions and policy.
• Decision making is the process of making selection from among the
competitive alternatives.
• Although there is intimate relationship between the policy and decision
making, while making decision, problem is fully studied, alternatives are
thought, and the best alternative is chosen. On the other hand, different
decisions are taken under approved policy. Policy is macro but decisions are
micro nature!
FINALLY WHAT IS PUBLIC POLICY? MY OBSERVATIONS

• Public Policy is an integral part of governments’ objectives and


activities with a political character that also ultimately fulfills the
desired services or interventions demanded by the mass people in a
particular country’s political system.
• Without having concrete public policies against specific issues or
concerns, the idea of Public Administration’s interventions cannot be
executed or legitimized. Bottom line is that Public Policies are the
guiding principles to run a government with the assistance of
manpower and resources from the three branches of government; i.e.
Executive, Legislative and Judiciary.
THE REAL NATURE FOR PUBLIC POLICIES

• No doubt, there are many problems in our communities that need


to be solved. Some problems may readily be dealt with by actions
taken in the private sphere (individuals and families) or by our
civil society (social, economic, or political associations or
organizations).
• Public policy problems are those that must be addressed by laws
and regulations adopted by government. (source: ProjectCitizen)

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