Study Guide Answers – Test #2 – Pol Sci 270 – Fall 2002

 

What is public policy? A process, series, or pattern of governmental activities or decisions that are designed to remedy some public problem, either real or imagined.

 

What are the independent variables in the Matzmanian and Sabatier model of policy implementation? They identified 16 independent variables within three major categories.1) the tractability of the problem. 2) The ability of the statute to structure implementation. 3) Non-statutory variables affecting implementation. (Pg. 111)

 

The stage of the public policy process where pertinent and accessible courses of action for dealing with a public problem are identified and enacted into law? Per the study guide page 3, this would be stage three, the policy formulation stage.

 

What are the activities of the implementation stage? The five recurring activities of the implementation stage are 1) enabling laws 2) administrative rule making 3) states appropriate resources 4) legislators monitor and enforce laws 5) Lawmakers redesign policies to respond to flaws (shouldn’t this be in the evaluation stage) (study guide, pg. 3)

 

“Political power is highly fragmented and widely dispersed over different actors, different types of policy, and different points of time” is characteristic of which policy model? This is the pluralist model. (Pg. 56)

 

Which policy model is best in explaining policy formulation through calculating the costs and benefits? I am not sure that I understand what the question is asking but I think it is the pluralist model. The economic, civic and governmental groups work together. Policy is a result of bargaining/compromise among groups. (Pg. 56)

 

What are the characteristics of the Pluralist model of public policy? Power is directly related to the relationships of parties involved, these change as different issues are presented, no one group is in power, power shifts as different groups/people get involved, there are multiple assets that are important in politics, power is widely distributed, leaders compete and thus bargains between them result. (Pg. 55)

 

Why are case studies limited in developing useful theory in policy implementation research? “The case study approach, used almost exclusively by the early researchers, mad it exceedingly difficult for investigators to either introduce the element of control for multiple explanations or generalize from their findings. Early investigators where plagued by the problem of to many variables and to few cases.” (Pg. 110)

 

What is included in the incremental policy process during formulation? Policy makers never create radical policy. All policy is a product of past policy and is the result of a newly redefined problem. Policy makers address limited goals, moderate changes, limited examination of consequences, constant redefinition of problems, no best solution, is near and not long term in effect. (Pg. 93)

 

Who implements public policy? The Bureaucracy, Legislature, Courts, Pressure Groups, Community Organizations. (Pg. 105-107)

 

In Sabatier and Matzmanian’s “top-down” model of policy implementation, what are the three major categories? 1) The tractability of the problem. 2) The ability of the statute to structure implementation. 3) Non-statutory variables affecting implementation. (Pg. 111)

 

In John Kingdon’s model of agenda setting what are the three streams of information? 1) The problem stream 2) The policy stream 3) The political stream

1.      The problem stream is concerned with the definition of the problem to be addressed. It includes such things as crisis events that focus attention on the problem, as well as budgetary constraints, and how the problem is conceptualized in the first place.

2.      The policy stream has to do with the technical feasibility of dealing with the problem, the availability of technology to deal with it, and the public degree of acceptance of a solution, among other things.

3.      The political stream has to do with the politics affecting the solution to the issue. This includes such considerations as the national mood, public opinion, electoral politics, and interest-group activity.

 

When these three streams come together, “policy windows” of opportunity are opened. (Pg. 71-73)

 

Parts of the political stream in an agenda setting model introduced by Kingdon? National mood, public opinion, electoral politics, and interest-group activity. (Pg. 73)

 

According to Lester & Stewart, which policy stage focuses the most on the consequences and impacts of public policy? The evaluation phase. “There are two distinct tasks in policy evaluation. One task is to determine what the consequences of a policy are by describing its impact, and the other task is to judge the success or failure of a policy according to a set of standards or value criteria.

 

In the Mazmanian and Sabatier model of policy implementation, the statutory variables include? Ability of statute to structure implementation: 1) Clear and consistent objectives. 2) Incorporation of adequate causal theory. 3) Financial Resources 4) Hierarchical integration with and among implementing institutions. 5) Decision-rules of implementing agencies. 6) Recruitment of implementing officials. 7) Formal access by outsiders. (Pg. 112)

 

Characteristics of the bottom-up or “backward mapping” approach to policy implementation (Lipsky, Elmore, Hjern) The bottom up or “backward mapping” approach seeks to discover the goals, strategies, activities, and contacts of local legislators and utilize them to achieve political goals. (Pg. 112-113)

 

Which type of evaluation is most concerned with the cost-effectiveness of a program? Impact evaluations are the type most concerned with the cost effectiveness of a program. (Pg. 128)

 

 

 

Which type of policy evaluation focuses on an assessment of program activities and client satisfaction with services? Process evaluation assesses the means in which a program is delivered to clients and how effective it was at delivering the product. (Pg. 128)

 

Which policy evaluations combine the results of several different studies are called? (wording) Meta-evaluations look for trends in numerous evaluations on a particular subject. (Pg. 129)

 

Policy Typologies:

1)     Regulatory policies attempt to limit the number of specific service providers (e.g. airline regulations) or to protect the public by setting forth conditions under which private activities may occur (e.g. environmental regulations).

2)     Distributive policies are those policies that are aimed at promoting, usually through subsides, private activities that are judged to be socially desirable. (e.g. education)

3)     Re-distributive policies are an effort to distribute wealth or other valued goods in society. Essentially, these policies redistribute benefits from one group to another. (e.g. welfare policy)

 

Approaches to policy analysis:

   Process: Examination of part of the policy process.

   Substantive: Examine a substantive area.

   Logical-Positivist: Examination of the causes and consequences of public policy using scientific methods.

   Economic: To test economic theories.

   Post-positivist: Analyze events through an intuitive process.

   Participatory: The examination of the roles of actors in the public policy process.

   Normative or Prescriptive: To prescribe policy to decision makers or others.

   Ideological: To analyze from a liberal or conservative point of view.

   Historical: To examine policy over time.

 

Policy Analysis: Refers to a staff memo. On a narrowly defined problem such an analysis might take anywhere from days or weeks to prepare. The methods used in this instance are basic data collection techniques, including the compilation of readings and the synthesis of many ideas into a coherent course of action. (Pg. 35)

 

Policy Research: Refers to a monograph on a broad problem, such as the feasibility of natural gas deregulation. This type of analysis might take a year or more to prepare, and the methods used might include decision analysis, cost-benefit analysis, systems analysis, or other sophisticated techniques. This type of analysis might be carried out by a larger research organization. (Pg. 35-36)

 

Applied Social Science Research: Refers to a scholarly assessment of the effects of policy intervention on some narrowly defined set of outcomes, such as analyzing the effects of using seat belts on traffic fatalities in Oklahoma. The techniques used might be quantitative, such as multiple regression, or even less sophisticated techniques, such as case studies.

 

 

The Public Policy Process

 

I.                    Agenda Setting: Process of agenda setting is “that in which public officials learn about new problems, decide to give them their organizations to respond.” Two major perspectives are the elitist and pluralist models. In Kingdon’s agenda setting model there are three major streams: problem, policy & political.

II.                  Policy Formulation: The stage of the policy process where pertinent and acceptable courses of action for dealing with a public problem are identified and enacted into law.

III.                Policy Implementation: Stage of policy process immediately after the passage of law. Administration of the law in which various actors, organizations, proceadures, and techniques work together to put adopted policies into effect in an effort to attain policy or program goals. Five recurring activities occur at this stage: 1) stage enabling laws 2) administrative rule making 3) states appropriate resources 4) legislators monitor and enforce laws 5) lawmakers redesign policies to respond to flaws.

IV.               Policy Evaluation: Concerned with learning about the consequences of public policy. Policy evaluation is the assessment of a program meetings its objectives. Use of scientific methods to estimate the successful implementation and resultant outcomes of programs or policies for decision-making purposes. Policy evaluators are concerned with policy consequences; which are analyzed in the form of policy outcomes. (improvement of a condition or status of people)

V.                 Policy Change: Can take place in three forms: 1) Incremental changes in existing policies 2) Enactment of new statutes 3) Major shifts in public policy

VI.               Policy Termination: Agency termination, partial termination, program termination, basic policy redirections, and fiscal retrenchments.