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“Public Policy- An introduction”

WEEK 2- THEORIES AND APPROACHES TO PUBLIC POLICY- I
Lecture 1: Systems Theory
Instructor: Prof. G. Srinivas Reddy

Introduction
The political system theory/model/approach is a major model of public policy analysis. It is
developed by David Easton in 1953. It is rooted in the general systems theory. It is one of the
most popular models available for policy analysis. This model follows a multidisciplinary
and holistic approach to the study of politics and analysis of public policies. It is called as a
holistic approach because it seeks to focus attention on the social, economic, political as well
as cultural aspects surrounding a political system. It is based on the information theory.
According to this theory, a political system is that part of society that is engaged in
authoritative allocation of values in a society. These authoritatively allocated values are
called policies.

Political system theory considers public policies as the products or outcomes of a political
system. It views public policy as a never–ending cyclical process of converting the in-puts,
which are in the form of demands and supports from the society into out-puts or outcomes of
the political system in the form of decisions and actions.

Historical aspects
Ludwig von Bertelanffy is credited to be the initiator of the general system approach in the
field of social sciences. The general system theory sought to integrate the knowledge in all
social sciences. There are some 40 different systems theories of which the most pertinent for
our understanding of the public policy is the political systems theory developed by David
Easton.

The general systems theory is based on the rejection of understanding that a system is the
sum total of its constituent parts. On the contrary, it is based on understanding that the sum
total of its parts is greater than the total of its individual parts. This theory was an attempt to
unify knowledge in social sciences by developing certain principles applicable to all social
sciences. There are seven such principles of a general systems theory. They are:
1. Holism – the whole is greater than the sum total of its parts.
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 2. Hierarchy – every part must obey rules of any whole to which it belongs.
3. Equilibrium – systems tend to seek a steady state between forces – natural or
manmade – that are strongly opposed to one another.
4. Boundaries – systems regulate what may pass between them and the environment.
5. Mutuality – since parts are interdependent, it is impossible to know what causes
something.
6. Equifinality - Equifinality is a term coined by Hans Driesch. According to this,
“there is more than one-way to get from here to there or to reach a goal.”
7. Entropy – Unless checked, systems fall in to disrepair.

Components of a political system

The key components of a political system, according to the system theorists are system,
subsystem, environment, boundary, inputs, outputs, black box, feedback, and homeostasis.
We shall try to understand what each one of these mean in a brief way.

System: A system is a cohesive conglomeration of interrelated and interdependent parts. It

has a boundary. It is surrounded by an environment which is both spatial and temporal (time
related). A system has various subsystems- social, political, economic and cultural.

Sub-system: A sub-system is a broad and identifiable component part of a system. There are
various sub-systems of the overall system such as the social sub-system, political sub-system,
economic sub-system and the cultural sub-system. These sub-systems have some autonomy
but are also dependent on each other in some or the other way. The political sub-system is
called a black box. It comprises of decision makers, who may be politicians or civil servants.
Its major function is to react to the inputs that enter it and send out outputs through what is
known as a conversion process.

Boundary: David Easton sees political system as delineated entity delimited by a boundary.
The boundary separates a political system from its environment.

Environment: The environment consists of all those conditions and events that are external
to the boundaries of the political system. It comprises of physical, social, economic and
political variables in a society.

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Inputs: Inputs are the forces generated in the environment, which affect the political system.
They are also viewed as the physical, social, economic and political products of the
environment, which are received into the political system in the form of demands and
supports. The inputs comprise of both the demands on a political system and the supports
extended to the political system. Demands are claims arising from individuals, groups or
wider society on the political system for action to protect or advance their interests. They
flow from society and are mediated by input channels such as political parties, media, interest
groups etc. Demands occur when an individual or a group acts in response to environmental
conditions to affect public policies. Supports of a political system consist of rules, laws and
customs of a society, which provide a basis for the existence of a political community and the
public authorities.

Outputs: System theory assumes public policy as an output of the political system, which
may have a modifying effect on the environment and the demands generated therein. It
assumes that they (outputs) may also have an effect upon the character of political system.
Out-puts are the authoritative value allocations of the political system. These value
allocations are called policies. Outputs may be in the form of goods, services and symbols to
public and other policymakers. The policy outputs may generate new demands and supports
or withdrawal of old supports for the system.

Feedback: Feedback is the effect of public policy on the environment. The effect may be
such that it leads to new demands and supports or inputs in to the political system. Feedback
mechanisms are the means by which an entity collects and analyses data in regard to the
impact of its outputs. Feedback plays a useful role in generating a suitable environment for
future policies. The concept of feedback indicates that public policies may have a modifying
effect on the environment and the demands arising therefrom. Feedback may also have an
effect upon the character of political system.

Homeostasis: Homeostasis is the tendency of a system to self-adopt itself to the changing

environment and circumstances.

Black box: Black box here means the conversion process. Black box also refers to the
political system that converts demands of a society into outputs of a political system called

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public policies. It can also be viewed as a converter of demand-support in-puts into policy
(decision-action) out-puts.

Political System Model of Public Policy

David Easton, a prominent behaviouralist political scientist, has applied the general systems
theory to politics. On this basis, he has developed the political systems theory in 1953.
Political system theory is one of the many different models of public policy. This theory is
influenced by cybernetics. Cybernetics is the science of study of communication in organisms
and organic processes. This theory emerged as a part of behavioural approach to the study of
politics that sought to identify regularities in political life based on empirical study of
politics. Easton argued that a political system should be seen as a whole in terms of its
relations to the wider socio-politico-economic and cultural environment. He also views
political system as that part of society, which is, engaged in authoritative allocation of values
He views policy process as one relating to conversion of environmental inputs into policy
outputs. He further views public policymaking as cyclical and never-ending process. Public
polices originate, and are implemented, reviewed, adjusted implemented and readjusted.

System approach considers public policy as an outcome or output of a political system.

Political system is viewed by Easton as composed of those interrelated institutions and
activities in a society that make authoritative decisions that are binding on the society. The
Eastonian political systems model, also called the systems model of public policy is depicted
in the chart below.

The chart shows that the public policies are the outputs of a political system. These outputs
are the outcomes of pressures emanating from the social, political, economic and even the
global environment in which a political system operates. These pressures are called inputs.
The inputs are of two types namely demands and supports. There are various institutions and
organisations in a society that make demands on a political system to solve their problems,
either protect, or advance their interests further. A political system is subject to various
demands, which may coalesce or conflict with each other when one section’s demand is
perceived as harming the demand of another section. The political system may ignore some
demands while conceding certain others. The conceded demand becomes a part of the public
policy. This acceptance or rejection of demands depends upon the relative strength of the
sections making such a demand in terms of their numbers, resources, organizational

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solidarity, strategy, access to key political decision makers etc. It may also depend on how
valuable is the support extended by the sections raising demands.

The demands made by and supports extended by various sections in the society exert
pressures in the form of demands on the political system. The political system converts these
inputs in to outputs through a process of conversion. These outputs are of two types. They are
decisions and actions, which are together labelled as public policies. The decisions and
actions or public policies do not mechanically depend on the demands and supports of society
but also on nature of political system, its resource base, priority order etcetera. Thus, public
policies should be understood as the effects of pressures from the environment that are
viewed as significant for a political system.

The outputs of the political system impact the society, in the form of feedback, modify the
environment and might lead to new demands that once again initiate another round of original
or modified policies. The political system seeks to reach a state of equilibrium by reacting to
pressures and readjusting itself to its environment. Apolitical system that does not respond to
any demands might reach a state of atrophy and redundancy. The political system preserves
itself by outputs that are reasonably satisfying relying on deeply rooted attachments to the
system itself by even using or threatening to use force.

Critical appraisal
Critics point out that the utility of the systems model to understand or analyse public policies
is limited. The model is too simplistic in nature and policymaking does not really follow the
logical sequence as described by this model.

The model concentrates more on in-puts and out-puts that are there outside the system and
not on the political system or the black box about which we know very little.
Another shortcoming of the model is that it ignores an important element of the policy
process, namely, that policy makers and policymaking institutions that to have a considerable
influence on the environment in which they operate.

These criticisms notwithstanding we have to admit the utility of the system model as a broad
framework and for its wider sweep and its focus on the environmental factors and variables.
The model enlightens us about the role of environmental factors in influencing public

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policies. Anderson says that this approach is very useful to understand policy formulation
process. Several political scientists and policy analysts have made varied use of this approach
in their studies.

References and suggested readings

Anderson, James (1975), Public Policy-Making, New York, Praeger.

Baumgartner, Frank, and Bryan Jones (1993), Agendas and Instability in American Politics.
Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Brewer, Gary, and Peter deLeon (1983), The Foundations of Policy Analysis. Monterey, CA:
Brooks/ Cole.
Dye, Thomas R. (1966), Politics, Economics and Public Policy, Chicago, Rand McNally.
Dye, Thomas. (2013), Understanding Public Policy, Pearson Education.
Sapru, R. (2017), Public Policy-A Contemporary Perspective, Sage Texts.
Lawrence, T. B. (1999), Institutionalism Theory, Encyclopaedia of Social Theory, 408-14.
Bertalanffy, Ludvig von (1968), General Systems Theory
Easton, David (1965), A Systems Analysis of Political Life, New York, Wiley
Easton, D. (1965). A Framework for Political Analysis, Prentice Hall, Engelwood Cliffs,
New Jersey.
Chakrabarty, B. and P. Chand. (2016), Public Policy- Concept, Theory and Practice, Sage
Texts.
Easton, David (1953), The Political System, New York, Alfred Knopf.

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