Governance and Public Policy-Making

Exam questions

Natalia Liparteliani

1. Which are the historical roots of public policy?

Public policy as a field has its origins in the United States of America since the 1960s. It
included such disciplines as political sciences, economics, sociology, etc. It can be defined as
the policy that is implemented on behalf of the public and is realized in practice through
public legal legislation and regulations. Public administration ensures its execution. In
addition, it can be presented in the form of government decisions. It is the government's
prerogative to continually identify issues that do or do not need to be addressed. Therefore,
all the actions that the government takes or does not take can be considered as public policy.
Public policy includes government doctrines and decisions. This is due to the fact that
government doctrine is based on ideology, a combination of political beliefs of social
organization and management. It brings together agreed, collective ideas about the best
possible ways of organizing and governing public life. Public policy is directly related to
government decisions at the local and state levels. However, it should be noted here that
public policy is not only about making decisions, but also about determining the necessary
ways to realize these decisions and overcoming contradictions in the process of
implementation.

2. How does democratic politics affect public policy?

Public policy can be influenced by various factors. These often include economic conditions,
public opinion, technological changes, political activities, democratic processes, etc.
Democracy and public policy are closely related because it affects the activities performed by
the government. Fundamental to democracy is the idea that citizens have the power and
ability to determine different decisions made by public officials. Every nation has its own
institutional model of democracy, be it parliamentary, presidential or semi-presidential. The
main goal of democratic governance is to ensure the sovereignty of the people, which
includes the protection of individual civil and political rights of a specific group. The
expediency of democracy is consistent with its institutional model, and it allows a large
number of citizens to influence public policy in accordance with their interests and needs.
Regardless of the form of government, democratic processes are closely related to and
constantly influence almost all stages of public policy implementation, be it policy
development or implementation stages. A democratic form of government is a fundamental
decision of public policy, and it makes sovereignty the main principle in the policy-making
process. For a democracy, citizen participation in the policy implementation process is
critical to ensure that policies reflect the values and preferences of the community and the
country.

3. What is the role of foresight in governance?

Foresight in policy making can support government institutions in ways such as: anticipating
changes and expectations for future improvements, innovative approaches and different
policy experiments, creating and testing existing or new strategies and policies. It is a useful
tool to assist policy-making in reviewing short-term issues and developing a perspective on
long-term issues. Integrating foresight into the policymaking process is quite difficult, but we
can still identify criteria that ensure the viability and sustainability of foresight programs.
One of the main goals of foresight is to respond to the fact that political representatives are
too focused on short-term solutions, which significantly weakens their ability to make
decisions with a medium and long-term perspective that is important to everyone. Therefore,
the practice of foresight often involves bringing together different topics and linking them to
the development of foresight policy itself.