The policy making process

• Policy making → policy formulation

and policy implementation
• Policy making is a decision-centric and
goal-driven process
• Goal-driven means that the process
must have the desired outcome and
that iterations are performed until the
outcome has been produced
 Policy making…
• Decision centric means that the process is
focused on the decisions that must be
taken.
• Policy making is characterized by a large set
of actors.
• Actors can be politicians, civil servants,
lobbyists, advisors, domain experts,
auditors, etc. They can design policies,
codify and formalize policies, and assess or
approve policies.
• Actors act on an individual basis or as
members of a group. They can be a
member of an administration, of a
political group, parliament, council, or
a member or representative of an
interest group.

• Roles and responsibilities of actors can

vary depending on the context.
• Besides direct stakeholders, there are
other participants with influencing power
in the policy making process, especially
media and citizens.
• They try to influence administrations and
politics using different channels such as
television, radio, newspapers and the
Internet. Facts, perceptions and the risk
of damage to reputations can be a very
effective means of influencing policy
making.
• The process of policy making is
characterized by the coexistence of a
political and a production dimension and
the interaction between the elements in
these dimensions.

• The political dimension includes activities

such as proposing initiatives, practicing
advocacy, mobilizing stakeholders,
holding consultations, building opinions
and taking positions.
• Decision making is a crucial event in
the policy process
• Even so, it is preceded by analytical
and/or political activities (analysis,
generation of options, bargaining,
etc.) and followed by equally
important planning activities
(implementation, assessment, and
possible redesign).
• This session introduces a framework
for policy analysis that covers the
pre-policy decision activities, the
decision process itself, and the post-
decision planning activities.
 Steps in policy analysis
1. Problem identification.
2. The generation of policy options.
3. Evaluation of policy options.
4. Making the policy decision.
5. Planning of policy implementation.
6. Policy evaluation.
7. Subsequent policy cycles.
 (1)Problem identification
• Many factors influence the
identification of policy problems.
• They include the methods of getting
issues on the political agenda as well
as keeping them off the agenda.
• Political ideology and special interests,
the mass media, and public opinion all
play roles in problem identification.
 Agenda setting
• Deciding what is to be decided
• Is the first critical step in the
policymaking process.
• To get on the agenda, problems must
come to policymakers’ attention. Some
problems—even major problems—are
too “invisible” to make the agenda,
while others such as healthcare, are
already highly visible, because they
affect us all.
 Problems can be brought into the
agenda through:
• Influential individuals and ordinary
citizens,
• Organized interest groups,
• Think tanks and policy planning
organizations,
• Political candidates, and
• Officeholders

– all employ the tactics of agenda setting,

usually through attempts to get the mass
media to publicize the issue.
• This needs pressure from politics, advocacy
and lobbying
• Without political pressure, some conditions
might worsen, but they would never be
identified as public problems, they would
never get on policymakers’ agenda, and
governments would never be forced to decide
what, if anything, to do about them.
 Non-decision making
• Preventing certain conditions in
society from becoming policy issues
is also an important political tactic.
According to Peter Bachrach and
Morton Baratz,
 Political Ideology
• Is a driving force in agenda setting.
• Conservative - “ defender of the
status quo”;
• Conservatives think that the
government has already done too
much in this regard, destroying
individual initiative and promoting
economic and other social problems.
• Liberal -believes in more government
action to meet individual need.
Liberals often want the government
to do much more to promote
distributive justice, economic as well
as social
 Special interests
• Special interest groups are a staple of
the political landscape, and they do
their best to influence the political
agenda either directly or indirectly.
• Special interest groups may
represent people based on race,
ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation,
age, income, profession, or other
factors.
 The mass media
• Deciding what is “news” and who is
“newsworthy” is a powerful political
weapon

• Some scholars find that the media

exert substantial influence in deciding
what problems will be given attention
and what problems will be ignored
• Television executives and producers and
newspaper and magazine editors decide
what people, organizations, and events will
be given public attention

• Without media coverage, many of the

conditions or government programs affecting
those who are poor or other groups or about
alternative policies or programs would not
likely become objects of political discussion,
nor would government officials likely
consider them important, even if they knew
about them.
 Public opinion
• Even in a democracy, public opinion
may not determine public policy, but
politicians are mindful of what their
constituents—particularly their
powerful constituents—think
 (2)Generating policy options
• Systemic mode

• Incremental mode

• Ad hoc mode

• Importation mode (transfer)

 (3) Evaluating policy options
• Basis for evaluation:
– Desirability

– Affordability

– Feasibility
 (4) Making the policy
decision
• Deciding from the policy options
– How was the decision made - did it go
through all the stages of policy analysis?
– How radical a departure is the decision from
current policy?
– How consistent is this decision with policies
of other sectors?
– Is the policy diffusely articulated or is it stated
in a manner which is easily measurable?
– Does the policy seem operational or is its
implementation implausible?
 (5) Planning policy
implementation
• Once a policy has been chosen,
planning for policy implementation
should begin immediately. Involves:-
• A schedule for moving people,
physical objects and funds must be
drawn up with a clarity and attention
to detail that leaves no doubt as to
who will do what, when and how
• Physical resources, once the content
of hypothetical lists, must be located
and their availability assured;

• Financial resources, once ear-marked

for possible use, must be
appropriated so that implementation
delays are minimal;
• The personnel needed to put plans
into action must be freed from other
commitments and made ready to go to
work;

• The technical knowledge needed to

guide the policy implementation must
be mastered by those who will employ
it; and
• And the administrative systems
within which the policy will be
directed must be clearly structured
and firmly in place.
• A significant amount of planning and even de facto policy formulation
take place during actual implementation. This is the case because, during
implementation, the following is the rule rather than the exception:

(a) circumstances related to implementation constraints cause policy

modifications to take place;

(b) feedback obtained during implementation causes reassessment of

aspects of the policy decision and subsequent modifications by
policymakers; and

(c) the mere translation of abstract policy intentions into concrete

implementation causes re-assessment and re-design. These changes
occur with great frequency because, unfortunately, implementation
problems are often greatly under-estimated during the stage of policy
planning
• No matter how well anticipated,
policy implementation always brings
some surprises. These shape the
policy output, sometimes in crucial
ways.
 (6) Policy evaluation
• Evaluation

– Outputs

– Outcomes

– Impact
 (7) Subsequent policy
cycles
• Once implementation has been
completed and policy outcomes are
forthcoming, a policy impact
assessment stage ensues, leading
potentially to a new policy cycle.