RATIONALE FOR
PUBLIC POLICY
WHAT IS PUBLIC POLICY?
• An attempt by the government to address
public issue by instituting laws, regulations,
decisions, or actions pertinent to the problem
at hand
PUBLIC POLICY
• Goal-directed course of action, taken by government, to
deal with a public problem.
• Governments use public policy to solve social problem(
housing, welfare), to counter threat (crime, illegal
drugs), or to pursue an objective (revenue generation).
• Choice made by official government bodies and
agencies that affect public interes
PURPOSE
• seek to achieve a goal that is considered to be the
best interest of all members of society
• captures the intentions of the government that
without a policy there can be no governance
• enables the public to measure the
achievements of the government
• government can be critiqued and pulled up
for not implementing its policies
PUBLIC ISSUES/INTERESTS
•Peace & Order
•Education
•Foreign Policy
•Health
•Social Welfare
•Poverty
•Employment
•Infrastructure
MAJOR TYPES OF PUBLIC POLICY
REGULATORY PUBLIC POLICY
•Main goal is to maintain order and prohibit
behaviors that endangers the society
•Government accomplishes this goal by restricting
citizens, groups, or corporations from engaging in
those actions that negatively affect the political
and social order
REGULATORY POLICY
• Another goal of regulatory policy is to
protect economic activities and business
markets by prohibiting industry from
practicing activities detrimental to the free
market, such as creation of monopolies.
DISTRIBUTIVE POLICY
• Aimed at ensuring proper distribution of
opportunities, goods, services among different
sections of society
• uses tax revenues to provide benefits to
individuals or groups by means of grants or
subsidies
REDISTRIBUTIVE PUBLIC POLICY
• Main purpose is to promote equality
• Government redistributes societal wealth from one group
to another group
COMPONENTS IN POLICY CREATION
PROBLEM- issue that needs to be addressed
PLAYER- individual or group that is
influential in forming a plan to
address the problem in question
POLICY- finalized course of action decided
upon by the government
STEPS IN MAKING PUBLIC POLICIES
(ROY SYLVAN)
STEP 1
Identify problem that needs improvement or solution
STEP 2
Develop alternative solutions that can improve or solve the problem
STEP 3
Adopt an alternative or combination of
alternatives STEP 4
Implement the adopted policy
STEP 5
Evaluate the effect of the policy on the problem it addressed & on the
people
affected
AGENDA SETTING
• Certain problems are viewed as needing action while
others are postponed; competing claims &
prioritization gain or decline in prominence over time
• Many people contribute in shaping up public
opinion(president, members of congress, executive
branch officials, political parties, interest groups, media
& general public)
POLICY FORMULATION
• Development of formal policy statements that are viewed
as legitimate (Republic Acts, Executive Orders,
Administrative Order, Department Order, etc.)
• Procedure in Legislation:
A bill is introduced & referred to a committee & a sub-
committee, hearings are held, the committee
reports to the larger body, a vote is taken in both
houses, a conference committee works out
differences in the 2 versions, and the bill is sent
to the Chief Executive for his signature
POLICY FORMULATION
• President has formal& informal means of influencing
legislation thru program initiatives & budget proposals
• Other government officials interact with Congress on a regular
basis & may also affect policy outcomes
• Individual citizens &interest groups also seek access & influence
• Government Agencies usually send program proposals to
the legislature for its consideration
• Agency personnel are often called upon to provide
testimony regarding particular proposals due to their expertise
on public issues
POLICY FORMALIZATION
• To make it official or legitimate by
the observance of proper procedure
• Enactment of the official and legal
policy instrument
• Provide solid legal basis for the enactment of
the policy
• Adherence to proven principles and
strategies consistent with international
standards
POLICY ADOPTION
• It is the most political stage of the policy process
• It involves bargaining , compromising, and
negotiation
• Politicians often use policy-negotiating tactics
such as pork barrel politics
• Proposals must be consistent with the political
realities
- consistent with prevailing political climate
- favored by incumbent administration &
legislative majority
POLICY IMPLEMENTATION
• Legislation leaves a great deal of
discretion to public managers in
working out details of a particular
program
• Managers develop administrative rules
or policies to give detail to legislation
or fill in the gaps
• Legislatorscannot foresee questions
come up during implementation
• Legislation is general & lacks details
POLICY EVALUATION
• Validationif the policy created was the real
solution to the issue
• Using social science methodology
(Anthropology, Political Science,
History, Economics, Psychology)
• Evaluators designs a valid means of
collecting data to find out how the program
is addressing the original policy issue
REFERENCES
•www.angelo.edu/faculty/ljones/gov3301/bloc
k6/objective5.ht m
•www.aspap.org
•www.study.com/academy/lesson/what-is-public
-policy-htm.
•http://ecampus.itcilo.org/pluginfile.php/13976/
mod_resource/c
.
•www.wisegeek.com/what-is-public-policy-htm.
