Public Policy Exam 1

Policy

A statement by government of what it intends to do or not to do about a public problem

Policy Cycle Order

1. Issue emergence

2. Agenda setting

3. Alternative selection

4. Enactment

5. Implementation

6. Evaluation

Forms of policies

Constitution, laws, regulations, expression of values

Public Policy

Policies developed by governmental bodies and officials

Policy Process

Subfield of political science, study of public policies and the complex interactions the cause

Policy Cycle

A way to categorize activities of the policy process

Technocracy

A system of government w/ high reliance on a small elite of technical experts who are more influential than the desires of citizens

Public policy process

Research on formulation and implementation of public policy

Public Policy Analysis

logic of “rational” analysis that focuses on problem specification and generation of alternative policies

Comparitive Public Policy

Emphasizes cross national comparisons with descriptive work

Public Policy Studies

Research aimed at documenting policy problems and evaluating interventions, tends to be descriptive

Problem

An undesirable situation that, according to people or interest groups can be alleviated by government action

Social Construction

Problems and situations in society are not self-evident but defined and interpreted by people during politics

Liberal democracy

Free and fair elections in which most adults can participate, civil rights/freedoms, market economy, protections for private property, commitment to political equality, rule of law

Democratic backsliding

Gradual erosion of democratic norms, institutions, or rights

Populism

Claiming to represent the common people against corrupt elites, emphasizing strong leadership

Classical Liberalism

Individual liberty, private property, and improving wealth/ happiness to discourage social strife

Public interest

Assumed broader desires and needs of the public, in whose name policy is made

Rule of law

When a government/political system is governed by the laws enacted by duly elected officials and are interpreted by courts in the name of the people

Philosophy: Political behavior to avoid violence

Plato, Socrates, Aristotle

Philosophy: Understand political actions to better prepare for political opportunities

Niccolo Machiavelli

Philosophy: state of nature, sovereign authority prevents ‘all against all’

Hobbes

Philosophy: social contract, power stems from the consent of the governed

Locke

Philosophy: popular sovereignty

Rousseau

Popular Sovereignty

Political power resides with the people, who grant authority to governments through their consent

Majoritarian philosophical feature

Popular Sovereignty

Majoritarian Political institutions

House of representatives

Majoritarian features of the electoral democracy

Regular, competitive elections; ballot initiatives

Majoritarian features of civil liberties

First amendment freedoms, FOI Act, civil rights, independent media

Anti-majoritarian philosophical features

No guaranteed right to vote in constitution

Anti-majoritarian political institutions

Senate, lifetime scotus appointments, judicial review, filibuster

Anti-majoritarian features of electoral democracy

Electoral college, gerrymandering, decentralize election administration leading to unequal voting access

Anti-majoritarian features of civil liberties

Barriers to registration and voting, campaign finance/citizens united

Constitutional order

The enduring features of a government

Ideological stability

Americans tend to stay within a set of ideological precepts based on our national experience

Political Stability

Politics in the us tend to be stable

Policy stability

Policies change very little

Stability in power

Changes in power tend not to cause policy, political, or social upheavels

Devolution

When federally administered programs are turned over to states to manage, funded by block grants

Block grants

Government funding given to state/local governments with broad rules on how funds are to be used

What opens the government to public scrutiny

Administrative procedure act, FOIA, open public meetings

Administrative procedure act

Requires regulatory agencies to follow procedures in rulemaking

Fragmentation

Separation of powers among branches, federalism

Federalism

Division of power between states and the federal government

Commerce clause

Gives congress the power to regulate commerce with foreign nations, states, and Indian tribes

Elastic clause

Necessary and proper clause

Dual federalism

Federal government and states largely regulate within their own realm

Barron v. Baltimore

People in the US are citizens of both their state and the nation, meaning that if the state violates their rights they must seek relief under their state constitution

Era of Divided Power (1787-1870)

1. States seeking to regulate interstate commerce despite the commerce clause

2. Limited individual interaction with the fed gov

3. No industrial revolution

4. Dual federalism

Police Power

Powers retained by the states to regulate public health and safety

Era of state activism (1870s - 1933)

1. US shifts from an ag economy to an industrial/urban one

2. Problems with sanitation, public safety, labor conflicts, and industrial disasters

3. Congress began to assert regulatory power (Sherman anti-trust act)

4. Reconstruction and Civil war amendments

5. Jim Crow laws

6. Laissez-Faire economics

Jim Crow Laws

Enforced in the south, discriminated against African Americans

Plessy V Ferguson

Seperate but equal

Laissez-faire economics

System of economic regulation in which government leaves business totally untethered

Locher V New York

State work hour laws are unconstitutional as workers have a right to enter contracts with their employer

Era of National Activism (1933-1961)

1. The great depression and the New Deal

2. WWII increased the influence of the federal government

3. Cooperative fedralism

4. National security

5. Incorporation doctrine

Cooperative federalism

High degree of cooperation between federal and state governments to adress problems

National security

Policies that seek to protect the US from foreign threats

Incorporation Doctrine

14th amendment incorporates the bill of rights against the states and states can’t violate federal standards

Great Society

Domestic programs advanced by Lyndon B Johnson to alleviate poverty, improve education, and foster civil rights

Creative Federalism

Johnson pursued policy goals by providing funding directly to local governments and nonprofits

New Federalism

Nixon sought to return greater power to state and local govs in response to perceived overreach since the new deal

Era of National Standards (1961-1980s)

1. The Great Society

2. Creative federalism and then New federalism

3. Use of marble cake federalism

4. EPA under Nixon

5. The power of the executive decreased after Watergate

Coercive federalism

Use of coercive means, such as withholding federal funding, to induce policy change or compliance in states

Why policy changes slowly

The Constitutional order was designed to make change difficult

Structure of the Constitutional Order

1. Separation of powers

2. Federalism

3. Rule of law

Changes from the Articles to the Constitution

1. States taxed each other’s trade → federal regulation of interstate commerce

2. 13 currencies → one national currency

3. No standing army → federal gov can declare war and maintain armed forces

4. No federal courts → a federal court system

Enumerated Powers

granted to the federal government

Reserved powers

Retained by the states

Concurrent Powers

Shared by state and federal governments

Horizontal fragmentation

Separation of powers within each level of government

Vertical fragmentation

Federalism between levels of government

Systems thinking

Natural and social phenomena are a system in which various inputs are handled processed, and interact with each other to create outputs

Input output model

Assumes a set of policy demands which are processed by the political system into laws and programs

Black box

Any part of a model that works without carefully explaining how it translates inputs into outputs

Draw the Input output model

Did I get it right?

Policy environment

The structural, social, economic, and political factors that influence and are influenced by policy making

Age trends in the US

Slow rate of growth trending toward an older population

Racial and ethnic makeup of the US

Historically descendants European immigrants and slaves, but a growing Hispanic population

GDP

Total value of all goods and services produced in a country in a year

Keynesian Economics

Countries should accept budget deficits during recessions and pay the debt through taxes in times of economic growth

Recession

Two consecutive quarters when GDP declines, sometimes includes employment and production data

Supply side theories

The government should enact policies to stimulate production instead of consumption by lowering taxes and government regulation

Transfer payments

Money from the government to individual recipients

Tax expenditures

Government payments or subsidies in the form of tax deductions or credits

Important economic indicators

Unemployment and rate of inflation

Differences between states

1. Partisan control of government

2. Urban/suburban/rural

3. Wealth

4. Minimum wage

5. Tax burdens

6. Marijuana

7. Medicaid Expansion

Initiative

People can propose/vote on laws via a petition and election

Referendum

Refferal of a proposed change in law to voters for approval

Statute law

Made by legislatures and signed by the government

Case law

Laws made as a result of judicial decisions

Regulations

Rules made by government agencies and regulatory bodies to implement the meaning of the laws

Legislative Intent

What the legislators meant in drafting legislation