Policymaking Notes

Policymaking

What is Policymaking?

• Policymaking involves:
  • Passing laws through legislative bodies.
  • Using appellate court rulings to uphold laws or overturn unconstitutional laws.
  • Non-governmental bodies creating rules or procedures.

Policy Domains

• POLICY DOMAIN: The part of the political system that focuses on a particular troubling condition.
  • Includes legislators, officials, and professionals outside of the government that are concerned with a particular issue.
  • Legislators have a priority list (agenda) of what they want to accomplish, and many people compete for room on their agenda.

Kingdon’s Policy Stream Model

• The model (1984) contains three streams:
  • The Problem Recognition Stream
  • The Policy Proposal Stream
  • The Political Stream

Problem Recognition Stream

• The set of claims that policymakers hear about a troubling condition.
  • This stream refers to the claimsmaking efforts described in previous chapters.

Policy Proposal Stream

• A set of policy proposals that policymakers hear for addressing a troubling condition.
  • Proposals can be very broad or specific.
  • This stream features many inside claimsmakers.
  • The timing of policy proposals is important.

Political Stream

• The current political situation recognized by policymakers in which a troubling condition might be addressed.
  • This stream is constantly evolving and consists of those who are elected.

The Policy Stream Model: Convergence of the Streams

• The competition for attention and influence over the policy process means that most efforts will fail since there is a limited legislative carrying capacity.
• Legislators often become familiar with a few policy domains/issues by getting assigned to committees and sub-committees. There is no way to be an expert on all issues.
• Legislators use tactics to advance causes they support:
  • Public
  • Private
• Legislators can use tactics to shape hearings at committee or subcommittee meetings.
• How drastic is policy change?
  • Most change is incremental.
  • Substantial changes only tend to occur when all three streams converge.

Pressures on Policymakers

• Policymakers are pressured to solve contentious issues that are likely to upset a lot of people.
• A lot of policymaking is invisible since there are many issues that the public and the media do not care about (minimal public pressure).
• Since policymaking can occur in multiple arenas, changes at the state or federal level can create pressure for change in other arenas.
• Private policymakers are less accountable to people outside of their organization.

Symbolic Politics and the Rhetoric of Policymaking

• CAUSAL STORY: A story that classifies a troubling condition in a familiar category according to the nature of its cause.
  • Types of causal stories:
    • Accidental causes
    • Intentional causes
    • Inadvertent causes
• TARGET POPULATION: The group of people intended to be affected by a social policy.
  • Causal stories can create different depictions of the same target population:
    • People are vulnerable, but morally worthy; deserving of help (victims)
    • People are the problem and need to change their behavior (villains)
  • Policymaker constructions of these groups change based on whether these groups tend to be strong or weak.
• Policymakers often focus on instrumental purposes (effectiveness), while analysts may highlight symbolic purposes.
• Policymakers are also expected to stand up for values, thus reinforcing the symbolic purpose of policies
• Policymaking is a form of rhetoric where policymakers want to convince people to support them by making them believe they have, “done the right things for the right reasons” (Best, 221)
• In order to get good publicity, policymakers usually create buzz for their new policies
• Strong rhetoric and publicity does create high expectations; this creates headaches for policymakers
• Policies that are symbolically based are very susceptible to criticism if they cannot produce effective results.