Government and Policymaking
Government and Policymaking
Policymaking is the pivotal stage in the political process, the point at which bills become laws or rulers issue their edicts. To understand public policy in a particular political system, we must know how decisions are made.
Where is power effectively located?
What does it take to change public policy: a majority vote in the legislature or a decision by the president?
Or is it a decree issued by the military commanders or the party central committee?
Or merely the whim of the personal dictator?
Policymaking is pivotal stage in political process
To understand public policy, must know how decisions are made
Government officials do initiation and formulation of policy proposals
Government action does not flow in one direction only
Two-way process:
Upward flow of demands from society
Downward flow of decisions from government
Constitutions and Decision Rules
Constitution establishes basic rules of decision-making, rights, distribution of authority
Constitution to refer to a specific document laying out such principles
Your basic foundation of how you expect your nation-state to grow
supreme body of laws
Policymaking: Conversion of interests and demands into public decisions
Decision rules determine what political resources are valuable and how to acquire and use resources
Government and its institutions have decision rules
Numerous rules affect the policy process
Important that decision rules in a democracy be transparent and stable
A constitution thus contains a set of decision rules— the basic rules governing how decision are made.
Policymaking is the conversion of social interests and demands into authoritative public decisions.
Constitutions establish the rules by which this happens. They wonder the power to propose policies on specific groups or institutions. They may give others the right to amend, reject, or approve such proposals, or to implement, police, or adjudicate them.
More inclusive voting rules are less likely that any decision can be made at all
Making Constitutions
Constitution making is fundamental political act
Creates or transforms decision rules
Often new constitutions arise with civil upheaval
Decades since WW2 have seen much constitutional experimentation
Constitutions are different from statutes
Statutes are general laws passed by legislatures, while constitutions specify the basic structure and framework of government
Constitutions also almost always have some specification of individual rights for citizens
Constitutions state the fundamental laws of society and are not meant to be easily revised
Constitutions are important documents because they specify the rules of the government
Constitutions
The rules or customs, either written or unwritten, of how government is run
Almost all countries in the world have constitutions, as they serve to create and define power
Statute: An ordinary law passed by a legislature, not part of the constitution
It is important that decision rules in a democracy be transparent and stable. If they are not, citizens will not know what to expect from government. That may erode political legitimacy and make people less willing to accept and support government actions.. “A bad set of rules is better than no rules at all.”
Democracy and Authoritarianism
Distinction between democratic and authoritarian systems:
Democracy means government by the people
Direct or indirect participation by public
Institutions facilitate indirect participation: elections, parties, media, assemblies
Democracy means “government by the people.” In small political systems, such as local communities, “the people” may share directly in debating, deciding, and implementing public policy. In large political systems, such as contemporary states, direct democracy is normally too unwieldy, so democracy must be achieved largely through indirect participation in policymaking. Policymaking power is instead delegated to officials chosen by the people, in a system of representative democracy
We call non-democratic political systems authoritarian or autocratic. There are many forms of authoritarian or autocratic. Authoritarian policymakers may be chosen by military councils, hereditary families, dominant political parties, or in other ways. In most authoritarian systems, authoritarian policymakers adopt.
Authoritarian regimes: policymakers chosen by military councils, hereditary families, dominant political parties
Citizens are ignored or pressed into symbolic assent
Basic decisions rules differ along three important dimensions:
The separation of powers among different branches of government
The geographic distribution of authority between the central (national) government and lower levels, such as states, provinces, or municipalities
Limitations on government authority
Separation of Government Powers
Prevents the injustices that might result from an unchecked executive or legislature
Classic separation of powers theory
Argued there are two forms of representative democratic government
Presidential
Parliamentary
The democratic presidential regime
Provides two separate branches of government— the executive and the legislative— separately elected by the people
Each branch is elected for a fixed term, neither branch can unseat the other by ordinary means, and each has specific powers under the constitution
Ultimate power to make laws and approve budgets resides with the legislature
Different presidential regimes give their presidents various powers over government appointments and policymaking.
For example, some presidents have the authority to veto legislation or, under some conditions, to make policy by executive decree. United States, both the legislature and the executive (Congress and the president) have large and significant roles in policymaking. In Brazil, the president may have such a variety of constitutional powers (including the power to make laws through “emergency” decrees) that he or she can overshadow the legislature.
The parliamentary regimes
Executive and legislative branches much more interdependent
Only the legislative branch is directly elected. The prime minister and the cabinet (the collective leadership of the executive branch) emerge from the legislature, typically because their party (or parties) have won the majority of seats in the legislature
Typically, neither branch has a fixed term of office. Commonly, the legislature (the parliament) is elected for a maximum term of four or five years, but it can be dissolved, the new elections held, before that term is up. The cabinet can be voted out of office at any time by the legislative majority.
The critical feature that makes this possible is the confidence relationship between the prime minister and the parliamentary majority.
In a parliamentary system, the prime minister and the cabinet must at all times enjoy the confidence of the parliamentary majority. Whenever a parliamentary majority, for whatever reason, adopts a motion expressing a lack of confidence in the prime minister, the latter and all the other cabinet members have to resign
Parliamentary majority’s dismissal power and the prime minister’s dissolution power makes the two branches mutually interdependent
Limitations on Government Power
Constitutional regimes
Civil rights protected
Courts are crucial to limitations on government power
Judicial review (high courts have the power to rule that other units of government have exceeded their constitutional powers)
Lijphart characterizes four of 36 democratic systems examined as having “strong” judicial review
Often in constitution but hard to implement in practice
Amending procedures
Vary widely: simple to complex
Checking the Top Policymakers
Challenge: control excesses of top political leaders
Authoritarian systems: leader can change/ignore constitution
Democracies: procedures vary
Parliamentary system: executive removed at any time through a vote of no confidence
Presidential system: impeachment
Ultimate control of democratic order is periodic competitive elections
The Scandinavian countries demonstrate that parliamentary systems with proportional representation can be quite stable when the ideological conflict between the political parties remains moderate. Moreover, a single party that is able to form a dominant parliamentary majority in a divided society, as in Northern Ireland until 1998, can sometimes threaten minority groups and intensify conflict.
Parliamentary systems also have the flexibility that makes it possible to change governments between regular election dates if the people or the legislators disapprove of the executive. Since many transitional democracies are deeply divided, a parliamentary, proportional representation system may be particularly suitable.
Presidentialism seems more susceptible to political conflict and even democratic breakdown. This may be because under divided government, a confrontation between the two separately elected branches of government, both representing the people, can tear a political system apart. Or a strong president can use executive powers to repress competition.
Even in the domain of the formed British Empire (such as in Nigeria) and in most of the Soviet successor states, and Latin America, the constitutions provide for powerful presidents. Some of the important attractions of presidentialism are that it offers citizens a more direct choice of their chief executive and that it puts more effective checks on the power of the legislative majority.
Assemblies
Almost all contemporary political systems have assemblies
Assemblies are also known as legislatures (regardless of what role they actually play in legislating) or as parliaments (mainly in parliamentary systems)
Assembly Structure:
Vary in structure; they may consist of one chamber (in which case they are called unicameral) or two chambers (bicameral). To have a check.
All have committee structure: organized arrangement that permits legislators to divide their labor and to specialize in particular issue areas. Without such committees, it would be impossible to handle the large flow of legislative business
From less than 100 or more than 3,000 members
Assembly Functions
Deliberate, debate, vote on policies
Control public spending
Some have appointment powers
Some serve as court of appeals
Range in role as policymaking agencies:
U.S.— Highly active role
People’s republic of China— rubberstamp
Representation: Mirroring and Representational Biases
Descriptive representation/mirroring
For politicians to be good agents:
Need similar preference to citizens they represent
Need appropriate skills to do job
Mirroring versus expert delegation
Elected members of legislative assemblies seldom mirror citizens they represent on social characteristics
Working class
Advancement of women— visible but uneven
Age
Leaders tend to be of higher social status, unusually well educated, or upwardly mobile individuals from the lower classes. There are exceptions.
Political Executives
Executive branch is the largest, most complex, most powerful branch of government
Presidents and Prime ministers
Governments typically have one or two chief executives, officials who sit at the very top of the often colossal executive branch. Such executives have various names, titles, duties, and powers. They are called presidents, prime ministers, chancellors, secretaries general, or even supreme leader (in Iran). There are even a few kings who still have genuine power.
Structure and Recruitment of Chief Executives
Structure of Chief Executive
Single or split: Divided between effective power over policy, purely ceremonial role
Split: “Head of State” and “Head of Government”
Recruitment structures
Competitive party systems
Noncompetitive parties and military organizations
Authoritarian systems rarely have effective procedures for leadership succession
Poorer nations show less stability and regimes have less experience at surviving succession crises
The Cabinet
It typically contains the leaders (often called “ministers”) of all the major departments (sometimes called “ministries”) of the executive branch The cabinet meets frequently, often several times per week. It is typically led by the head of government: the president in presidential systems and the prime minister in parliamentary ones.
In many political systems, Cabinet is most important collective decision-making body
Powerful in parliamentary systems
Selection
Presidential systems:
Presidential prerogative with legislative approval
President can dismiss Cabinet members
Parliamentary systems:
Depends on result of parliamentary elections and composition of Parliament
majority single-party cabinet: when one party controls a parliamentary majority
PR elections rarely produce this
coalition cabinet
minority cabinet: governing parties must continually bargain with other parties to get policies adopted
Functions of the Chief Executive
Most important structure in policymaking
Executive initiates new policies
May have role in adoption of policies
Typically has veto powers
Oversees policy implementation
Affects trust and confidence in political system
Central role in communication: explaining and building support for policies
Improving performance in various sectors of society and economy
The chief executive is the most important structure in policymaking. The executive normally initiates new policies. Depending on the division of powers with the legislature and the partisan balance, the executive also has a substantial part in their adoption. In presidential systems, the president very often has veto powers. Thus, the chief executive typically has both the first and the last word in policymaking. In parliamentary systems, by contrast, the chief executive is less likely to be able to exercise a veto.
Chief executives also perform important system functions. Studies of childhood socialization show that the first political role perceived by children tends to be the chief political executive— the president, prime minister, or king or queen. In early childhood, the tendency is to identify the top political executive as a parent figure. As the child matures, he or she begins to differentiate political from other roles, as well as to differentiate among various political roles
Bureaucracy
We commonly use the term bureaucracy to refer to all systems of public administration. However, bureaucracy refers to a particular way of organizing such agencies
Structure of the Bureaucracy
Large organizations in charge of implementing public policy
Size has increased in recent decades
Civil Service
Higher civil service
Functions of the Bureaucracy
Implementing and enforcing laws and regulations
May articulate and aggregate interests
Involved in communication
By which we mean all the members of the executive branch below the top executive, generally implement government policy. The site of government bureaucracies increased over the course of the twentieth century. This is partly due to the expanding policy responsibilities and efforts of governments
Bureaucracy and Performance
Decision making based on fixed jurisdictions, rules and regulations
Formal and specialized education requirements
Hierarchical command structure: information flows up and decisions down
Extensive written records
Officials hold career positions, appointed and promoted on merit, protection against political interference
Ex. CRA Tax authorities, routinely determine whether citizens have faithfully reported their income and paid their taxes, and these authorities assess penalties accordingly. While citizens may in principle be able to approach such rulings to the courts, relatively few actually do.
Positive features: competence, consistency, fairness
Liabilities: rule-bound, inflexible, insensitive
Control of bureaucracies in democratic countries:
political executive
centralized budgeting
administrative reorganization
assemblies and courts
Limited control in authoritarian systems
bureaucratic inefficiency
inflexible