POL WEEK 4 Notes on Public Policy and Foreign Policy (South Africa Case)

PUBLIC POLICY

  • Definition: What governments do, why they do it, and what difference it makes.
  • Also includes what governments don’t do.
  • This sets the scope for studying policy as both action and inaction by the state.

STRUCTURE

  • Major topics covered: What is Public Policy; Actors/Institutions Inside and Outside the State; Stages Model/Policy Cycle; Foreign Policy; Interests vs. Strategy; Sources of Foreign Policy.

ACTORS/INSTITUTIONS INSIDE AND OUTSIDE THE STATE

  • Inside the state:
    • Government machine (executive branch)
    • Legislature (make laws)
    • Judiciary (interpret laws)
    • Spheres of government
  • Outside the state:
    • Interest groups (business, labour, others)
    • Experts
    • Political parties
    • Citizens

INSIDE THE STATE: ANATOMY OF GOVERNMENT

  • Based on the relationship between the executive and the legislature, governments are classified as parliamentary or presidential.

PARLIAMENTARY (CABINET) GOVERNMENT

  • Executive consists of a prime minister and cabinet; legally responsible to the legislature for its acts.
  • Cabinet: Prime Minister and Cabinet Ministers (political heads of government departments).
  • Executive Branch: Political Executive (Cabinet) and Non-Political Executive (Directors-General).
  • Fusion of executive and legislature: no strict separation of powers.
  • Cabinet is collectively responsible to Parliament; ministers are individually responsible for their departments.

PRESIDENTIAL GOVERNMENT

  • Separation of powers: president independent of the legislature in tenure and policy/acts to a large extent.
  • President has real government powers.
  • The President and cabinet are not responsible to the legislature.
  • The executive is directly responsible to the electorate via a popular vote.

SOUTH AFRICA? HISTORIC CONTEXT

  • Negotiations (1992–1996) on interim and final constitutions.
  • Was a unitary state, not federal (contrast with NP and IFP).
  • Parliamentary system, not presidential.
  • Executive authority vested in the president.

INSIDE THE STATE: KEY INSTITUTIONS

  • PRESIDENCY
  • TREASURY
  • CABINET
  • D (likely a placeholder for various departments; see slide content)

TREASURY AND THE BUDGET

  • Politicians and departments like to spend.
  • Interest groups always want more.
  • Citizens vote for parties that promise spending.
  • Persistent pressure to increase spending; budget constraint is a political challenge.
  • Treasury dominates economic policy (but shared with others) and runs the budget process.

TREASURY LEADERSHIP

  • ‘Technocratic’ department?
  • Budget office oversees the budget process.
  • Public finance side: tensions between treasury and line departments.
  • Ultimately a political process.

PRESIDENCY

  • Presidential systems have direct election of the president (more or less).
  • SA is NOT presidential.

A PRESIDENT IN A PARLIAMENTARY SYSTEM

  • The president is head of government and head of state but not with a direct mandate for policies.
  • Elected separately from the legislature; weak separation of powers between three branches.

SA HAS A PARLIAMENTARY SYSTEM…

  • Party-based elections.
  • Head of government (the president) elected by the National Assembly (like any other prime minister or premier).
  • Ministers drawn from and accountable to the legislature.
  • Internal party politics determine the leader.
  • Weak legislature as a check on the executive (fusion through party).

… WITH A POWERFUL PRESIDENT

  • Also head of state → above politics → power to persuade (Neustadt reference).
  • Head of party → alternative route of influence.
  • Head of government → appointment of cabinet.
  • Patronage appointments.
  • Cross-cutting issues, planning and evaluation.
  • Cabinet conflict resolution.

CABINET GOVERNMENT

  • President exercises power “together with” the cabinet (as per SA Constitution references).
  • President appoints the cabinet and deputy ministers.

- Some ministers run more than one department.

MINISTERS: POLICY MAKING OR MANAGING DEPARTMENTS

  • Questions to consider:
    • Competency, policy expertise?
    • Ability to manage significant resources?
    • Ability to work together?
    • Party/coalition politics?
  • Exercise: pick some ministers and reason why they have been appointed.

CABINET COMMITTEE SYSTEM

  • Government clusters are groups of government departments.
  • Departments must work together, but not all have overlapping competencies.
  • Committees provide a consultative platform for cross-cutting priorities.
  • Managed by the cabinet office in the presidency.
  • Smaller meetings of ministers who must work in a coordinated way.
  • Focus on communication and information sharing about priorities and plans.
  • Four “natural” clusters.

CLUSTERS (NATURAL CLUSTERS)

  • 1. ECONOMY ("Economic Sectors, Investment, Employment and Infrastructure Development")
    • Mineral Resources and Energy
    • Employment and Labour
    • Public Enterprises
    • Public Works and Infrastructure
    • Small Business Development
    • Trade, Industry and Competition
    • Transport
    • Presidency
    • Finance (= Treasury)
  • 2. INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION ("International Cooperation, Trade and Security")
    • Defence and Military Veterans
    • Finance
    • International Relations and Cooperation
    • Justice and Correctional Services
    • State Security
    • The Presidency
    • Tourism
    • Trade, Industry and Competition
  • 3. JUSTICE ("Justice, Crime Prevention and Security")
    • Defence and Military Veterans (Chair)
    • Police
    • Finance
    • Home Affairs
    • Justice and Correctional Services
    • Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation (The Presidency)
    • Social Development
    • State Security
    • Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities (in The Presidency)
  • 4. SOCIAL PROTECTION
    • Health
    • Basic Education
    • Higher Education, Science and Innovation
    • Human Settlements, Water and Sanitation
    • Public Works and Infrastructure
    • Social Development
    • Sport, Arts and Culture
    • The Presidency
    • Finance
    • Transport
    • Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities (in The Presidency)
  • 5. GOVERNANCE
    • Governance, State Capacity and Institutional Development
    • Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs
    • Public Service and Administration
    • Finance
    • Home Affairs
    • Justice and Correctional Services
    • Public Enterprises
    • The Presidency
    • Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities (in The Presidency)
    • Social Protection, Community and Human Development

WHICH DEPARTMENT SITS IN ALL CLUSTERS?

  • Slide poses this as a question; indicates cross-cluster relevance of some central department (likely The Presidency or a coordinating body). The text does not provide a definitive answer.

OFFICIALS ALSO IN CLUSTERS

  • Clusters of the DGs forum (Forum of South African Directors-General, FOSAD) mirror ministerial clusters.
  • FOSAD provides technical support to ministerial clusters.
  • Director-General (DG) in The Presidency chairs FOSAD.
  • Almost all executive business occurs in cluster committees.
  • Problems solved at the lowest possible level: low officials > high officials > ministers > clusters > cabinet.

WHAT ROLE FOR “FULL CABINET”?

  • Too large for deliberation.
  • Limited expertise.
  • Key roles:
    • Political sounding board
    • Buy-in and collective responsibility for significant issues
    • Potential conflict between ministers, including finance

FOREIGN POLICY ANALYSIS

  • Study of how a state makes foreign policy.
  • Analyses the decision making process; involves study of both international and domestic politics.
  • Characterized by an actor-specific focus; study of the process, effects, causes, or outputs of foreign policy.
  • Underlying argument (often implicit): human beings, acting individually or in groups, compose and cause change in international politics.

SOURCES OF FOREIGN POLICY

  • Three levels of analysis:
    • Individual level: national leaders
    • State level: Institutions and politics within national government; dynamics between executives and legislature; national politics and societal actors
    • International level: Geography; relative level of economic development; relative national capabilities

THE POLICY PROCESS: STAGE MODEL

  • Stages include:
    • Agenda setting
    • Policy formulation
    • Legitimation
    • Implementation
    • Evaluation
  • Sometimes presented with asterisks to denote emphasis:
    • Agenda setting
    • Policy formulation
    • Legitimation
    • Implementation
    • Evaluation
  • These stages form a cycle rather than a linear sequence.

STAGES BECOME A CYCLE

  • Policy maintenance, succession or termination cycles back into new agenda setting.
  • Visual idea:
    • Evaluation → Policy Maintenance, Succession or Termination → Agenda Setting → Implementation → Legitimation → Policy Formulation → (back to) Evaluation
  • Expressed as:
    • extEvaluation<br/>ightarrowextPolicyMaintenance/Succession/Termination<br/>ightarrowextAgendaSetting<br/>ightarrowextImplementation<br/>ightarrowextLegitimation<br/>ightarrowextPolicyFormulation<br/>ightarrowextEvaluationext{Evaluation} <br /> ightarrow ext{Policy Maintenance / Succession / Termination} <br /> ightarrow ext{Agenda Setting} <br /> ightarrow ext{Implementation} <br /> ightarrow ext{Legitimation} <br /> ightarrow ext{Policy Formulation} <br /> ightarrow ext{Evaluation}

FOREIGN POLICY APPLICATION

  • Steps in applying foreign policy:
    • Assessment of the international and domestic political environment
    • Goal setting
    • Determination of policy options
    • Formal decision making and action
    • Implementation of the chosen policy option