Policy terms
Three models of decision making: Rational actor model, organizational process model, and
governmental politics model (bureaucratic politics)
Rational actor model: actors operate as ‘blocks’ with clear intentions; the decision is a calculated
answer for a strategic problem which maximizes own preferences.
Rational actor model critique: rational explanations are often all too easy; underestimates other
important factors that are of influence; not all decision makers know what they want.
Organizational process model: from what organizational context did a decision emerge; includes
SOPs; looking for solutions based on standard operating procedures, quasi-independent
organizations which avoid insecurity.
Governmental politics model (bureaucratic politics): focusses on negotiations and disputes; the
decision is often an outcome of negotiations, an outcome which nobody aspired to or desired.
Two biases when assessing decision-making: the outcome bias and the survivorship bias
The outcome bias: judges the quality of decision making by its result; ignores the odds of success
and other mitigating factors
The survivorship bias: selects the decisions that outperformed and established conclusions based on
their attributes; overlooks the whole dataset and ignores decisions with similar characteristics that
failed to perform well
Three sources of legitimate authority: traditional authority, legal-rational authority, and charismatic
authority
Traditional authority: tradition dictates who has authority and how this authority can be used; the
ability to rule is passed down
Legal-rational authority: empowered by a belief in the content of the law or natural law; obedience
is not given to a person but a set of uniform principles, i.e. bureaucracy.
Charismatic authority: stems from the belief in the exemplary characteristics of the leaders; can be
“routinized”
The policy making cycle: evaluation, agenda setting, alternative selection, and implementation.
Agenda setting: the process by which subjects, and problems get on the agenda
Policy agenda: the list of subjects or problems which governmental officials or other decision makers
are paying serious attention to at any given time.
Streams model: John w. Kindom; problem, political, and policy stream join; can deal with problem
construction, attention cycle, role of media, and limited processing capability; for understanding why
something is happening.
Three models of decision making: Rational actor model, organizational process model, and
governmental politics model (bureaucratic politics)
Rational actor model: actors operate as ‘blocks’ with clear intentions; the decision is a calculated
answer for a strategic problem which maximizes own preferences.
Rational actor model critique: rational explanations are often all too easy; underestimates other
important factors that are of influence; not all decision makers know what they want.
Organizational process model: from what organizational context did a decision emerge; includes
SOPs; looking for solutions based on standard operating procedures, quasi-independent
organizations which avoid insecurity.
Governmental politics model (bureaucratic politics): focusses on negotiations and disputes; the
decision is often an outcome of negotiations, an outcome which nobody aspired to or desired.
Two biases when assessing decision-making: the outcome bias and the survivorship bias
The outcome bias: judges the quality of decision making by its result; ignores the odds of success
and other mitigating factors
The survivorship bias: selects the decisions that outperformed and established conclusions based on
their attributes; overlooks the whole dataset and ignores decisions with similar characteristics that
failed to perform well
Three sources of legitimate authority: traditional authority, legal-rational authority, and charismatic
authority
Traditional authority: tradition dictates who has authority and how this authority can be used; the
ability to rule is passed down
Legal-rational authority: empowered by a belief in the content of the law or natural law; obedience
is not given to a person but a set of uniform principles, i.e. bureaucracy.
Charismatic authority: stems from the belief in the exemplary characteristics of the leaders; can be
“routinized”
The policy making cycle: evaluation, agenda setting, alternative selection, and implementation.
Agenda setting: the process by which subjects, and problems get on the agenda
Policy agenda: the list of subjects or problems which governmental officials or other decision makers
are paying serious attention to at any given time.
Streams model: John w. Kindom; problem, political, and policy stream join; can deal with problem
construction, attention cycle, role of media, and limited processing capability; for understanding why
something is happening.
