Aantekeningen Public Policy and Values
Week I:
Public policy: anything a government chooses to do or not do in solving public policy
problems (Dye, 1972). A public policy problem is a discrepancy between expectations and
social reality. Hence, a public policy problem is inherently normative and valued-driven.
Values in public policy have not always been explicitly problematised/recognised as the
traditional take on public policy is rationalism.
The 20th century was characterised by a common mission, the so-called rationality project, to
rescue public policy from the irrationalities and the indignities of politics. The goal was to
make policy with method that is rational, analytical, and scientific. Hence, the policy-making
authority was shifted from politicians to public managers.
The rationality project has the following assumptions:
o Politics should not intervene in decision-making.
Critique: aim is to construct a mode of policy analysis recognising the dark, self-
interested side of political conflict as well as politics as a valuable creative process for
social harmony.
o Focus on objectivity and modes of analysis that will lead to the objectively best
results for society.
Critique: policy analysts and decision-makers must bring their own values into the
picture.
o Domination of economics and its model of society as a market.
Critique: model of community, a dense web of relationships, dependencies, and
loyalties.
Stone’s (2011) work is characterised by three models, first being the model of reasoning
(societal goals), followed by the model of society (societal problems) and the model of policy
(policy solutions).
1
, These are shown hereunder:
Stone notes the following differences between the market and polis model of decision, as
mentioned earlier in the figure hereabove:
Market model Polis model
Unit of analysis Individual Community
Motivations Self-interest Altruism and self-interest
Public interest Sum of individual interests Shared interests; what is
good for community
Chief of conflict Self-interest vs. self-interest Self-interest vs. public
interest (the common
problems)
Source of ideas and Self-generation within the Influences from others and
preferences individual society
Nature of social interaction Competition Cooperation and competition
2
Week I:
Public policy: anything a government chooses to do or not do in solving public policy
problems (Dye, 1972). A public policy problem is a discrepancy between expectations and
social reality. Hence, a public policy problem is inherently normative and valued-driven.
Values in public policy have not always been explicitly problematised/recognised as the
traditional take on public policy is rationalism.
The 20th century was characterised by a common mission, the so-called rationality project, to
rescue public policy from the irrationalities and the indignities of politics. The goal was to
make policy with method that is rational, analytical, and scientific. Hence, the policy-making
authority was shifted from politicians to public managers.
The rationality project has the following assumptions:
o Politics should not intervene in decision-making.
Critique: aim is to construct a mode of policy analysis recognising the dark, self-
interested side of political conflict as well as politics as a valuable creative process for
social harmony.
o Focus on objectivity and modes of analysis that will lead to the objectively best
results for society.
Critique: policy analysts and decision-makers must bring their own values into the
picture.
o Domination of economics and its model of society as a market.
Critique: model of community, a dense web of relationships, dependencies, and
loyalties.
Stone’s (2011) work is characterised by three models, first being the model of reasoning
(societal goals), followed by the model of society (societal problems) and the model of policy
(policy solutions).
1
, These are shown hereunder:
Stone notes the following differences between the market and polis model of decision, as
mentioned earlier in the figure hereabove:
Market model Polis model
Unit of analysis Individual Community
Motivations Self-interest Altruism and self-interest
Public interest Sum of individual interests Shared interests; what is
good for community
Chief of conflict Self-interest vs. self-interest Self-interest vs. public
interest (the common
problems)
Source of ideas and Self-generation within the Influences from others and
preferences individual society
Nature of social interaction Competition Cooperation and competition
2
