PUP 3002 FSU Exam 1 Questions with
Verified Answers
Why study public policy? - ANSWER--Accountability
-Efficiency gains
-Equity of policy delivery
Accountability - ANSWER-Whose interests precisely are being served by the
government?
Consent of the governed - ANSWER--In order for democracy to succeed, the
governed must consent to the ruling government body.
-In order to consent, citizens must be informed of government actions.
The study of public policy attempts to answer: - ANSWER--The process by which
policies are passed and implemented
-Why specific policies are pursued and why others are not
-How well do government actions fit citizen demands.
Efficiency Gains - ANSWER-Policy efficiency
-Whether the resources, time and energy of a policy are delivering the greatest
policy outcomes, for a given level of resources
Which policies most effectively solve the underlying problem at the lowest cost?
How we can improve policies to:
-cost less
-provide more
-ideally... both!
Equity - ANSWER-The extent to which a government delivers the benefits of a policy
evenly across all communities.
Are all communities treated equally or do certain communities benefit
disproportionally?
-wealth
-ethnic makeup
-economic class
Federalism - ANSWER--Nation; state; local
-National and state possess constitutions
-Different goals and policy preferences
,Executive and legislative competition - ANSWER-Executive: president, governor,
mayor
Legislative: two houses (at the national and state level)
-Goals and policy preferences often vary between branches
-Often, varying goals and preferences between members of legislative
Judiciary - ANSWER--National, state and local all possess an array of criminal, civil
and administrative courts
-Prosecute violations of executive and legislative
Democracy vs. Autocracy - ANSWER--Democracy makes policymaking difficult
-Competing interests, institutional barriers, and public opinion make solving societal
problems tedious and costly
-Likely better than the autocracy
-Citizens have control over government
-Governments must appease citizens to stay in power
The policy making process - ANSWER--Proposed by Harold Laswell (1951)
-A heuristic demonstrating the pathways by which policies are identified, proposed,
evaluated, implemented and terminated.
-7 stages
The 7 stages of the policy making process - ANSWER-1. problem and solution
identification
2. agenda setting
3. policy formulation
4. alternative formulation
5. policy selection and adoption
6. policy implementation
7. policy evaluation
Step 1: problem and solution identification - ANSWER--How do social issues
become defined as social problems?
-Once social issues have been defined as social problems, how are solutions to
those problems identified?
-Stakeholders
-Policy demands
-Credible action
-Who gets what is determined by pressure
-That said, 'collective action problems' exist among stakeholders
-Connecting problems to solutions
-The policy entrepreneur
Stakeholders - ANSWER-Those who are affected by a policy problem
Policy demands - ANSWER-The demands exerted by stakeholders on the political
actors
Credible action - ANSWER-The mechanism by which demands pressure leaders
, The policy entrepreneur - ANSWER--Willing to exert time and effort
-Has a stake in the solution
-Ability to link their preferred solution to the 'problem' of others
Step 2: agenda setting - ANSWER-The process by which formal institutional centers
of power will take up and potentially act on a policy solution
-which demands do leaders actually decide to consider?
Factors that shape policy agendas:
-preferences of formal actors
-actors external to formal institutions (advocacy coalitions)
-external shocks
Step 3: policy formulation - ANSWER--Who is really getting involved in this?
-Who are the decision makers, who are offering advice/watching over it?
-Gormley (1984): salience and technical complexity
Low complexity, low salience - ANSWER-"street level politics"
-lower level bureaucrats
Low complexity, high salience - ANSWER-"hearing room politics"
-elected officials highly involved
-public highly involved
High complexity, low salience - ANSWER-"board room politics"
-elites are highly influential
-subsets of legislative committees, businesses
High complexity, high salience - ANSWER-"operating room politics"
-policy experts
-advocacy groups
Step 4: alternative formulation - ANSWER-Policy solutions are drawn from a set of
competing alternatives
-Whose ideas are considered?
-policy advocates
-private organizations subsidize government effort by providing information
Step 5: policy selection - ANSWER--political actors make a policy decision
-what do individual decision makers consider
-likely a combination of many factors
-political affiliation
-political capture
-their specific electorate
-getting it right
-"getting it right" often entails a cost benefit analysis
-Steps:
-identify the project
Verified Answers
Why study public policy? - ANSWER--Accountability
-Efficiency gains
-Equity of policy delivery
Accountability - ANSWER-Whose interests precisely are being served by the
government?
Consent of the governed - ANSWER--In order for democracy to succeed, the
governed must consent to the ruling government body.
-In order to consent, citizens must be informed of government actions.
The study of public policy attempts to answer: - ANSWER--The process by which
policies are passed and implemented
-Why specific policies are pursued and why others are not
-How well do government actions fit citizen demands.
Efficiency Gains - ANSWER-Policy efficiency
-Whether the resources, time and energy of a policy are delivering the greatest
policy outcomes, for a given level of resources
Which policies most effectively solve the underlying problem at the lowest cost?
How we can improve policies to:
-cost less
-provide more
-ideally... both!
Equity - ANSWER-The extent to which a government delivers the benefits of a policy
evenly across all communities.
Are all communities treated equally or do certain communities benefit
disproportionally?
-wealth
-ethnic makeup
-economic class
Federalism - ANSWER--Nation; state; local
-National and state possess constitutions
-Different goals and policy preferences
,Executive and legislative competition - ANSWER-Executive: president, governor,
mayor
Legislative: two houses (at the national and state level)
-Goals and policy preferences often vary between branches
-Often, varying goals and preferences between members of legislative
Judiciary - ANSWER--National, state and local all possess an array of criminal, civil
and administrative courts
-Prosecute violations of executive and legislative
Democracy vs. Autocracy - ANSWER--Democracy makes policymaking difficult
-Competing interests, institutional barriers, and public opinion make solving societal
problems tedious and costly
-Likely better than the autocracy
-Citizens have control over government
-Governments must appease citizens to stay in power
The policy making process - ANSWER--Proposed by Harold Laswell (1951)
-A heuristic demonstrating the pathways by which policies are identified, proposed,
evaluated, implemented and terminated.
-7 stages
The 7 stages of the policy making process - ANSWER-1. problem and solution
identification
2. agenda setting
3. policy formulation
4. alternative formulation
5. policy selection and adoption
6. policy implementation
7. policy evaluation
Step 1: problem and solution identification - ANSWER--How do social issues
become defined as social problems?
-Once social issues have been defined as social problems, how are solutions to
those problems identified?
-Stakeholders
-Policy demands
-Credible action
-Who gets what is determined by pressure
-That said, 'collective action problems' exist among stakeholders
-Connecting problems to solutions
-The policy entrepreneur
Stakeholders - ANSWER-Those who are affected by a policy problem
Policy demands - ANSWER-The demands exerted by stakeholders on the political
actors
Credible action - ANSWER-The mechanism by which demands pressure leaders
, The policy entrepreneur - ANSWER--Willing to exert time and effort
-Has a stake in the solution
-Ability to link their preferred solution to the 'problem' of others
Step 2: agenda setting - ANSWER-The process by which formal institutional centers
of power will take up and potentially act on a policy solution
-which demands do leaders actually decide to consider?
Factors that shape policy agendas:
-preferences of formal actors
-actors external to formal institutions (advocacy coalitions)
-external shocks
Step 3: policy formulation - ANSWER--Who is really getting involved in this?
-Who are the decision makers, who are offering advice/watching over it?
-Gormley (1984): salience and technical complexity
Low complexity, low salience - ANSWER-"street level politics"
-lower level bureaucrats
Low complexity, high salience - ANSWER-"hearing room politics"
-elected officials highly involved
-public highly involved
High complexity, low salience - ANSWER-"board room politics"
-elites are highly influential
-subsets of legislative committees, businesses
High complexity, high salience - ANSWER-"operating room politics"
-policy experts
-advocacy groups
Step 4: alternative formulation - ANSWER-Policy solutions are drawn from a set of
competing alternatives
-Whose ideas are considered?
-policy advocates
-private organizations subsidize government effort by providing information
Step 5: policy selection - ANSWER--political actors make a policy decision
-what do individual decision makers consider
-likely a combination of many factors
-political affiliation
-political capture
-their specific electorate
-getting it right
-"getting it right" often entails a cost benefit analysis
-Steps:
-identify the project
