POLICY ANALYSIS
SESSION 1 (14/02) : INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................................... 2
SESSION 2 (21/02) : THEORETICAL APPROACHES .................................................................................................... 4
SESSION 3 (28/02) : POLICY CONTEXT, ACTORS, AND INSTITUTIONS ....................................................................... 8
SESSION 3 (28/02) : MINISTERIAL ADVISERS (LECTURE ARTHUR MEERT & TOM BELLENS) .................................... 13
SESSION 4 (07/03) : POLICY INSTRUMENTS .......................................................................................................... 17
SESSION 4 (07/03) : NUDGING ............................................................................................................................. 21
SESSION 5 (21/03) : POLICY CYCLE (PROBLEM DEFINITION AND AGENDA SETTING) .............................................. 23
SESSION 6 (28/03) : POLICY FORMULATION ......................................................................................................... 28
SESSION 7 (28/03) : POLITICAL DECISION-MAKING ............................................................................................... 31
SESSION 8 (25/04) : IMPLEMENTATION ................................................................................................................ 35
SESSION 9 (02/05) : EVALUATION + FEEDBACK AND LEARNING ............................................................................ 39
,SESSION 1 (14/02) : INTRODUCTION
PUBLIC POLICY ANALYSIS ?
policy
= what a government chooses to do or not to do (Dye)
= set of interrelated decisions by a political actor or group of actors concerning the selection of goals and
means of achieving them (…) within the power of those actors (Jenkins)
= course of action of an actor or set of actors in dealing with a problem or matter of concern (Anderson)
policy sciences Lasswell & Lerner (1951)
multi-method, multi-disciplinary, problem-oriented, mapping of contexts, alternatives, and effects
< what political actors do?
< why they do it?
< what difference it makes?
!! important distinction : analysis of policy (theory) / analysis for policy (prescriptive and applied)
POLICY CYCLE MODEL
< Easton’s system model : political process view (input > system > output) graphic
!! black box
stages of the policy cycle (Lasswell)
1. intelligence collecting + disseminating knowledge
2. promotion supporting selected alternatives
3. prescription decision for an alternative
4. invocation decision of rules of selected alternative
5. application implementation through the administration
6. termination ending the process (correction after evaluation)
7. appraisal evaluation according to the initial goals (correction before termination)
stages in relation to problem-solving
problem recognition and agenda-setting problem definition and agenda-setting
proposal of solution policy formulation
choice of solution decision-making
putting solutions into effects policy implementation
,strength and limits of the model
+ helps to reduce complexity - non-systematic and idiosyncratic policy
+ mapping and clarifying the roles of actors, processes/decisions
institutions and ideas/interests - no linear order of the stages
- no clear notions about causes and effects of policy
decisions
, SESSION 2 (21/02) : THEORETICAL APPROACHES
CLASSIFICATION OF APPROACHES
< unit of analysis : individuals / collectivity / structure
< schools of thought : deductive / inductive
individual collectivity structure
deductive public choice social structure or class analysis neo-institutionalism
inductive welfare economics pluralism or neo-corporatism statism
PUBLIC CHOICE
rational action and individual utility maximisation (application of neo-classical economics)
< self-interests of voters, politicians, and administrative officials:
increasing state intervention by providing goods and services
> normative: less state and benefits of the market (to prevent self-interested behaviour)
problems
- over-simplifying: policy is more complex than utility maximisation
- poor predictive capacity (70s reducing state spending)
- underestimated impact of institutions on action
- neo-liberal, not value-free perspective
SOCIAL STRUCTURE AND CLASS THEORY
focus on collective entities divided by economic criteria (drawn on to decide over class membership)
< orthodox marxism : state as an instrument of the capitalist class (policy in line with capitalist interests), just as
religion and education serve the rich and not the poor
< neo-marxism : relative autonomy of the state (Poulantzas) ex. enactment of welfare policies
problems
- over-simplification and strongly deductive
- no clear definition of class (diversity)
- problems with differentiation between infrastructure/base (relation between classes in society) and
superstructure (geluid weggevallen) … (institutions ….)
- economic determinism : relations determine policy and institutions
+ newer class studies (no longer Marxist) : inequality between classes
Esping-Andersen’s (1990) The Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism
SESSION 1 (14/02) : INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................................... 2
SESSION 2 (21/02) : THEORETICAL APPROACHES .................................................................................................... 4
SESSION 3 (28/02) : POLICY CONTEXT, ACTORS, AND INSTITUTIONS ....................................................................... 8
SESSION 3 (28/02) : MINISTERIAL ADVISERS (LECTURE ARTHUR MEERT & TOM BELLENS) .................................... 13
SESSION 4 (07/03) : POLICY INSTRUMENTS .......................................................................................................... 17
SESSION 4 (07/03) : NUDGING ............................................................................................................................. 21
SESSION 5 (21/03) : POLICY CYCLE (PROBLEM DEFINITION AND AGENDA SETTING) .............................................. 23
SESSION 6 (28/03) : POLICY FORMULATION ......................................................................................................... 28
SESSION 7 (28/03) : POLITICAL DECISION-MAKING ............................................................................................... 31
SESSION 8 (25/04) : IMPLEMENTATION ................................................................................................................ 35
SESSION 9 (02/05) : EVALUATION + FEEDBACK AND LEARNING ............................................................................ 39
,SESSION 1 (14/02) : INTRODUCTION
PUBLIC POLICY ANALYSIS ?
policy
= what a government chooses to do or not to do (Dye)
= set of interrelated decisions by a political actor or group of actors concerning the selection of goals and
means of achieving them (…) within the power of those actors (Jenkins)
= course of action of an actor or set of actors in dealing with a problem or matter of concern (Anderson)
policy sciences Lasswell & Lerner (1951)
multi-method, multi-disciplinary, problem-oriented, mapping of contexts, alternatives, and effects
< what political actors do?
< why they do it?
< what difference it makes?
!! important distinction : analysis of policy (theory) / analysis for policy (prescriptive and applied)
POLICY CYCLE MODEL
< Easton’s system model : political process view (input > system > output) graphic
!! black box
stages of the policy cycle (Lasswell)
1. intelligence collecting + disseminating knowledge
2. promotion supporting selected alternatives
3. prescription decision for an alternative
4. invocation decision of rules of selected alternative
5. application implementation through the administration
6. termination ending the process (correction after evaluation)
7. appraisal evaluation according to the initial goals (correction before termination)
stages in relation to problem-solving
problem recognition and agenda-setting problem definition and agenda-setting
proposal of solution policy formulation
choice of solution decision-making
putting solutions into effects policy implementation
,strength and limits of the model
+ helps to reduce complexity - non-systematic and idiosyncratic policy
+ mapping and clarifying the roles of actors, processes/decisions
institutions and ideas/interests - no linear order of the stages
- no clear notions about causes and effects of policy
decisions
, SESSION 2 (21/02) : THEORETICAL APPROACHES
CLASSIFICATION OF APPROACHES
< unit of analysis : individuals / collectivity / structure
< schools of thought : deductive / inductive
individual collectivity structure
deductive public choice social structure or class analysis neo-institutionalism
inductive welfare economics pluralism or neo-corporatism statism
PUBLIC CHOICE
rational action and individual utility maximisation (application of neo-classical economics)
< self-interests of voters, politicians, and administrative officials:
increasing state intervention by providing goods and services
> normative: less state and benefits of the market (to prevent self-interested behaviour)
problems
- over-simplifying: policy is more complex than utility maximisation
- poor predictive capacity (70s reducing state spending)
- underestimated impact of institutions on action
- neo-liberal, not value-free perspective
SOCIAL STRUCTURE AND CLASS THEORY
focus on collective entities divided by economic criteria (drawn on to decide over class membership)
< orthodox marxism : state as an instrument of the capitalist class (policy in line with capitalist interests), just as
religion and education serve the rich and not the poor
< neo-marxism : relative autonomy of the state (Poulantzas) ex. enactment of welfare policies
problems
- over-simplification and strongly deductive
- no clear definition of class (diversity)
- problems with differentiation between infrastructure/base (relation between classes in society) and
superstructure (geluid weggevallen) … (institutions ….)
- economic determinism : relations determine policy and institutions
+ newer class studies (no longer Marxist) : inequality between classes
Esping-Andersen’s (1990) The Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism
