Public Policy and governance period 1
Table of Contents
Lecture 1 :.....................................................................................................................................3
Readings 1:....................................................................................................................................6
Lecture 2:....................................................................................................................................18
readings 2....................................................................................................................................22
Lecture 3.....................................................................................................................................27
readings 3:...................................................................................................................................32
Lecture 4.....................................................................................................................................41
Readings 4:..................................................................................................................................45
Lecture 5.....................................................................................................................................53
Readings 5 :.................................................................................................................................56
Lecture 6.....................................................................................................................................64
Readings 6 :.................................................................................................................................68
Multiple choice questions
,Each 3 points, in total 30 points
1) Which of these statements is not true?
a) Institutional void means no clear hierarchy
b) Institutional void means lack of rules
c) Institutional void means leadership must be acquired
d) Institutional void means institutional emptiness
2) Which statement is true? The New Public Management form of steering
a) Approaches government from a business perspective
b) Approaches government from a scientific perspective
c) Approaches government from a juridical perspective
d) Approaches government from a political perspective
3) Which of the following statements is correct?
a) Kingdon’s garbage can model refers to politicians throwing away ideas they do not favor
b) Kingdon’s garbage can model refers to politicians dumping solutions on problems
c) Kingdon’s garbage can model refers to politicians trashing the ideas of the political
opponents
d) Kingdon’s garbage can model refers to politicians picking ideas from the trash of failed
ideas
4) Which of these statements is not true?
a) The Dutch state is a based on a decentralized federal system
b) The Dutch state is based on a coalition system
c) The Dutch state is based on a core executive system
d) The Dutch state is based on a two chamber parliamentary system
5) Which of these is the correct statement of Laswell’s definition of politics?
a) Who gets what, why, when and how?
b) Who gets what, why, how and when?
c) Who gets what, when, why and how?
d) Who gets what, how, why, and when?
6) The government does not have a monopoly on
a) Taxation
b) The use of force
c) Commons problems
d) Making laws
7) Which of these statements is the correct formulation of detournement de pouvoir?
,a) Governments may use their public power as much as they think necesarry to protect
people
b) Governments may use their public power as little as possible to avoid invasions of privacy
c) Governments may use their public power for the purpose to which it was conferred to
them
d) Governments may use their public power only insofar it concerns the state monopolies
8) Which of these items is not a level of agenda setting?
a) Systemic agenda
b) Regime agenda
c) Institutional agenda
d) Decision agenda
9) Pressman & Wildavsky’s approach to implementation can be characterized as
a) Incremental
b) Rationalistic
c) Bottom up
d) Garbage can
10) Hajer’s concept of legitimacy deficit refers to
a) The fact that government lacks the knowledge to implement policy
b) The fact that the government lacks the capacity to implement policy
c) The fact that the government lacks the networks to implement policy
d) The fact that the government lacks the support to implement policy
2) Which of these statements is not part of how Stone defines the polis?
a) It has a public interest which consists of the sum of individual interests
b) Most of its policy problems are commons problems
c)Influence is pervasive, and the boundary between influence and coercion is always
contested
d) Groups and organizations form the building blocks
Lecture 1 :
Why public policy?
- What do you see as the biggest problem that government should take care of?
o Healthcare
, o Social security
o Education
o Climate change
o Basic income
Examples: public policy in action
- Trump undoing the clean power plan (Paris accords)
o This doesn’t particularly mean that there is no care for the environment anymore
o States have a lot of autonomy within the state system
- The EU Turkey deal
o As a policy goal, this seems to work as there is less of an influx of refugees in the
EU
- Brexit
o A hot topic within that situation: what will be the status of EU citizens within the
UK?
- EU cybersecurity agency
o Governments under attack
o Large corporations under attack
o This doesn’t just involve the government because most of the expertise is found
in private sectors, so a collaboration is required
- English government 2008: October package
o The government explaining its plans to re capitalise banks due to the low
capitalisation levels
Policy also exists on a more mundane level
- Police
o What they are allowed to do, not allowed to do
- Agriculture subsidies
o Very important in France
- Ai traffic regulation
o A lot of policy behind maintaining safe air traffic
- Anti-smoking campaigns
- Water protection
- Building permits
- Regulation for voting
So, what do we conclude?
- Policy is everywhere
Without policy?
Life is nasty, brutish and short
- Thomas Hobbes
Policy helps us to:
- Set goals and invent solutions
o How do we know what the best solution is?
o There is always a range of solutions, but usually only one solution is picked
Table of Contents
Lecture 1 :.....................................................................................................................................3
Readings 1:....................................................................................................................................6
Lecture 2:....................................................................................................................................18
readings 2....................................................................................................................................22
Lecture 3.....................................................................................................................................27
readings 3:...................................................................................................................................32
Lecture 4.....................................................................................................................................41
Readings 4:..................................................................................................................................45
Lecture 5.....................................................................................................................................53
Readings 5 :.................................................................................................................................56
Lecture 6.....................................................................................................................................64
Readings 6 :.................................................................................................................................68
Multiple choice questions
,Each 3 points, in total 30 points
1) Which of these statements is not true?
a) Institutional void means no clear hierarchy
b) Institutional void means lack of rules
c) Institutional void means leadership must be acquired
d) Institutional void means institutional emptiness
2) Which statement is true? The New Public Management form of steering
a) Approaches government from a business perspective
b) Approaches government from a scientific perspective
c) Approaches government from a juridical perspective
d) Approaches government from a political perspective
3) Which of the following statements is correct?
a) Kingdon’s garbage can model refers to politicians throwing away ideas they do not favor
b) Kingdon’s garbage can model refers to politicians dumping solutions on problems
c) Kingdon’s garbage can model refers to politicians trashing the ideas of the political
opponents
d) Kingdon’s garbage can model refers to politicians picking ideas from the trash of failed
ideas
4) Which of these statements is not true?
a) The Dutch state is a based on a decentralized federal system
b) The Dutch state is based on a coalition system
c) The Dutch state is based on a core executive system
d) The Dutch state is based on a two chamber parliamentary system
5) Which of these is the correct statement of Laswell’s definition of politics?
a) Who gets what, why, when and how?
b) Who gets what, why, how and when?
c) Who gets what, when, why and how?
d) Who gets what, how, why, and when?
6) The government does not have a monopoly on
a) Taxation
b) The use of force
c) Commons problems
d) Making laws
7) Which of these statements is the correct formulation of detournement de pouvoir?
,a) Governments may use their public power as much as they think necesarry to protect
people
b) Governments may use their public power as little as possible to avoid invasions of privacy
c) Governments may use their public power for the purpose to which it was conferred to
them
d) Governments may use their public power only insofar it concerns the state monopolies
8) Which of these items is not a level of agenda setting?
a) Systemic agenda
b) Regime agenda
c) Institutional agenda
d) Decision agenda
9) Pressman & Wildavsky’s approach to implementation can be characterized as
a) Incremental
b) Rationalistic
c) Bottom up
d) Garbage can
10) Hajer’s concept of legitimacy deficit refers to
a) The fact that government lacks the knowledge to implement policy
b) The fact that the government lacks the capacity to implement policy
c) The fact that the government lacks the networks to implement policy
d) The fact that the government lacks the support to implement policy
2) Which of these statements is not part of how Stone defines the polis?
a) It has a public interest which consists of the sum of individual interests
b) Most of its policy problems are commons problems
c)Influence is pervasive, and the boundary between influence and coercion is always
contested
d) Groups and organizations form the building blocks
Lecture 1 :
Why public policy?
- What do you see as the biggest problem that government should take care of?
o Healthcare
, o Social security
o Education
o Climate change
o Basic income
Examples: public policy in action
- Trump undoing the clean power plan (Paris accords)
o This doesn’t particularly mean that there is no care for the environment anymore
o States have a lot of autonomy within the state system
- The EU Turkey deal
o As a policy goal, this seems to work as there is less of an influx of refugees in the
EU
- Brexit
o A hot topic within that situation: what will be the status of EU citizens within the
UK?
- EU cybersecurity agency
o Governments under attack
o Large corporations under attack
o This doesn’t just involve the government because most of the expertise is found
in private sectors, so a collaboration is required
- English government 2008: October package
o The government explaining its plans to re capitalise banks due to the low
capitalisation levels
Policy also exists on a more mundane level
- Police
o What they are allowed to do, not allowed to do
- Agriculture subsidies
o Very important in France
- Ai traffic regulation
o A lot of policy behind maintaining safe air traffic
- Anti-smoking campaigns
- Water protection
- Building permits
- Regulation for voting
So, what do we conclude?
- Policy is everywhere
Without policy?
Life is nasty, brutish and short
- Thomas Hobbes
Policy helps us to:
- Set goals and invent solutions
o How do we know what the best solution is?
o There is always a range of solutions, but usually only one solution is picked
