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
Voordelen van het kopen van samenvattingen bij Stuvia op een rij:
Verzekerd van kwaliteit door reviews
Stuvia-klanten hebben meer dan 700.000 samenvattingen beoordeeld. Zo weet je zeker dat je de beste documenten koopt!
Snel en makkelijk kopen
Je betaalt supersnel en eenmalig met iDeal, creditcard of Stuvia-tegoed voor de samenvatting. Zonder lidmaatschap.
Focus op de essentie
Samenvattingen worden geschreven voor en door anderen. Daarom zijn de samenvattingen altijd betrouwbaar en actueel. Zo kom je snel tot de kern!
Veelgestelde vragen
Wat krijg ik als ik dit document koop?
Je krijgt een PDF, die direct beschikbaar is na je aankoop. Het gekochte document is altijd, overal en oneindig toegankelijk via je profiel.
Tevredenheidsgarantie: hoe werkt dat?
Onze tevredenheidsgarantie zorgt ervoor dat je altijd een studiedocument vindt dat goed bij je past. Je vult een formulier in en onze klantenservice regelt de rest.
Van wie koop ik deze samenvatting?
Stuvia is een marktplaats, je koop dit document dus niet van ons, maar van verkoper juliette5. Stuvia faciliteert de betaling aan de verkoper.
Zit ik meteen vast aan een abonnement?
Nee, je koopt alleen deze samenvatting voor €5,39. Je zit daarna nergens aan vast.