Outline The Principles Of Public Policy Essay

Outline the principles of the policy process for improving the health status of communities

Policy is defined as ?a stable, purposive course of action followed by an actor or set of actors in dealing with a problem or matter of concern? (Anderson, J.E. (2003). Public policymaking: An introduction). There are several types of policies, however this discussion will focus on public policy. There are numerous reasons why policies are made and implemented. Public policies are usually developed by government officials and may be influenced by non-governmental actors. The end point of any policy is to achieve results whereas proposed policies can be thought of as propositions that include actions that may be acted upon to achieve specific objectives.

Policies are usually formed in response to some public issue that has been brought forward to the government by citizens, group representatives or legislators. In the setting of a particular health issue this involves identifying and defining the problem in a particular community that needs to be addressed. The second step involved in the policy making process is policy formation. It is at this stage where existing policies if any regarding a particular issue (in this case an issue regarding health status of a community) is examined and is changed. If no policies exist on a particular matter then policies will have to be created. Public officials are usually the ones involved in the policy formulation process. It is important here to define the meaning of policy statements. Policy statements are official expressions of a policy. Policy statements may include legislative statutes, executive orders, administrative guidelines as well as opinions of the court. Policy adoption follows the process of policy formation. It is at this stage where proposed policies that have been made are chosen and subsequently passed to challenge the issue in which the policy was made for in the first place. Policies must also