In the book, “Policy Paradox: The Art of Political Decision Making”, by Deborah Stone (2012), she makes several claims about the process and approach to policy analysis. Stone analyzes what she describes as three pillars of public policy; model of reasoning, model of society, and model of policy making. Her view on this process is different from the approach of a rational or market model in politics. Public policy based on the “rational decision-making model” has flaws (Stone 2012, p.11).
In the rational model of reasoning decisions are made by evaluation. There are logical steps or processes that are taken to make policy decisions. The goal or purpose is clearly defined or known. All alternatives are evaluated and taken into consideration
…show more content…
with the pros and cons of each known. Then a policy decision is made, with all the information, to reach the desired goal or outcome. Stones position is that decisions are made in the arena of politics and not by rational decision-making. Which politician can convince us they have the solution or have the right policy decision is the one who succeeds. In this sense, decisions are made not by evaluation but by who ever has the most believable argument or is most convincing. The rational model of society is comprised of individuals who are always looking out for their self-interest. Getting ahead in society is or maximizing ones position is the ultimate goal. This can be accomplished based on trade and bartering to get the desired result for the individual but they have to know what they want and when. But this leads to competition, as goals often vary or are in competition with each other. The individual is the focus. Stone contrast this method of thinking with the notion that groups, not the individual, are the focus. Individuals may join or belong to groups to push their collective goals and objectives. Groups often have competing interest and often do not have all the information to make individual decisions. In the rational model of policy making is made in an orderly fashion. The market is made up of individuals who make decisions based on the information they have. These decisions can be pitched to individuals through politicians. Stones view is the information is not always the same nor accurate. Perceptions of political problems and solutions are not universally agreed upon leading to different ideas and perspectives for resolution of those political issues. Stones approach of policymaking or the Polis, as she describes it, centers on the shared goals of equity, efficiency, welfare, liberty, and security. The goals can have various points of views and truths within them and are not observed in the same light by all in the community. They are open for interpretation and do not have a specific, defined common meaning. There is a continuing struggle within the political community to decide who gets what, when, and how. There are several paradoxical relationships or ideologies involved. Such as in equity, deciding on equal treatment or equal opportunity or a fair process where everyone has an equal chance. In efficiency getting the most out of something for the least amount of cost, but there is unequal distributions such as income, wealth, and benefits. Welfare, liberty, and security can be hard to define in the Polis. There is an inherent conflict in balancing these needs. Individual survival needs such as food and shelter, as compared to society or community needs such as security from harm or the freedom of individual choice or liberty versus societal security. One may have to compromise or reduce individual freedoms, such as to not pay taxes in exchange for more security, such as paying taxes to the government for civil defense (Stone, 2012). Stone discusses the use of symbols, stories, and numbers are used in the Polis, to define problems. Symbols are any object that can be used to represent something else. Such as, a tree can represent life, as it grows or matures over time. Stories are also very effective. Synecdoche, is often used in the political arena. This is where a whole situation is summed up by only telling part of the story. This enables the communicator to convey their perspective or message in order to get the receiver to see their view by applying it to the whole situation. Numbers are also metaphors and used to convey meaning, shape perceptions, relate ideas, and influence others. Numbers may not always be numbers and are also used in a way to tell a story. For example; arrest numbers are up. This could mean the police are doing a better job of catching criminals or crime is on the rise. It may also mean there is the same number of criminals, just that now the public is reporting more crime because they have a trust relationship with the police. These are effective ways used to define Stones claim in politics is that goals are not specifically defined; they are constantly changing to take alternatives into consideration.
The political solution or decision is the based on the one that does the most good for the most people in the community, based on the perception of the power group making the decision. In politics, facts may not be facts, but instead be misleading to promote a particular point of view. She also claims in the realm of policy, paradox takes place, where one idea, thought, or policy may have multiple meanings. The activity or idea will be defined in the way that suits our ideology or way of …show more content…
thinking. Stones approach of political decision-making centers on the shared goals of equity, efficiency, welfare, liberty, and security. The goals can have various points of views and truths within them and are not observed in the same light by all in the community. They are open for interpretation and do not have a specific, defined common meaning. There is a continuing struggle within the political community to decide who gets what, when, and how. There are several paradoxical relationships or ideologies involved. Such as in equity, deciding on equal treatment or equal opportunity or a fair process where everyone has an equal chance. In efficiency getting the most out of something for the least amount of cost, but there is unequal distributions such as income, wealth, and benefits. Welfare, liberty, and security can be hard to define in the Polis. There is an inherent conflict in balancing these needs. Individual survival needs such as food and shelter, as compared to society or community needs such as security from harm (Stone, 2012). I see some weaknesses in Stones approach. I think most people do make decisions using rational reasoning. They assess and evaluate the pros and cons of a decision and make the one that they believe is best for them at the time. These decisions made by individuals are designed for them to get ahead. They may increase their education to get a better job thereby increasing their self worth, style of living, and status in society. This could also be a reason for joining a group or organization, to increase ones position in society maybe by increasing their individual power on a particular issue. However there are some in society that truly are altruistic and don’t look out for themselves before others, such as Pope Francis. His policy goals for the Church are for the good of the whole, not himself individually. This would be a weakness in Stones approach where the individual is always first in the rational model. Stone has many strengths in her approach to political decision-making. She is able to articulate and contrast the rational model with the Polis model she describes. This is evident when she is engaging in the shared goals of society in relation to policy formation. The goals she describes are equity, efficiency, welfare, security, and liberty. She is able to point out that the goals have varied meanings to various people and groups. Individuals and groups may prioritize the various goals differently. The goals are not easily defined and sometimes may serve to be in conflict. Whereas in the rational model they would all have the same meaning and priority level for individuals. Policy solutions are constantly evolving and changing under the theory of incentives. Policy can change societal behavior and attempt to solve problems through knowledge of the penalty or reward. If a penalty is known then that behavior may be avoided, such as going to jail for drug offenses. If a reward is known that may direct behavior, such as enacting a helmet law to get highway funds. As a result of reading Stones book; “Policy Paradox: The Art of Political Decision Making” (2012), I learned there are different ways to view arguments for the change of policy.
All policy decisions center around the goals of society. Those policy decisions can be conflicting with the various goals. All of the goals Stone talked about in her book make sense. It is the interpretation of the effects of policy on those shared goals; the varying priority of those goals to society, and trying to find the best solutions or policies for issues can be very challenging. The different perspectives on priorities or what is important to who and when drives the political decisions. For example, currently terror attacks against society is a big issue in the political arena. The societal goals of security and freedom may be in conflict when it comes to policy decisions in this area. How much freedom does society have to give up to have security? If we give up some freedoms this may also limit our individual security from the government, for example with Meta data. Learning how politicians craft arguments to further their ideology in relation to the goals was interesting. I guess I knew it was always there but did not think about it in those terms until I read this
book. I also learned about the importance and power of language used in defining problems. Prior to reading the book I did not think about how politicians use language in politics. The good politicians use language very effectively to convince people to their way of thinking. This will get people to vote for them if their stories are convincing enough to garner support with the voting members of society. The telling of stories using heroes and villains to make a point is evident in today’s political area. In addition the use of metaphors, Synecdoche, and numbers to tell stories is very effective. These stories can also be effective in gaining support for an issue or idea and also can create a demand for a policy.
In the past few decades political scientists have been looking at ways to categorize different patterns which have emerged during their in depth study on why certain issues shoulder their way onto the calendar, and why others are left in the trashcan. John Kindogon is one such political scientist, his perceptive on agenda formation suggests that there are interactions between three “streams” of society: Problem stream, Policy stream and Political stream. His model proposes that these individual streams intersect through what he calls policy windows, opportunities for advocates to push attention towards their problem. From the clever usage of these streams policies are able to become passable legislation. This paper will use Kingdon’s “Streams” model to explain how different aspects of the community, government and media brought Florida House Bill 0991 onto the docket. In order to better comprehend Kingdon’s theories of agenda setting and their correlation to the proposal of Florida House Bill 0991, the basic model of policy formation must be explained; a general sketch of this model is: Private problem à Public Problem à Makes the Agenda à Formulation à Adoption à Budgeting à Implementation à Evaluation à Termination.
...one, D. Policy Paradox: The Art of Political Decision Making. New York: Norton, 2012. Book.
The fundamental of policymaking consists of a lengthy time process that goes through many steps in becoming a Bill. The process of policymaking is introduced in the beginning step of the Policy Formulation Phase, as the problem goes through a Legislation it goes into the Policy Implementation Phase, which than forms into a law or vetoed. Many policies do not become a Bill’s, but the certain ones that do they achieve the goal to guide the society with immense decision making and balanced outcomes.
Kraft, M. E., & Furlong, S. R. (2013). Public policy: politics, analysis, and alternatives (4th ed.). Washington DC, CQ Press.
Harlan once said, “But in the view of the Constitution, in the eye of the law, there is in this country no superior, dominant, ruling class of citizens. There is no caste here. Our Constitution is color-blind and neither knows nor tolerates classes among citizens.” The state of Louisiana passed a law that required separate railway cars for blacks and whites. It was all based around accommodations being “separate but equal”, meaning that public facilities were split up by races but the place had to serve the same purpose. In 1892, Homer Plessy was one eighth African American and he took a seat in a "whites only" car of a Louisiana train. He refused to move to the car only for blacks and was arrested. I believe that this was unconstitutional because of the 13th and 14th Amendments.
Public policies are developed in response to the existence of a perceived problem or an opportunity. The analysis delves into a public issue or problem and assesses a set of proposed government action for addressing the issue. The job of the analyst is to describe the background and status of an issue and then, using research and analysis, determine a proper government action to resolve the issue. By comparing options and weighing their expected benefits, the analyst should conclude with a recommended course of action or inaction to addressing the issue.
The first example that involves using the rational choice perspective is when Laura decides to move back home to El Paso with the children. She based her decision on her own personal goals and values. She feels as though she belongs to the community in El Paso and that is where her family is. She did not want her children to forget about the Mexican American heritage they are a part of. Laura’s goal in this decision is to make a better life for herself and her children.
Charles Lindblom in the Science of Muddling Though identified two methodology in formulating policy - the Rational Comprehensive (Root) and Successive Limited Comparisons (Branch). There are numerous differences between the root and branch decision-making methods for policymaking; root (rational) decision-making starts from basic issues on every occasion and builds from the ground up, whereas branch (successive limited comparison) begins with the current situation and changes incrementally. The linear or rational model presents policy-making as a problem solving process which is sensible, objective and analytical. In the model, decisions are made in an orderly manner starting with the identification of a problem or issue then ending with a set of activities to solve or deal with it. Charles Lindblom is critical of the Rational Comprehensive Method (Root) of policy process as simplistic and difficult to apply when dealing with complex issues (Lindblom, 1959, p. 79). He advocates that there is logic of “muddling through” the process rather than identifying all the issues, collecting al...
In conclusion, collective dilemmas happens everywhere, therefore, the government as “third party” has the advantage to solve public problem and issue. The main reason result to collective dilemmas is the bounded rationality, which claim people are rational, goal-oriented which leads cooperative problem.
Public choice theory analyses the application of economic concepts to the study of how governmental decisions are made and implemented (Edgar Browning & Jacquelene Browning 1994). The study of public choice theory dates back to the early 1400’s. Machiavelli and Hobbes are some of the initial theorist to contribute to and use public choice as an approach to political economy (Hill 1999). Duncan Black was the first to use economic concepts to study voting procedures and the political decision-making process in groups (Hill 1999). Following Black’s writings, public choice schoolwork received widespread attention in 1986, when James Buchanan was awarded the Nobel Prize in economics (Hill 1999). However, research shows that public choice theory has only been methodically studied for the past three decades (Edgar Browning & Jacquelene Browning 1994). In order to compensate for the shortage of information, we will introduce solutions to the issues that have significant influences on the modern political
Biggs, S., & Helms, L. B. (2007). The Practice of American Public Policymaking. New York: M.E. Sharpe, Inc.
Political Philosophy is typically a study of a wide range of topics such as, justice, liberty, equality, rights, law, politics and the application of a codified law. Depending on what the philosophy is, it usually tends to be a very sensitive and a personal ideology that an individual holds within the reality of their existence. Several of the fundamental topics of political philosophy shape up the society that we live in as these specific topics and their implementation by the state ensures a legitimate government. In Political Philosophy, the aforesaid concepts or topics are evaluated and analyzed with tremendous depth in context to their history and intent. Furthermore, in a rather colloquial sense, political philosophy is generally a point of view which after some deep thinking asks questions such as, what are the government’s duties? Is it legitimate? What makes it legitimate? What are the duties of its citizens? What are their rights? Are they protected? So on and so forth. In the following paper, I will canvass my political philosophy and elaborate on my reasoning behind it.
Decision making, as taken from the Wikipedia (2006) encyclopedia, is defined as "the cognitive process leading to the selection of a course of action among alternatives. Every decision making process produces a final choice called a decision. It can be an action or an opinion. It begins when we need to do something but we do not know what. Therefore, decision-making is a reasoning process which can be rational or irrational, and can be based on explicit assumptions or tacit assumptions." (para.1). Decisions made by using a decision-making model typically result in better decisions. Decisions resulting from the model tend to be more consistent since the same steps are followed each time. Increased thoroughness of decision options considered is another benefit in using a decision-making model, as numerous factors are taken into account.
‘The doctrine of dichotomy implied that the politicians and their direct appointees have the right to make policy decisions for the polity but it is the duty of the bureaucrats to carry those policies in good faith’ (Pfiffner, 2004, p. 2).
Public policy can be defined as “What ever governments choose to do or not do” (Dye, 2008, p 2). In the context of this essay, public policies are a set of actors by the government in order to reach out to the masses. The ministries and departments are mandated to deliver specific mandates in the form of public goods and services.