Substantive Public Policy

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Understanding public policies and how they are implemented is knowing the type of policy that is being used to fix a problem. The type of policy employed to resolve a problem can greatly change the way in which government deals with the problem. The procedures that deal with concrete and significant problems are known as substantive policies. Example of substantive issues includes highway construction; environmental protection; and payment of welfare benefits (Islamy, 2014). Substantive policies are the types of policies which deals with existent and substantial problems, and these guidelines are created to directly address these issues. It is also known as a material policy as it provides concrete resources for those who benefit from it. These policies are configured and created to deal directly in an absolute way. These strategies are concerned with governmental actions to deal with …show more content…

At the same time, it can impose a disadvantage to those who are adversely affected by the policy. More simply put, these are the strategies that affect change, they actually do something. The next type of policy is the symbolic policy. Although substantive policies dominate the public agenda, symbolic issues are relevant to the political process. This is a strategy used by politicians in their speeches and campaigns because this kind of dialogue would receive a response from people without actually citing specialized instances that would require concrete consequences. Symbolic policies are those policies that are used to appeal to people's desires and values rather than to any form of tangible benefit. Politicians will often use symbolic language in their speeches because it is language that evokes a particular response from the public but doesn't have to provide a tangible award. In other words, symbolic policies do not deliver what they appear to deliver; rather, they appeal to

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