The document discusses definitions of public policy from various scholars and experts. It begins by summarizing Thomas Dye's definition of public policy as "anything a government chooses to do or not to do." It then examines definitions provided by other scholars, highlighting key elements of each such as the role of goals, programs, decisions, and effects. The document also discusses why public policy is studied - for scientific understanding of society, problem solving, and making policy recommendations. It explores how policy analysis can be used to better understand specific policies and their impacts through rigorous inquiry and research.

1. Understanding Public Policy
Policy Analysis
by Thomas Dye
Presented by Anil Chandrika
21st Aug 2012
NIDA

2. Policy: In Search of Definition
— David Easton ‘s Definition
“The authoritative allocation of values
for the whole society”.
Which means only the government can “
authoritatively” act on the “ whole” society, and
everything the government chooses to do or not
do results on the “ allocation of values”.

3. Policy: In Search of Definition
— Harold Lasswell and Abraham Kaplan
Definition
“a projected program of goals, values
and practices”.
Which means that there need to be a clear
direction with clear objective with both moral and
economical atributes with clear action plan”.

4. Policy: In Search of Definition
— Carl Friedrick’s Definition
“It is essential for policy concept that
there be goal, objective or purpose”.
Which was very similar to the earlier definitionbut the real challenge to insist that government
actions must have a “goal” in order to qualify as
“policy” which once can never be sure.

5. Policy: In Search of Definition
— Charles O.Jones’s Definition
“The Distinction among various proposal (specfied
means for achieving goals); programs (authorized
means for achieving goals); decisions (specfied
actions taken to implement programs); and effects
( the measurable impact of the programme)”.
The problem here is to assume that decisions,
programs, goals and effects are linked….in many
case they are not.

6. Policy: In Search of Definition
— Heinz Eulau and Kenneth Prewitt’s Defines
“Policy is defined as a ‘standing decision’
characterized by behavioral consistency and
repetitiveness on the part of both those who make
it and those who abide by it”.
can the Government activities be characterized
by “consistency and repetitiveness”?.

7. Policy: In Search of Definition
Stuart S. Negal’s Definition
“Public Policy can be defined as determining
which of various alternative public or
governmental policy will most achieve a given set
of goals in light of the relations between the
policies and the goals.

8. Stuart S. Negal’s Definition (cont’d)
—
“That definition brings out four key elements of
policy evaluation which are:
— Goals, including normative constraints and relative
weights for the goals.
— Policies, programs, projects, decisions, options, means, or
other alternatives that are available for achieving the
goals.
— Relations between the policies and the goals, including
relations that are established by intuition, authority,
statistics, observation, deduction, guesses, or other
means
— Draw a conclusion as to which policy or combination of
policies is best to adopt in light of the goals, policies, and
relations.

9. Policy: In Search of Definition
— Aron Wildovsky’s Definition
“ Policy
is a process as well as a
product. It is used to refer to a
process of decision-making and also
the product of that process.” (1979)

10. Policy: In Search of Definition
— Frank Fischer’s Definition
“Public policy is a discursive construct rather than a selfdefining phenomenon.” (Fischer, 2003) ”
“We define policy as a political agreement on a course of action
(or inaction) designed to resolve or mitigate problems on the
political agenda. This agreement…is an intellectual constructs
rather than a self-defining phenomenon. Discursively constructed,
there can be no inherently unique decision, institutions, or actors
constituting public policy that are to be identified, uncovered, and
explained. Public policy, as such, is an analytical category with a
substantive content cannot be simply researched; more
fundamentally, it has to be interpreted.”

11. Policy: In Search of Definition
Stephen J. Ball’s Definition
“Policy is clearly a matter of the ‘authoritative
allocation of values’; policies are the operational
statements of values, ‘statements of prescriptive
intent’ (Kogan 1975).
But values do not float free of their social context. We need to ask
whose values are validated in policy, and whose are not. Thus, ‘The
authoritative allocation of values draws our attention to the centrality of
power and control in the concept of policy’ (Prunty 1985). Policies
project images of an ideal society (education policies project definitions
of what counts as education).”

12. Policy: In Search of Definition
Thomas Dye’s Definition:
“Public Policy is concerned with what
governments do, why they do it, and what
difference it makes. It is about political (/
social) science(s) and the ability of this
discipline to describe, analyze, and explain
public policy”.
“ Public policy is whatever government choose
to do or not to do.”

13. Introduction – What is Public Policy?
Many scholars have given different definitions to public policy.
— Public policy is ‘anything a government chooses to do or not to
do’ (Thomas Dye).
— This definition means that the primary agent of public policy is a
government – initiatives sanctioned by government –eg.
Healthcare or education policy impacts the decisions of medical
and education staff
— Private business decisions, decisions by charitable
organizations, interest groups and other social groups or
individuals are not in themselves public policies.

14. Introduction – What is Public Policy?
• Governments enjoy a special role in public policy-making due to
their unique ability to make authoritative decisions on behalf of
citizens, which are backed up by legislation, laws, rules and
regulations as well as sanctions for offenders in the event of noncompliance.
• Thomas Dye’s definition also highlights the fact that public policy-
making involves a fundamental choice on the part of governments to
do something or to do nothing about a problem, and that decision is
made by elected representatives or government officials.
• Closely related to this point, Dye’s definition also highlights the fact
that a public policy is a conscious choice of a government. That is
government actions and decisions often yield unintended
consequences. For example, an effort to control the sale of a
product deemed to be harmful for public consumption may increase
smuggling and shoot up its price – people operate illegally on the
black market.

15. Introduction – What is Public Policy?
• Dye’s three points are central to understanding public policy as
an applied problem-solving process, and his definition brings the
idea of conscious, deliberate government decisions to the fore in
its analysis.
• Governments often make policies based on a series of decisions
that cumulatively contribute to an outcome. Eg: health policy
involves building health facilities, certifying personnel and
treatment, and financing healthcare provision among many other
related actions.
• These various interrelated decisions are often made by different
individuals and agencies within government such as the Cabinet,
Ministries of Finance, Health and even social welfare and by
various departments and agencies within the ministries

16. Why study Public Policy?
There are three main reason
a. Scientific Understanding: To understand the causes and
consequences of policy decisions, which will improve our
knowledge of society. It can act as both dependent and
independent variable Example: as a dependent variable on can ask
what socioeconomic condition and political systems characteristics
operated to shape certain policies? Alternatively it can be viewed as
independendent variable as what impact public policy has on the
society and its political system
b.
Problem Solving: To study the cause and consequences of
the policy which can be used to seek solutions and practical
problems “factual knowledge is prerequisite to prescribing for
the ills of society”
c.
Policy Recommendations: It can be for political purposes
Example: to ensure that the nation adopts the “right” policies to
achieve the “right” goals.

17. What can we learn about Public
Policy?
a.
Description: we can learn what the Government is doing(and
not doing) in welfare, defence, education, Health, environment,
taxation etc Example: What is the medicare or Medicaid program
promise for the poor? What agreements have US and Russia reached
on Nuclear weapons? How much money was paid on taxes? What is
the environment protection plans? etc
b.
Causes: we can inquire about the causes, or determinants, of
public policy. Why do government do what they do? We can
inquire about the effects of political institutions, processes and
behaviours Example: What are the effects of recession on
government spending? What is the effect of an inceasingly older
populations on the social security and medicare progrmme?
c.
Consequences: we can inquire into the impacts, like what
diffrence, if any,does public policy make in people’s lives?
Example: Does capital punishment deter crime? Are welfare
programs a disincentive to work?

18. Policy Analysis and Policy
Advocacy
• Policy analysis encouranges scholars and
students to attack critical policy issues
with tools of systematic inquiry
• -A primary concern with explanations rather than prescriptions
• -A regorous search for the causes and consequences of public
policies
• - An effort to develop and test general propositions about the causes
and concequences of public policy and to accumulate reliable
research findings on general relevance.
• Policy advocacy requires the skills of
rehetoric, persuasion, organization and
activism.

19. Studying Public Policy, Its Causes and Consequences
Society
Political systems
Public Policies
Institutions,
Processes,
Behaviours
Social and
Economic
Conditions
Public Policies
Including:
Including:
Including:
Wealth and Income
Inflations, recessions,
Unemployments
Educational achievements
Environmental Quality
Religious and Ethnic
make-up
Racial Compositive
Health and longevity
Inequalities,
discriminations
Insititutions
Federalism
Seprations of powers
Parties
Interest Groups
Voting Behaviours
Bureaucracy
Power Structure
Congress, President,
Coutrs
Civil rights
Educational policies
Welface Policies
Health Crae Policies
Criminal justice
Taxations
Spending and deficits
Defense Policies
regulations

20. Policy Analysis in action: Achieving
Educational opportunities
Policy analysis:
The coleman Report:- It specifically studied the impact of schools on
the aspiration and achievement levels of the pupils. This was the first
evry comprehensive analysis of American Public school system and
collected a smaple size of 600,000 children, 60,000 teachers and
4,000 schools.
Key findings of the study was that the students learning or
achievements has got nothing to do with the number of students in a
class, or amount of money spend on each pupil, library, laboratories,
teachers salaries, quality of education or curriculum etc
But the key factors affectings the students learning was 1) family
background and 2) the family background of the classmates

21. Policy Analysis in action: Achieving
Educational opportunities
Policy Implications:
If the coleman reports was correct, it is pointless
simply to pour more money into the existing
system of public education – Raising per pupil
expenditure, increasing teachers salaries,
lowering the number of pupil per classrooms,
providing better libraries, laboratories,
educational frills etc as these polices were
found to have no significant impact on the
learning

22. Why Study Public Policy
• Dye and others’ definitions provide the general outline of what
public policy is. Their underlying reliance on appreciating the
contribution of actors, structures, and ideas to making policy also
suggests some methodological obligations when studying public
policy.
• Sometimes a government may announce the reason why it
made certain decisions, and these reasons may even be true.
But it is also common for a government not to give any reason
for its policy preferences, or for the publicly stated reason not to
be the actual reason a decision was taken.
• In such situations, it is left to analysts to determine why a
particular alternative was chosen and, very often, why some
other seemingly more attractive option was not.

23. Why study Public Policy
• How analysts explain specific public policy outcomes is
influenced by the frameworks they employ and the aspects of
policy-making these frameworks emphasize or downplay. These
models and techniques orient analysts towards one of two broad
approaches:
• 1) there are those who believe that reasonably objective analysis
of policy goals and outcomes is possible and that these subjects
can be explored with standard social science methodologies for
collecting data and analyzing them.
• In this positivist view, students of public policy must be skilled in
evaluating policy outcomes and understanding. For example,
why a policy was not implemented as intended and failed, or why
it may have succeeded despite poor implementation.

24. Why study Public Policy
• Other analysts embrace a more subjective interpretive or post-
positivist’ techniques to help them distinguish and critique
government aims, intentions and actions. For example, they
examine how decision-makers assume that human behaviour
influence their decisions to use certain policy implementation
techniques.
• The positivist and post-positivist approaches serve to underscore
how orientations towards policy-making as a social phenomenon
can affect analytical techniques and outcomes.
• This difference in methods and approaches to policy-making
underlies the distinction drawn between policy analysis and
policy studies.

25. Policy Analysis and Political Conflict
• Policy issues are decided not by
analysts but by political actors.
• Policy analysis sometimes produce unexpected and
even embarrassing findings, that public policies do not
always work as intended, and that different political
interests will interpret their findings of policy research
differently – accepting, rejecting, or using these
findings as they fit their own purpose.

26. Policy Analysis and the quest for
solutions
• The question is can Policy analysis ever
provide “ solutions”?
• This could be because
• A) Limits in Government Power
• B) Disagreements over the problems