it provide you information about public policy definition, its elements , policy cycle and its importance.These 8 lectures provide you the complete knowledge about public policy analysis.

2. PP 2

3. Public policy

4. Policy as a response to social problems
• All policies aim to resolve a public problem that is identified as such
on the governmental agenda. Thus, they represent the response of
the political-administrative system to a social reality that is deemed
politically unacceptable.
• At the initial stage of all public intervention, the actual causes of the
collective problem have not yet been defined with certainty or
defined consensually by public and private actors

5. • Although this interpretation of policies as institutional responses to
(changing) social states that are deemed problematic is dominant
within policy analysis, this assumption need some revision.

6. • Firstly, some instances of social change do not give rise to policies,
mainly because they are not visible or expressed (for example, long-
term consequences only),
• Or because no mode of state intervention proves feasible and
consensual (for example, the inability to influence the behaviour of
certain private actors in reality).
• Thus, the view that state responds in an automatic fashion to all
‘social demands’ must be rejected.

7. • This point raises questions about the ways in which social problems
are defined, their thematicisation on the governmental agenda , the
definition of target groups and the eventual decision not to get
involved or apply a collective solution .
• Numerous filtering processes exist at all of these levels and they
represent opportunities for organised actors who oppose the political
recognition of an instance of social change to keep the latter outside
the political-administrative arena.

8. • Secondly, certain policies may be interpreted, not as collective actions
aimed at resolving a social problem, but as simple instruments for the
exercising of power and domination by one social group over another.
• The neo-Marxist authors believe that state policies aim solely to
reproduce or emphasise the divides between the social classes.
• The neo-Weberian school supposes that state intervention can only
enable the satisfaction of the internal interests of bureaucratic actors
(administrative inertia).

9. • The theory of rational choice defines policy as the (re)distribution of
the costs and benefits between the electoral groups in exchange for
votes and/or partisan support.
• Seen from this perspective, substantive policies would be merely
currency exchanged in electoral competitions.

10. • However, a middle of the position would be better to see how policies
emerges.
• Viewed fro this perspective, public policies emerge as a response to a
public problem that reflects a social state (in transformation),
• which has been articulated by mediators (for example, the media,
new social movements, political parties and/or interest groups) and
• then debated within the democratic decision-making process

11. • There is no linear and mechanical institutional response that would
be a function of the objective pressure of a collective problem; this is
always a redistributive exercise, a ‘mobilisation of bias’.
• Examples of this, include the insufficient police presence in suburbs
with high immigrant populations, which are one of the locations of
urban violence

12. An analytical definition of Public Policy
• the notion of public policy refers to the power games in a specific
institutional context played out between various public actors who
make a concerted effort to resolve a collective problem in
collaboration with or in opposition to para-state and private actors.
• Given that these problems are connected with specific areas or
sectors, the term ‘policy’, is often qualified with the name of the
sector or area in question (for example, ‘energy policy’, ‘agricultural
policy’, ‘economic policy’, ‘social policy’)

13. • There are numerous definitions of the concept of public policy.
• • “Public policy is whatever governments choose to do or not to do”.
• • “A public policy is the product of the activity of an authority
invested with public power and governmental legitimacy”.

14. • • “A public policy is a programme of action specific to one or more
public or governmental authorities within a sector of society or a
given area”.
• • “A public policy is the product of activities aimed at the resolution
of public problems in the environment by political actors whose
relationships are structured. The entire process evolves over time”

15. • An analytical definition can be made for public policy, which is given
below:
• “a public policy is defined as a series of intentionally coherent
decisions or activities taken or carried out by different public – and
sometimes – private actors,
• whose resources, institutional links and interests vary,
• with a view to resolving in a targeted manner a problem that is
politically defined as collective in nature.

16. • This group of decisions and activities gives rise to formalised actions
of a more or less restrictive nature that are
• often aimed at modifying the behaviour of social groups presumed to
be at the root of problem (target groups),
• in the interest of the social groups who suffer the negative effects of
the problem in question (final beneficiaries).

17. • Thus, when we use the term ‘public policy’, we are implicitly referring
to a large number of legislative and administrative activities aimed at
the resolution of real problems.
• Most modern legislation is only effective when the political,
administrative and social actors involved in the different institutional
arrangements are involved in the decision making.
• The desired effects are only attained, however, in the aftermath of a
group of complex decisions that form a sequence between the centre
and the periphery

18. • It is this set of decisions and activities that we define here as a ‘public
policy’ – decisions taken by public (and sometimes private) actors
that are aimed at channelling the behaviour of a target population so
that a collective problem that society is not in a position to manage
on its own can be resolved by public effort.
• This set of decisions includes the decisions taken at all stages of public
action, and also includes general and abstract rules (laws, decrees,
ordinances and so on) and the individual acts and concrete products
that arise during policy implementation (administrative decisions,
authorisations, subsidies etc).

19. Constituent elements of a public policy
• Various constituent elements of a public policy are described below:
• A solution to a public problem
• The existence of target groups at the root of a public problem
• Intentional coherence, at the very least
• The existence of several decisions and activities
• Intervention programme
• The key role of public actors
• Existence of formalised measures
• Decisions and activities that impose constraints

20. A solution to a public problem
• A policy aims to resolve a social problem that is politically
acknowledged as public and necessitates the re-establishment of the
communication between several social actors that has broken down
or is under threat.
• Thus, the proposed definition presupposes the recognition of a
problem, that is, a socially unsatisfactory situation whose resolution is
subject to action by the public sector

21. The existence of target groups at the root of a
public problem
• All public policy aims to channel the behaviour of target groups,
either directly or by affecting these actors’ environment.
• The coherence of public policy leads to the identification of the target
groups of the policy.
• A political declaration to the effect that air should be clean, public
order restored, unemployment reduced that is not accompanied by
the identification of target groups cannot, therefore, be considered a
policy

22. Intentional coherence, at the very least
• It also assumes that the decisions or actions taken are connected.
Thus, a lack of coherence will manifest itself in the purely occasional
coincidence of measures that are aimed at the same target groups
but are not connected to each other in accordance with the
legislator’s intention.
• This is the case, for example, when measures to save energy are
introduced as part of an energy policy, while at the same time the
sales tax on energy products is increased for exclusively fiscal reasons

23. The existence of several decisions and
activities
• Public policies are characterised by a group of actions that go beyond
the level of the single or specific decision.
• A basic declaration of government policy stating that AIDS is a public
problem.
• This kind of declaration may contribute to the emergence of a new
policy if it is followed by legislation and its application.

24. Intervention programme
• this group of decisions and actions should – moreover – contain
decisions that are to a greater or lesser extent concrete and specific
(decisions relating to the programme and its application).
• An intervention programme that is specific to one or more authorities
cannot be considered in itself as a public policy.
• Thus, Switzerland’s proposed measurement plan for the prevention of
atmospheric can only be considered as an element of a policy, rather
than a policy itself.
• A programme of interventions that has no outcome is not a policy

25. The key role of public actors
• The group of decisions and actions can only be considered as a public
policy to the extent that those who take the decisions act in the
capacity of public actors:
• In other words, the involvement of actors belonging to the political-
administrative system or private actors with the legal authority is
essential.
• If this condition is not fulfilled, a group of decisions of this kind (which
can, in fact, also impose restrictions on third parties) will be
considered as a ‘ ‘private’ policy.

26. Existence of formalised measures
• A public policy assumes the production of acts or outputs intended to
channel the behaviour of groups or individuals.
• In this sense, our definition of a public policy presupposes the
existence of a concrete implementation phase for the measures
decided on.

27. Decisions and activities that impose
constraints
• Traditionally, the majority of actors assume that the decisions made
by political administrative actors are often coercive in nature.
• However, today, the diversification of the means of action and
intervention at the disposal of the political administrative system is
such that this coercive aspect is increasingly less prevalent.

28. Decisions and activities that impose
constraints
• the forms of public action adopted today are as likely to be incentive
based as coercive. Thus, many public interventions are currently
implemented by means of contractualisation procedures between the
state and private or public companies,
• (service contract for establishments that fulfill public functions such
as hospitals, public transport franchise companies, educational
establishments etc)

29. The different constituent elements of a public
policy

30. Policy cycle
• Numerous writers have tried to create a diagram of policy cycle.
• The overall impression is that policy ‘cycle’ starting with the
emergence of problems and progressing to the evaluation of the
results obtained, as shown in Figure .
• This approach based on the policy cycle model should be understood
as a flexible framework and not a rigid one.

31. The policy cycle

32. The different sequences of a public policy

34. the emergence and perception of problems
• The phase involving the emergence and perception of problems is
defined as a situation which results in a collective need for which a
solution is sought.
• More generally, a problem exists when there is a difference between
the current and desired status of a situation.
• Nevertheless, a significant number of social problems exist that are
not the subject of a public policy

35. The agenda-setting
• The agenda-setting phase corresponds to the consideration by the key
actors of the political-administrative system of the numerous requests
for action made by social groups.
• This agenda setting could be considered as a mechanism for the
filtering of problems by public actors.

36. policy formulation phase
• The policy formulation phase presupposes, firstly, the definition of the
causality model by the public actors and the formulation of the
political-administrative programme (PAP),
• that is, the selection of objectives, instruments and procedures to be
implemented in order to resolve the problem under consideration.
• Here again, the existence of a filtering and adjustment mechanism
may be considered.

37. implementation phase
• The implementation phase consists of the adaptation of the policy
programme to the concrete situations encountered (production of
outputs).
• Here again, several filtering mechanisms will come into play (for
example, non-execution, selective application).

38. evaluation phase
• Finally, the evaluation phase, aims to determine the results and
effects of a policy in terms of the changes in behaviour of target
groups (impacts) and problem resolution (outcomes).

39. The public policy process and filtering
mechanisms
• Figure identifies the position of the different filtering mechanisms
throughout the policy cycle:
• filtering during the perception of problems,
• adjustment filtering during the policy formulation phase,
• implementation filtering and
• finally, evaluation filtering.

41. Advantages of Policy Cycle Model
• The policy cycle approach enables consideration of the existence of
retroactive loops throughout the process,
• for example, the questioning of a PAP as a result of opposition arising
during its implementation phase (the case of strong opposition to the
setting up of a nuclear power station that results in the redefinition of
energy policy).

42. Advantages of Policy Cycle Model
• The identification of the stakes and actors involved in each stage of
the policy cycle makes it possible to reduce the complexity of the
subjects being analysed.
• Thus, it is possible to analyse the actor constellation (public/private,
central/local).

43. Advantages of Policy Cycle Model
• The formulation of analytical questions, hypotheses and partial
theories for each stage of the policy cycle makes it possible, in
particular, to single out the factors analysed on the basis of different
disciplinary fields – sociology, law, political science, economics – and
to create sub-disciplines:
• formulation of public action (‘policy design’),
• policy implementation research (‘policy implementation’), and
• policy programme evaluation (‘policy evaluation’).

44. Advantages of Policy Cycle Model
• The possibility of combining policy analysis with a rationalising vision
of public action (for example, the linear link between the objectives,
means and results that is implicit in management strategies such as
the Planning, Programming and Budgeting System [PPBS]).
• This makes it possible, for example, to detect errors in the
identification of the problem or to identify gaps in policy
implementation

45. Disadvantages of Policy Cycle Model
• This is a descriptive approach that can be deceptive as the
chronological course of the policy process does not necessarily
coincide with the order of the different stages in the model.
• Thus, a programme may be implemented prior to its precise
formulation.

46. Disadvantages of Policy Cycle Model
• This heuristic approach does not enable the development of a true
model of the causality of public policies and the identification of
logical links between the different stages.
• It runs the risk of giving an artificial coherence to the policy by
prompting the analyst to construct links between elements that do
not exist in reality.

47. Disadvantages of Policy Cycle Model
• The policy cycle model is in line with a legalistic interpretation of
public action (‘top-down’ approach) and centred on state action, and
it fails to take account of an approach that originates with social
actors and their context (‘bottom-up’ approach).
• Thus, one could be led to incorrectly attribute the reduction in
electricity consumption to energy-saving measures when it actually
results from an increase in prices or downturn in the economy.

48. Disadvantages of Policy Cycle Model
• This approach does not make it possible to go beyond a sequential
analysis and consider, in particular, several cycles unfolding at the
same time or the possibility of incomplete cycles.
• For example, in order to understand drug policy it is important to
dissociate the cycles and identify the different pillars of the policy:
• crackdown, prevention, survival aid (related to AIDS), medicalisation
(with methadone) and medical control.