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3. Understanding Public Policymaking

Study

Chapter 3 introduces several models and theories that further explain how policymakers reach decisions. After considering five competing approaches (elite, group, institutional, rational choice, and political) the focus is placed on a sixth--the policy process model, which is one of the most widely used in the study of public policy. This model is particularly helpful for clarifying the role of policy analysis in the design and formulation of appropriate policy, and in evaluating how well a policy has worked once it has been implemented. The chapter gives extensive coverage to each stage (agenda setting, policy formulation, policy legitimization, policy implementation, policy evaluation, and policy change) and explores how policy analysis may be used in each of these stages. The chapter also identifies the different instruments government can use when it is making public policy, and it provides examples of regulation, taxing and spending, and education and information. Finally, the chapter looks at policy typologies and how certain policies have characteristics that may make them more or less appealing to policymakers.