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Pol S 321. Lecture 1. What is Politics?. “ Authoritative allocation of values” - Easton, D.A. Framework for Political Analysis. “ Who gets what, when and how” in society - Lasswell, H. Politics: Who Gets What, When and How. What is Public Policy.
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Pol S 321 Lecture 1
What is Politics? • “Authoritative allocation of values” - Easton, D.A. Framework for Political Analysis. • “Who gets what, when and how” in society - Lasswell, H. Politics: Who Gets What, When and How.
What is Public Policy • “Anything that government chooses to do or not to do?” - Dye, T. Understanding Public Policy. P.2.- government is the agent of policy - involves a fundamental choice to do or not to do something (concept of the non-decision) - conceptualizes policy as a choice • “a set of interrelated decisions taken by a political actor or group of actors concerning the selectiion of goals and the means of achieving them within a specified situation where those decisions, should, in principle, be within the power of those actors to achieve. - Jenkins, W.I. Policy Analysis: A Political and Organizational Perspective.
Determinants of Health Policy • notion that policy is “determined” by a variety of broad influences • ideology, intellectual innovation, technology, institutions, socio-demographics, economics
Values • Ideologies: coherent systematic ways of viewing the world, regardless of evidence • political ideologies: liberalism; socialism; conservatism • Beliefs: empirically testable notions of how the world operates • Interests:politicians, bureaucrats, providers, citizens
Intellectual Innovation • policy change flows from changes in perceptions and attitudes of central decision makers • policy process as a complex web of communications within which information and ideas are exchanged • relatively small number of individuals contribute to the intellectual process
Technology • technological imperative has a strong influence on society at large and decision makers in particular
Institutions and Actors • the structures and organizations of the state, society and international community • The state: • political executive • legislature • appointed officials
Institutions and Actors(cont.) • Society: • business • labour interest groups • communities/citizens • media • research organizations • International System • trade regime • financial regime
Policy Communities • “groupings of government agencies, pressure groups, media people, and individuals, including academics, who for various reasons, have an interest in a particular field and attempt to influence it.”
Socio-Demographics • effects of changes in socio-demographic on service requirements • political significance of socio-demographics
Economics • economics as a foundation of decision making