The Policy “Garbage Can”

1. The Policy “Garbage Can” Group 6 Cindy Benitez Alejandra Guillen Tiffanie Morgan Casey Nicholson Lillian To Tina Yang

2. Outline • Definition • Cohen, March, & Olsen • Kingdon • Problems • Definition • Indicators • Problem Process • Solutions • Process Stages • Participants • Criticisms & Comparisons • Cases / Movie Clip

3. According to Cohen, March, & Olsen* Attempt to describe decision making in organizations Unreliable & ambiguous process for selecting courses of action Choice opportunity into which various problems & solutions are dumped by participants According to Kingdon 3 major process streams Problem recognition Formation & refining of policy proposals Politics Solutions developed whether or not they respond to a problem Streams couple at critical junctures, which produces the greatest agenda change What is the Policy “Garbage Can”? * Gortner, Mahler, & Nicholson. Organization Theory. 1987.

4. Problems • Definition • Problems vs. Conditions • When do conditions become problems? • Values • Should the government take action? • Comparison • Are we equal in comparison to other nations? • Categories • Are people’s perception of a problem affected by the category it is placed in?

5. Problems, cont. • Indicators • Monitoring • Systematic: Rates & Costs • Studies • Events, Crises, & Symbols • Fluctuation • The Process? • Recognition of the Problem • Interpret the indicators and establish the magnitude of the problem • Presenting the problem in the most effective manner.

6. Solutions: The Policy Process • Policy Communities • Fragmentation • Consequences • Policy fragmentation • Close knit community = common outlooks, orientations, & ways of thinking • Instability

7. Solutions, cont. • “The Soup” • Incentives • Promotion of personal interests • Promote values or affect shape of public policy • Policy groupies • Origins, Mutations, & Recombination • Softening up • Introducing a bill • Bureaucratic channels • Floating trial balloons

8. Solutions, cont. • Criteria For Survival • Technical Feasibility • Eliminate inconsistencies • “actually” • Value Acceptability • Liberal-conservative dimensions • Concepts of equity & efficiency • Future Constraints • Budget constraint • Public acquiescence

9. PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION AGENDA BUILDING POLICY FORMULATION POLICY ADOPTION BUDGETING IMPLEMENTATION EVALUATION

10. Participants • Government • Executive • Legislative • Judicial • Policy Communities • Media

11. Criticisms • Has not been studied as much as the other models • Its implications on policy still not known • No known limits of organized anarchy

12. Comparisons • Garbage Can Model • Rational Model • Incremental Model

13. Garbage Can Model • The search of alternatives allows for more creativity and a larger set of alternatives • Analysis not different from the decision making process • Final choice made varies

14. Rational Model • Search assumed to be part of the task of policy making • Examines alternatives and identifies the most cost efficient one • Choose the program that is most efficient

15. Incremental Model • Search process is limited, unsystematic, and controlled too much by outside players • Alternative examined by the way it distributes benefits • Select the policy that supports a group of participants

16. Medicare Case Study

17. Problems • Poverty among elderly • Equity issue: • 75% of citizens <65 had HI • <50% of 65+ had HI • Health costs continued to rise

18. Political Solutions • President Kennedy, interest groups, Congressmen had proposals for health care. • Issue was on the agenda. • Had substantial econ. growth after 1964 tax cut, thus new expenditure was much easier.

19. Political Stream • Public Mood: positive, agreed with Medicare • Election results • AMA lost many of its supporters in 1964 election • Congress: heavy Democrat majority in 1964 election • President Johnson • Extremely popular: elected by over 60% • Persuasive leader, formerly majority leader of Senate.

20. Choice Opportunities • The separate parts came together: • “a problem is recognized, a solution is available, the political climate makes the time right for change, and the constraints do not prohibit action” (Kingdon, p.88) • and Medicare, a large new program, was enacted in 1964

21. Civil Rights Act Case Study

22. Problems • A struggle for equality in America. • Eliminating discrimination and segregation practiced by the government—in voting and public education. • Discrimination in public and private life—transportation, parks, stores, restaurants, business, employment and housing.

23. Policy Solutions • 14th Amendment passed by Congress after the Civil War and ratified in 1868 declares: All persons born or naturalized in the United States,…,are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States;…nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. • Interpreted as “separate but equal doctrine”

24. Policy Solutions, cont. • Civil Rights Act of 1875—later declared unconstitutional in 1883 • NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) • Brown vs. Topeka, 1954 Landmark case • Busing and Racial Balancing in Schools

25. Policy Solutions, cont. • 1957 President Eisenhower sent in military forces to stop segregation at Little Rock’s Central High School • 1962 President JFK sent in federal troops to enforce desegregation at the University of Mississippi • 1964- Civil Rights Act—Congress entered the civil rights field in support of court efforts to achieve desegregation

26. Important Civil Rights Documents • Emancipation Proclamation • 14th Amendment • Brown vs. Topeka • Civil Rights Act of 1964 • Civil Rights Act of 1968

27. Political Players • Supreme Court • President Eisenhower • Federal Troops • Martin Luther King Jr. • President Kennedy • Congress

28. Movie Clip