GV280 Politics in Action

1. GV280Politics in Action Revision lecture

2. 1. & 2. Definitions and models

3. Public policy – working definition The exercise of power by parties, individuals and groups, at the time when they are collectively in control of the state, over matters which are directly connected with the governing of the state.

4. Democratic model of public policy Party A policies Party A Wins Party A policy = public policy ELECTION Party B policies PARTY POLICY ELECTION PUBLIC POLICY

5. Pluralist model of public policy Think tanks Interest groups Pre-election party policy Post election government policy Public policy Civil servants Public opinion Lobbyists

6. POSSIBLE ACTORS IN THE POLICY PROCESS • 1. The electorate • 2. Politicians • 3. Unelected officials • 4. Elites • 5. Interest groups • 6. Big corporations • 7. Think tanks

7. Pluralism& Rational choice • Pluralist model: multiple actors are involved in bargaining over and setting public policy • Rational choice model: actors seek to maximize the benefits they receive • Not mutually exclusive

8. 3. Essence of decision

9. Explaining policy making In searching for an explanation, one typically puts himself in the place of the nation, or national government, confronting a problem of foreign affairs, and tries to figure out why he might have chosen the action in question. … [We assume] government behaviour can be most satisfactorily understood by analogy with the purposive acts of individuals. In many cases this is a fruitful assumption. Treating national governments as if they were centrally coordinated, purposive individuals provides a useful shorthand for understanding problems of policy. But this simplification – like all simplifications – obscures as well as reveals. In particular, it obscures the persistently neglected fact of bureaucracy: the ‘maker’ of government policy is not one calculating decisionmaker but is rather a conglomerate of large organizations and political actors. (Allison, p. 3)

10. Model 1: The Rational Actor • Possible rational explanations for Khrushchev’s actions • i. Bargaining chip in negotiations over US missiles • ii. Diversion/trap • iii. Defence of Cuba • iv. Cold War Politics • v. Missile power - a shortcut in the arms race

11. Model 2: Organizational Process A government consists of a conglomerate of semi-feudal, loosely allied organizations, each with a substantial life of its own. … Governments perceive problems through organizational sensors. Governments define alternatives and estimate consequences as their component organizations process information; governments act as these organizations enact routines. Governmental behaviour can therefore be understood … less as deliberate choices and more as outputs of large organizations functioning according to standard patterns of behaviour. (Allison, p. 67)

12. Model 3: Bureaucratic Politics • 1.THE CUBAN PROBLEM • 2. THE STRATEGIC PROBLEM • 3. THE BERLIN PROBLEM • 4. THE ECONOMIC PROBLEM

13. 4. The players: politicians, civil servants and interest groups

14. Pluralist model of public policy Think tanks Interest groups Pre-election party policy Post election government policy Public policy Civil servants Public opinion Lobbyists

15. Pluralist model of public policy Interest groups Post election government policy Public policy Civil servants

17. Prime minister (directs overall policy) Cabinet (directs individual departmental policy) Civil service (implements policy) Traditional model of executive power

18. The Core Executive(Taken from Peter Dorey, Policy Making in Britain, Figure 3.1, p. 50)

19. Interest groups and policy networks • Based on resource exchange • Dependencies between actors • Degree of dependence of each actor can vary with circumstances

20. Policy communities & issue networksD. Marsh and R A W Rhodes, ‘Policy networks in British politics’, in Marsh and Rhodes (eds), Policy Networks in British Government (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1992

21. 5. Policy and ideology

22. 6. Policy and public opinion

23. Edmund Burke, Speech to the Electors of Bristol3 November 1774 “Your representative owes you, not his industry only, but his judgement; and he betrays, instead of serving you, if he sacrifices it to your opinion.”

24. Thermostatic model of opinion-policy relationship IV:Government policy on issue X overlaid on public opinion at t1

25. Thermostatic model of opinion-policy relationship V:Government policy on issue X overlaid on public opinion at t2

26. Thermostatic model of opinion-policy relationship VI:Government policy on issue X overlaid on public opinion at t3

27. Thermostatic model of opinion-policy relationship VII:Optimal government policy with normal distribution of public opinion

28. Thermostatic model of opinion-policy relationship VIII:Government policy on issue X overlaid on public opinion at t4

29. Thermostatic model of opinion-policy relationship IX:Government policy realigned to reflect new distribution of public opinion

30. 7. The media and the agenda

31. John Kingdon,Agendas, Alternatives and Public Policies • PROBLEMS • POLICIES • POLITICS

32. Policy window Example: 1945 implementation of the Welfare State PROBLEM: the poverty of the 30s depression POLICY: Beveridge’s welfare state proposals POLITICS: Labour’s landslide victory in the 1945 general election

33. 8. Policy and finance

34. Treasury objectives • Provide funds for all government activities • Limit expenditure to acceptable limits • Maintain control over departmental budgets • Input into departments’ policy decisions • Keep expenditure within the bounds of the possible • Avoid excessive taxation (but also maintain necessary levels of taxation) • Maintain funding balance between departments

35. Departmental objectives • Fulfil service commitments • Achieve targets set by minister/cabinet/PM • Show it is vigorously pursuing policies • More spending = more effectiveness • Maintain (or increase) funding levels as far as possible • Compete with other departments

36. Common interests • Maintain government’s reputation for competence • Deliver effective services • Maintain government’s reputation for financial responsibility • Keep costs within reasonable bounds • Keep taxes as low as possible

37. Causes of tension • Departments believe Treasury sees everything in terms of money • Treasury believes departments don’t understand financial constraints • Departments believe other departments are over-funded • Overspending and underspending

38. 9. Policy and ethics

39. John Stuart Mill’s harm principle “The object of this essay is to assert one very simple principle, as entitled to govern absolutely the dealings of society with the individual in the way of compulsion and control. … The principle is, that the sole end for which mankind are warranted, individually or collectively, in interfering with the liberty of action of any of their number, is self-protection. That the only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others. His own good, either physical or moral, is not a sufficient warrant.” - J. S. Mill, On Liberty and Other Essays ed. John Gray (Oxford: OUP, 1991), pp. 13-14

41. 10. The international dimension

42. 11. Policy and party competition

43. Duverger’s law The simple-majority single-ballot system favours the two-party system Maurice Duverger, Political Parties (London: Methuen, 1954), p. 217

44. Left-right policy spectrum LEFT e.g. Redistribution State intervention RIGHT e.g. Private property rights Limited government

45. Normal distributionof public policy preferences LEFT RIGHT

46. Position of the median voter LEFT median voter RIGHT

47. Positions of main political parties(notional) Lab LibDem Con LEFT median voter RIGHT

48. Positions of main political parties(1980s) Lab LibDem Con LEFT median voter RIGHT

49. Positions of main political parties(1997-2000s) LibDem Lab Con LEFT median voter RIGHT

50. Positions of main political parties(now?) Lab LibDem Con LEFT median voter RIGHT