POLS-315 Study Guide - Spring 2018, Comprehensive Midterm Notes - Democracy, Waterville, Maine, Social Security
12 Oct 2018
Department
Course
Professor
POLS-315
MIDTERM EXAM
STUDY GUIDE
Fall 2018
o What is Policy?
o Overview
o Working definition of public policy and policy analysis
o Differentiate between policy analysis and policy advocacy
o Understand where policy analysts work and what skills are required to be a
successful policy analyst
o What is Public Policy?
o Public policy is what governments choose to do or not to do (Dye)
▪ Examples?
o Policy expansion and government growth
▪ Today people expect a lot from government
• Any personal or societal problem will likely have some group demand
a government solution
• What’s a goveret solutio? A puli poli desiged to alleviate
personal discomfort or societal unease
o What is Policy Analysis?
o Policy analysis is finding out what governments do, why they do it, and what difference, if
any, it makes.
o What can be learned from policy analysis?
▪ Description
▪ Causes
▪ Consequences
o Description
o We can describe public policy – learn what government is doing (and not doing) in
substantive policy areas.
o Examples of descriptive questions:
▪ What does the Civil Rights Act of 1964 actually say about discrimination in
employment?
▪ What is the oditio of the atio’s “oial “eurit progra?
▪ How much money does the federal government spend each year, and what
does it spend it on.
o Can you think of other descriptive questions?
o Causes
o We can ask about the causes, or determinants, of public policy
▪ Why is policy what it is?
▪ Why do governments do what they do?
▪ What are the effects of political institutions, processes, and behaviors on
public policies?
• Example: What is the impact of lobbying by the special interests on
efforts to reform the federal tax system?
o What are the effects of social, economic, and cultural forces in shaping public policy?
▪ Example: What are the effects of changing public attitudes about race on civil
rights policy?
o Consequences
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▪ We can inquire about the consequences, or impacts, of public policy.
• Often referred to as policy evaluation.
▪ What are the effects of public policy on political institutions and processes?
• Example: What is the impact of immigration policies on the
presidet’s popularit?
▪ What is the impact of public policies on conditions in society?
• Example: Does capital punishment help to deter crime?
• Does cutting cash welfare benefits encourage people to work?
o Policy Analysis and Policy Advocacy
▪ Important to distinguish policy analysis from policy advocacy.
• Explaining the causes and consequences of various policies is not the
same thing as prescribing what policies government should pursue.
▪ Policy advocacy requires the skills of rhetoric, persuasion, organization, and
activism.
▪ Policy analysis requires us to attack critical policy issues with the tools of
systematic inquiry.
• Implied assumption in policy analysis that developing scientific
knowledge about the forces shaping policy and the consequences of
policy is itself a socially relevant activity – and that such activity is a
prerequisite to prescription, advocacy, and activism.
o Policy Analysis as Art and Craft
▪ It is a art eause…
• Policy analysis requires insight, creativity, and imagination
o in identifying societal problems and describing them,
o in devising public policies that might alleviate them, and
o then in finding out whether the policies end up making things
better or worse.
▪ It’s a raft eause
• these tasks usually require some knowledge of economics, political
science, public administration, sociology, law, and statistics.
o Policy analysis is really an applied subfield of all of these
traditional academic disciplines.
o Best Method of Policy Analysis
▪ Does’t Eist
• Poli aalsis is oe activity for which there can be no fixed
program, for policy analysis is synonymous with creativity, which may
be stimulated by theory and sharpened by practice, which can be
leared ut ot taught – Aardon Wildavsky
o Basic Preparation for Policy Analysis
o Analysts must:
▪ Know how to gather, organize, and communicate information in situations in
which deadlines are strict and access to relevant people is limited.
▪ Be able to develop strategies to quickly understand the nature of policy
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
