Have you ever wondered how policy was formed?
Why it seems to be in favour of some and not for others?
How 'Power' has influenced it?
Below are some basic models and frameworks on power and policy process.
Dimensions of power.
- Power as decision making: A form of power which comes from resources that directly affect policy decisions. These resources (e.g. wealth, information) are unequally distributed among citizen and interest groups.
- Power as non-decision making: A form of power which controls the agenda to keep threatening issues out of sight.
- Power as thought control: A form of power which influences or manipulates how people shape their preferences.
How can we gain power? What influences them?
Some major approaches are;
- 'Hard power' and 'Soft power' proposed by Nye (2002)
- Authority proposed by Weber (1948): 'Traditional Authority'; 'Charismatic Authority'; 'Rational-Legal Authority'
Who has power?
- Pluralism: No single group holds absolute power and the state arbitrates among competing interests in the development of policy.
- Public Choice: Public choice theorists agree with the pluralists that society is made up of competing groups pursuing self-interested goals but they dispute the claim of the state's neutrality. However, they argue that the self-interested behaviour of state officials leads to policy that is captured by narrow interest groups.
- Elitism: policy is dominated by a privileged minority.
How does power affect policy?
Easton (1965) proposed a simple model where;
"Inputs (demands, resources)" -> "Black box (government)" -> "Outputs (public goods & services)" -> "Inputs" -> -> -> -> ->
In reality, this looks a bit too simple.... The extent of citizens participation varies between political systems. Five major political systems are;
- Liberal Democratic: The government operate with relatively stable institutions with considerable opportunities for citizens to participate (e.g. elections)
- Egalitarian-Authoritarian: The state has the intent to be egalitarian, but is managed by closed ruling elite.
- Traditional-Inegalitarian: The system feature rule by traditional monarchs which provide few opportunities for participation.
- Populist: Participation is highly regimented through mass movements controlled by the state. These are based upon dominant political parties, are highly nationalist and leadership tends to be personalised.
- Authoritarian-Inegalitarian: Often developed in reaction to populist and liberal democratic regimes. They are also often associated with military governments and involve varying degrees of repression.
Moreover, what's inside the "Black box"?? Some theories for this is;
- Rationalism: Decision makers set , list possible strategies, and analyse and compare all them rationally.
- Incrementalism: Decision makers take incremental steps from the initial situation by comparing only a small number of possible alternatives which are not very different from the status quo. The test of good policy is not whether it maximizes or even satisfices the values of the decision makers, but whether it secures the agreement of the various interests at stake.
- Mixed Scanning: There are major and minor decision making on policy. For major decision, people undertake a broad analysis of the are without the detailed analysis. More detailed reviews are conducted of options in relation to less important steps which might lead up to or follow from fundamental decision.
Buse, K., Mays, N., & Walt, G. (2012). Making health policy. Open University Press.