Dealing with Public Issues

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Dealing with Public Issues

• What we need to know to deal with hot issues
• By Lori Garkovich

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Politics is more exciting than war,Because in
politics you can get killed many times.Winston
Churchill
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Dealing with hot issues

• What are some of the issues of concern in your
  communities?
• How do you know that these are issues of concern?
• Lets look at one of these a bit more..
• What are the sides of this issue?
• What are people saying is important to them when
  they take a position on this issue?

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What are the characteristics of hot public issues?

• Solutions are based on value judgments. There are
  no right or wrong answers to public issues
  and science will not provide the right answer
• They are recognized by political leaders as a
  problem because they are matters of widespread
  concern.
• They are marked by a feeling that there is a gap
  between what is and what could be
• They involve disagreement and controversy which
  result from different roles, values, interests
  and ideas
• There is a sense of urgency because if something
  is not done, some people or groups will suffer

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What are the characteristics of hot public issues?

• Individual problems become public issues when the
  actions of an individual or group produce
  consequences that affect others
• Public issues are usually resolved by a group
  decision process that creates public policies --
  policies that affect a significant number of
  people outside the group or organization that
  decides the policy
• With respect to public policy issues, the five
  most dangerous words in the English language are
• MAYBE IT WILL GO AWAY

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Signals of controversy

• Quality of life, Standard of living
• People believe their livelihood or standard of
  living are threatened
• Personal health and safety
• There is a real or perceived health risk
• There is a risk of bodily injury or harm
• Environment There is a risk to the environment
• Human health
• Animals
• Natural resources or scenic areas

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Signals of controversy

• Justice and equal opportunity
• Peoples sense of fairness or justice is
  violated.
• Opportunities are being denied to a segment of
  the population.
• Partisan politics
• The two major political parties have different
  perspectives on the issue
• Government role
• There is a question of more government vs less
  government
• There is a question about how many tax dollars to
  spend
• There are questions about whether government
  solutions are impinging on individual rights
  and freedoms
• Multiple government agencies are involved, and
  there is real or perceived conflict among their
  missions

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How a controversy starts

• Controversy starts with a problem a gap
  between the way things are and they way some
  people would like it to be
• Controversy arises when people have different
  goals the way we want things to be
• Or, they may agree on the goal, but have
  different strategies for reaching the goal
  (solving the problem)

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How a controversy starts

• Different values lead to different preferences
  for goals and strategies
• Finally, controversy may arise over the use of
  limited resources power, time, money, materials
  and the desire for these resources is based on
  values

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What influences public controversies?

• Beliefs -- Ideas of the way things really are
• Beliefs are articles of faith that may or may
  not be tested against logic and analysis
• Facts -- Accurate beliefs about what exists
• Facts can be verified as true statements about
  existing relationships, situations, conditions
• Myths -- Unverified beliefs about what exists --
  what people think and believe are facts
• Myths may contain accurate or inaccurate
  statements about reality
• In the policy making process, myths are treated
  exactly the same as facts

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What influences public policy controversies

• Values -- Beliefs about what ought to be.
• Value judgments are perceptions of right/wrong,
  good/bad, moral/immoral, ethical/unethical, or
  better/worse
• When there is no universal measuring stick, we
  settle issues with value judgments
• Most of the friction in dealing with public
  problems stems from value conflicts
• Values influence our interpretations of how
  things ought to be and the meaning of the facts
  before us

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What influences public policy controversies

• Predictions are beliefs about what will be
• Predictions may be based on current facts and
  assumptions of change
• However, predictions may also be based on myths
  and/or biased assumptions
• Positions and Recommendations are other peoples
  beliefs about what ought to be
• Positions may include facts, myths, value
  judgments and predictions
• But the purpose of positions is to persuade other
  people to act according to the position
• Propaganda is information of any type designed to
  influence peoples views on an issue in a certain
  way

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How we frame the controversy affects the policy
decision-making

• An economic perspective looks at the check book
  and is concerned with What will it cost? or,
  Will it pay?
• A political perspective recognizes that few
  policy solutions are embraced by everyone in a
  democracy and so is concerned with Is it
  popular? or, Will the people support it?
• An ethical perspective argues that the concept of
  right or wrong, morals and conscience is of
  paramount importance and so is concerned with Is
  it right, just, and fair? or, How should we as
  citizens and as a government treat others?

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Ways people look at problems
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Ways people look at things

• FAITH
• Our values are often a matter of faith and
  feelings
• Faith is an unquestioning belief that does not
  require proof or evidence
• Faith may be regarded as being as true or valid
  as the facts
• For many issues, facts may be secondary to faith
  even though people may refer to scientific facts
  to support their position

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Ways people look at things

• Science
• Empirically derived conclusions based on data or
  information that can be verified
• Scientific conclusions can be affirmed by the
  research of others and are consistent across time
• But it must be acknowledged that what we study
  scientifically and how we study it is influenced
  by both values and politics

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Ways people look at things

• Politics
• The reaction to faith and science by those who
  make the rules or policy
• The political response to an issue can be
  described as the viewpoint of 51
• Politics responds to power be it money,
  influence, or votes

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Circle of Conflict
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Data conflicts arise from

• Lack of information
• Misinformation
• Differing views on whats relevant
• Different interpretations of data
• Different assessment procedures

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Ways to address data conflicts

• Reach agreement on what data are important.
• Agree on process to collect data.
• Develop common criteria to assess data.
• Use third-party experts to get outside opinion or
  break deadlock

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Relationship conflicts arise from

• Strong emotions
• Misperceptions/stereotypes
• Poor communication
• Miscommunication
• Repetitive negative behavior

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Ways to address relationship conflicts

• Control negative expressions through procedures
  and ground rules
• Promote process that legitimizes feelings
• Clarify perceptions - build positive perceptions
• Improve quality and quantity of communication
• Block negative repetitive behavior by changing
  structure
• Encourage positive problem-solving
  attitudes

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Value conflicts arise from

• Different criteria for evaluating ideas or
  behavior.
• Exclusive intrinsically valuable goals.
• Different ways of life, ideology and religion

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Ways to address value conflicts

• Avoid defining problem in terms of values
• Allow parties to agree and disagree
• Create sphere of influence in which one set of
  values dominates
• Search for superordinate goal that all parties
  agree to

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Structural conflicts arise from

• Destructive patterns of behavior or interaction
• Unequal control, ownership, distribution of
  resources
• Unequal power and authority
• Geographical, physical or environmental factors
  that hinder cooperation
• Time constraints

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Ways to address structural conflicts

• Clearly define and change roles
• Replace destructive behavior patterns
• Reallocate ownership or control of resources
• Establish fair and mutually acceptable
  decision-making process
• Change negotiations from positional to
  interest-based bargaining
• Modify means of parties (less coercion, more
  persuasion)
• Change physical and environmental relations

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Interest conflicts arise from

• Perceived or actual competitive
  positions/interests
• Content
• Procedures
• Psychological interest

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Ways to address interest conflicts

• Focus on interests, not positions.
• Look for objective criteria.
• Look for solutions that meet needs of all
  parties.
• Search for ways to expand options/resources.
• Develop trade-offs to satisfy interests of
  different strengths

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The public policy process

• Moving from a hot issues to a public policy
  decision

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Evolution of a Public Issue
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Evolution of a public policy issue

• Concern
• Often our concerns focus on symptoms of
  underlying problems that require a public policy
  decision
• Symptoms are phenomena, attributes,
  circumstances, indicators, or evidence that a
  public policy problem may exist. Symptoms may
  include a combination of facts, myths, and/or
  value judgments
• Involvement
• The concern is shared with others but not
  everyone shares the same concerns or if they do,
  its not to the same degree due to
• Different life circumstances and so people are
  affected differently by the same concern or the
  same public policy
• Different ordering of personal values and so
  people use different standards for judgments
  related to desired means (how we do things) and
  goals (the purposes of actions)

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Evolution of a public policy issue

• The issue emerges
• As more people become involved, leaders and
  interested citizens become aware of the concern
  and the level of involvement within the community
• Discussions of the concern clarify and define the
  problem focus leading to the emergence of the
  issue
• Alternative solutions developed
• Discussion of the problem generates different
  ideas about what can be done
• Generally there are many possible solutions to
  any issue

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Evolution of a public policy issue

• Analysis of probable consequences
• Policy makers and citizens begin to examine each
  alternative in terms of its possible consequences
• Each alternative results in different winners and
  losers in terms of who pays and who benefits from
  the policy change
• The policy decision
• Eventually political leaders make a policy
  decision. The choice may be to do nothing or to
  make a change based on the proposed alternatives

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Evolution of a public policy issue

• Policy implementation
• If the policy decision is to do something, a new
  policy is implemented
• This may involve changing administrative rules,
  establishing a new program, or enacting a new law
• Evaluation
• Following implementation, those affected by the
  new policy may or may not notice any impacts
• The actual consequences of the policy will be
  evaluated by those affected
• The cycle may begin again