Chapter 20: Policy-making by Christoph Knill and Jale Tosun

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Chapter 20 Policy-makingby Christoph Knill and
Jale Tosun

• Caramani (ed.) Comparative Politics
• Section V Public policies

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Introduction Conceptual models of
policy-making Analysing policy-making as a
process the policy cycle The importance of
institutions, framing, and policy styles The role
of international factors for domestic
policy-making

• Chapter 20 Policy-making
• Introduction (1/1)

• Policies Government statements of what it
  intends to do, including law,
• regulation, ruling, decision, or order (Birkland
  2001).
• Public policy A more specific term, which refers
  to a series of actions
• carried out to solve societal problems (Newton
  and van Deth 2005).
• Public policies are the main output of the
  political system.
• By analysing the policy-making process, we gain a
  fuller understanding of
• the causes and consequences of policy decisions.

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• Chapter 20 Policy-making
• Conceptual models
• of policy-making (1/3)

Introduction Conceptual models of
policy-making Analysing policy-making as a
process the policy cycle The importance of
institutions, framing, and policy styles The role
of international factors for domestic
policy-making

• There are several complementary models of
  policy-making that clarify the
• relationship between politics and public
  policies
• Institutional model
• Public policies are determined by institutions,
  especially the relationship between the executive
  and the legislative power
• Public policies are formulated and implemented
  only by the executive and the legislative
• Policy-making seen as smooth technical process

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• Chapter 20 Policy-making
• Conceptual models
• of policy-making (2/3)

Introduction Conceptual models of
policy-making Analysing policy-making as a
process the policy cycle The importance of
institutions, framing, and policy styles The role
of international factors for domestic
policy-making

• Rational model
• How can optimal policy decisions be reached?
• Assumption of rational actors
• Bayesian learning
• Starting point for public choice / game theory
• Incremental model
• Response to the rational model Concept of
  bounded rationality
• Limited changes to existing policies, incremental
  policy-process
• No ideal, but realistic description of
  policy-making

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• Chapter 20 Policy-making
• Conceptual models
• of policy-making (3/3)

Introduction Conceptual models of
policy-making Analysing policy-making as a
process the policy cycle The importance of
institutions, framing, and policy styles The role
of international factors for domestic
policy-making

• Group model
• Public policies are the result of an equilibrium
  reached in interest group struggle
• Policy-makers are constantly responding to group
  pressures
• Policy-changes triggered by changes in relative
  strength between interest-groups
• Elite model
• Policy-making is determined by preferences of
  governing elites
• Elites shape public opinions

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• Chapter 20 Policy-making
• Analysing policy-making
• as a process The policy cycle (1/4)

Introduction Conceptual models of
policy-making Analysing policy-making as a
process the policy cycle The importance of
institutions, framing, and policy styles The role
of international factors for domestic
policy-making

• Considering the main features of policy-making
• Multiple constraints
• Various policy processes
• Infinite cycle of decisions and policies
• It is convenient to analyse policy-making as a
  policy cycle.
• The policy cycle (or process model)
• The policy-process is modelled as a series of
  political activities
• Agenda setting
• Policy formulation
• Policy adoption
• Implementation
• Evaluation

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• Chapter 20 Policy-making
• Analysing policy-making
• as a process The policy cycle (2/4)

Introduction Conceptual models of
policy-making Analysing policy-making as a
process the policy cycle The importance of
institutions, framing, and policy styles The role
of international factors for domestic
policy-making

• Agenda setting
• The identification of a public problem
• Systemic agenda All societal problems that
  demand public attention
• Action agenda Problems that are up for serious
  consideration of decision-makers
• Agenda setting is done by different actors
• Public officials
• The bureaucracy
• Mass media
• Interest-groups
• Political parties and scientific communities
• Agenda-setting is an important source of power ?
  first mover
• advantage

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• Chapter 20 Policy-making
• Analysing policy-making
• as a process The policy cycle (3/4)

Introduction Conceptual models of
policy-making Analysing policy-making as a
process the policy cycle The importance of
institutions, framing, and policy styles The role
of international factors for domestic
policy-making

• Policy formulation
• The definition, discussion, acceptance, or
  rejection of feasible courses of action for
  coping with policy problems
• Deals with the elaboration of alternatives of
  action
• c) Policy adoption
• The formal adoption to take on a policy
• Policy adoption is determined by a number of
  factors, of which two are particularly important
• The expected costs/benefits of the policy
• Reduction of the set of feasible policies by the
  necessity to build majorities (veto players)

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• Chapter 20 Policy-making
• Analysing policy-making
• as a process The policy cycle (4/4)

Introduction Conceptual models of
policy-making Analysing policy-making as a
process the policy cycle The importance of
institutions, framing, and policy styles The role
of international factors for domestic
policy-making

• Implementation
• The conversion of new laws/programs into practice
• The black box between policy adoption and
  policy outcomes
• Quality of implementation depends on
• Policy type
• Available resources for implementation
• Federal or unitary state
• Role of top bureaucrats (bureaucratic drift)
• Evaluation
• Carried out to measure policy efficiency and
  effectiveness
• Provides a feedback loop ? powerful tool of
  policy-making process

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• Chapter 20 Policy-making
• The importance of institutions,
• framing, and policy styles (1/4)

Introduction Conceptual models of
policy-making Analysing policy-making as a
process the policy cycle The importance of
institutions, framing, and policy styles The role
of international factors for domestic
policy-making

• The role of institutions
• The main institutions are
• Electoral system
• Executives and legislatives
• The relationship between executive/legislative is
  of crucial importance in
• policy-making. Lijphard (1999) differs between
  two types of democratic
• systems
• Majoritarian systems (fusion of power between
  executive and legislative power)
• Consensus democracies (sharing power, balancing
  executive and legislative power)

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• Chapter 20 Policy-making
• The importance of institutions,
• framing, and policy styles (2/4)

Introduction Conceptual models of
policy-making Analysing policy-making as a
process the policy cycle The importance of
institutions, framing, and policy styles The role
of international factors for domestic
policy-making

• The role of cognitive and normative frames
• Cognitive frames Schemes through which actors
  view and interpret the world
• Normative frames Values and attitudes that shape
  actors views
• Normative and cognitive frames enable and
  constrain policy-making.
• Certain actors have a privileged role in
  policy-making as they generate and
• diffuse cognitive frames (mediators or
  policy-brokers).

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• Chapter 20 Policy-making
• The importance of institutions,
• framing, and policy styles (3/4)

Introduction Conceptual models of
policy-making Analysing policy-making as a
process the policy cycle The importance of
institutions, framing, and policy styles The role
of international factors for domestic
policy-making
National policy styles Like the policy cycle,
the concept of policy styles also serves as a
useful heuristic tool for identifying common
policy-making patterns among countries. The
main idea is that nations matter for
policy-analysis. However, empirically, there is
a remarkable intra-national variation of policy
styles.
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• Chapter 20 Policy-making
• The importance of institutions,
• framing, and policy styles (4/4)

Introduction Conceptual models of
policy-making Analysing policy-making as a
process the policy cycle The importance of
institutions, framing, and policy styles The role
of international factors for domestic
policy-making

• There are several typologies of policy styles.
  According to Knill (1998)
• national policy styles are defined by two
  dimensions
• State intervention
• Hierarchical vs. self-regulation
• Substantive vs. procedural regulation
• Detailed requirements vs. open regulations
• Administrative interest intermediation
• Formal vs. informal / legislative vs. pragmatic
• Open vs. closed relationships between
  administrative and social actors

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• Chapter 20 Policy-making
• The role of international factors
• for domestic policy-making (1/4)

Introduction Conceptual models of
policy-making Analysing policy-making as a
process the policy cycle The importance of
institutions, framing, and policy styles The role
of international factors for domestic
policy-making

• International factors also have an influence on
  domestic policy-making.
• Theories of policy diffusion
• Analysis of the spread of policies across
  political systems from a general perspective
• Diffusion mainly affects the stage of
  agenda-setting, less policy-formulation
• Theories of policy transfer
• - Analysis of singular processes of bilateral
  policy exchange
• Governments do not learn randomly about policy
  practices, but through common affiliations,
  negotiations and institutional membership.

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• Chapter 20 Policy-making
• The role of international factors
• for domestic policy-making (2/4)

Introduction Conceptual models of
policy-making Analysing policy-making as a
process the policy cycle The importance of
institutions, framing, and policy styles The role
of international factors for domestic
policy-making

• Policy convergence
• Any increase in the similarity between one or
  more characteristics of a
• certain policy across a given set of political
  jurisdictions (Knill 2005).
• Theories of policy diffusion and transfer
  describe a process that
• might result in policy convergence. Since
  national policy processes
• are different, convergence is not necessarily the
  case.

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• Chapter 20 Policy-making
• The role of international factors
• for domestic policy-making (3/4)

Introduction Conceptual models of
policy-making Analysing policy-making as a
process the policy cycle The importance of
institutions, framing, and policy styles The role
of international factors for domestic
policy-making

• Mechanisms behind internationalization
• Imposition
• External political actor forces a government to
  adopt a certain policy
• International harmonization
• Member states engage voluntarily in
  international cooperation (negotiated transfer)
• Regulatory competition
• Homogenization as a result of competitive
  pressures (race to the bottom or race to the top)
• Transnational communication
• Mechanisms purely based on communication
  (drawing from available experience)

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• Chapter 20 Policy-making
• The role of international factors
• for domestic policy-making (4/4)

Introduction Conceptual models of
policy-making Analysing policy-making as a
process the policy cycle The importance of
institutions, framing, and policy styles The role
of international factors for domestic
policy-making

• Empirical illustration
• Policy diffusion
• Climate policy instruments (e.g. emission trading
  systems) mainly through international
  harmonization
• Policy transfer
• CEECs refugees policies through imposition by EU
• Policy-convergence
• Environmental policies, mainly driven by
  transnational communication