Solved: Two shipwreck survivors were rescued from a life raft. One had drunk seawater

The Field of Public Policy Laswell  Dates to mid 1950’s (Laswell) o Belief that a “science of public policy” could be developed to minimize the need for unproductive political debate  Problem oriented  Use the quantitative research methods  Theoretical  Value oriented  Criticisms o Elitist (leaves little role for the citizens) o Scientific method may not translate well to the realm of politics The field of Public Policy Today  Policy Process studies o Studies of the policy process, beginning from problem identification and end night with evaluation and feedback o Question: How is policy made o Empirical questions like what is and how to things work  Policy Analysis o Emerged in the 1960’s and 1970’s (“Great Society”) o Efforts to analyze policies using data and statistical techniques. Much of the method derives from economics o Question: How can we make good policy o Normative, how should things be How should this work The Stages of the Policy Process - This is a basic representational model of the process, this helps people divide up workloads 1) Issue Emergence  Learning about the existence of a problem or a condition  Condition- state of affairs  Problem- negative situation which government should address 2) Agenda Setting  The list of policy problems that will be talked about  Requires prioritization’s with the issues addressed  Systemic/public agenda- what the people care about and what is going on in the media The Field of Public Policy  Formal/institutional agenda- what bills are being considered or topics of congressional hearings, what issues are talked about in the institutions of government 3) Alternative Selection  The different options available to handle situations/issues  Various possible policy options 4) Enactment  Choosing the alternatives and then formally turning the policies into law  Formal process of making policies into law 5) Implementation How the policy will be put into law 6) Evaluation