Description
PU8-7000 V4: Week 3 Public Administration
Week 3
Policy Development and implementation
This week, you will delve into the process of formulating public policy. Public policy issues
may range from civil rights issues to privacy issues such as Roe vs. Wade, the Supreme
Court decision on abortion, which relied on the protection of privacy. These issues can
affect how the public votes. Examples include the current issue about the voter
registration of prisoners and allowing non-citizens to vote in government and presidential
elections.
Because policy can be coercive and derives its legitimacy from representative
democracy’s various branches, the concepts and challenges surrounding public policy
formulation are unique to this field. Public policy making incorporates numerous factors
such as economics, sociology, and human ecology.
ln public administration, there are many aspects of economics such as Financial
Administration, Agriculture, budgetary processes, and lndustrial administration.
Economists hold high positions in public organizations ranging from the city management
team to federal government agencies.
Sociology teaches about people, diversity, and social problems. Sociology is implemented
in public administration, and public servants deal with community development, crime
rates, health services, irnmigration, poverty, and rural issues.
Human ecology examines the role of social, cultural, and psychological factors of the
ecosystem and investigates disruptions such as the effects of population density on
health, social organization, and environmental quality. For example, the Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) improves the health, living conditions, and economic
opportunities such as for people living near Superfund sites. The Superfund programs are
responsible for the cleanup of most contaminated land and also respond to environmental
emergencies such as oil spills and natural disasters such as hurricanes (Wheeler, n.d.).
For example, the policy streams model of policy making was founded on the Garbage Can
model of decision-making, while incremental policy making rests on the rational model of
decision making. The Garbage Can model, developed by Cohen, Olsen, and March in
!972, is an irrational model of decision making assuming that problems, solutions, and
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participants are disconnected and exist as separate organizational streams. The
application of the garbage can model in public administration can be linked to the fact
that politicians consistently change with election cycles, multiple competing preferences,
and problems that arise from current events gaining or losing focus based on media
coverage. Policies may be proposed by think tanks or lobby groups (Weible&Schlager,
2076). The punctuated equilibrium model borrowed concepts from the hard sciences,
while public choice policy models are heavily economic in nature.
References:
Weible, C., &Schlager E. (2076). The multiple streams approach at the theoretical and
empirical crossroads: An introduction to a special issue. Policy Studies Journal, 44(l),5-
- doi:70.1777 / psj.1.2743
Wheeler, A” (n.d.).Department of Environmental Protection [Web resource]. United States
E nvira n m e n ta I Protectio n Age ncy.
Be sure to review this week’s resources carefully. You are expected to apply the
information from these resources when you prepare your assignments.
Week 3 – Assignment: Assess A Previously
Unsuccessful Policy
lmagine you are interviewed by a reporter from the New York Times about President
Clinton’s Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of L994.
&
You take notes during your interview to prepare for a memo you must submit to your
supervisor in this week’s briefings. lnclude the following in your submission:
. Appraise the political and societal issues in the 1990s.
. Present the crime rate in the early 199Os.
. Provide an overview of the policy.
. Justify the political explanation for the policy.
. Critique the goals and objectives of the policy and determine if they have been
reached.
. Explain why and how the policy failed.
. Facilitate suggestions for improvements to the policy.
Support your assignment with at least three scholarly resources. In addition to these
specified resources, other appropriate scholarly resources, including seminal articles, may
be included.
l-ength: 5-7 pages, not including tltle and reference pages
Your assignnrent should dernonstrate thoughtful ccnsideration of the ideas and concepts
presented in the course by prcviding new thoughts and insights relatlng directly t* this
topic.YourresponseshouldreflectscholarlywritingandcurrentAPAstandards.Besure
to adhere to Northcentral University’s Academic lntegrity Policy’
Upload your assignment using the upload button, and then click the submit to Dropbox
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