Public Policy

1987 ◽  
Vol 54 ◽  
pp. 10-13
Author(s):  
Charles O. Jones
Keyword(s):  
Political Institutions ◽  
Policy Process ◽  
National Level ◽  
Policy Networks ◽  
The Political ◽  
Budget Process ◽  
List Type ◽  
Policy Issues ◽  
Specific Policy ◽  
Formal Procedures

Purpose: The following syllabus is designed to introduce students to public policymaking at the national level of government. As designed, this course has the following goals associated with the process, issues, and institutions of national policymaking:1.Acquaint students with the political dynamics of the policy process— with particular focus on policy networks: those persons from the departments or agencies, members of Congress and their staff, and interest groups who interact on specific policy issues.2.Introduce the complexities of the specific policy issues that form the national agenda (e.g., trade, agriculture, welfare, taxes).3.Emphasize the importance of political institutions and their formal procedures—with particular stress on the budget process and presidential agenda setting.

Candidate Selection Reform in South Korea: The Persistence of Exclusive Practices Despite Inclusive Rules

2020 ◽  
Vol 93 (4) ◽  
pp. 735-758
Author(s):  
Eun Hee Woo
Keyword(s):  
South Korea ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Selection Process ◽  
National Level ◽  
Electoral System ◽  
Candidate Selection ◽  
The Political ◽  
Electoral Campaigns ◽  
Legal Provisions ◽  
Party Elites

This paper analyzes how democratization has affected the dynamics of candidate selection in South Korea. After democratization in the late 1980s, it was expected that intra-party democracy would follow. In response to increasing public demand, the major parties adopted primary systems in the early 2000s. Nonetheless, most candidates for the legislature are still nominated by a small number of central party elites without additional ballots in the local branches. To explain the persistence of such exclusive, centralized features of candidate selection, I highlight the limited impact democratization has had on the political environment in which the parties operate. More specifically, since the 1987 democratization process resulted in a compromise agreement established by a small number of party leaders, South Korea retained much of the political legacy from authoritarian times, such as an electoral system advantageous to the major parties and legal provisions restricting electoral campaigns, party activities, and political participation. The continuation of these political institutions makes radical candidate selection reform highly unlikely as the party elites have no incentive to expand and decentralize the selection process. Without significant changes to the political institutions at the national level, the dominance of the central party elite over the final outcome of candidate selection looks likely to continue for the foreseeable future.

Getting Beyond the ‘Official Line’: Reflections on Dilemmas of Access, Knowledge and Power in Researching Policy Networks

2002 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-59 ◽  
Author(s):  
KAREN DUKE
Keyword(s):  
Policy Process ◽  
Research Problem ◽  
Policy Networks ◽  
Qualitative Approach ◽  
The Political ◽  
Policy Network ◽  
Network Approach ◽  
Academic Climate ◽  
Political Dimensions

Although the policy network approach has moved to the forefront of the debates around the formulation and development of policy, there is a paucity of methodological and reflexive literature which explores how policy networks and the actors within these arenas are actually studied. Researching powerful individuals within such networks generates a unique set of dilemmas and complexities for the researcher. Drawing on my experiences of researching the policy networks involved in the development of prison drugs policy, this paper provides a methodological and reflexive account of the key processes and issues involved in my research. In particular, it explores the political dimensions of the research problem and the importance of switching the research gaze from the ‘objects’ of policy to those who are in the powerful positions of ‘making’ policy. In order to understand the interactions within the policy process, it is argued that the qualitative approach offers distinct advantages in studying policy networks. The paper examines my attempts to uncover and understand the role and influence of policy networks in the development of prison drugs policy and the ways in which I grappled with the dilemmas of access, knowledge and power which emerged during the course of the fieldwork. Although the importance of transparent methodologies and reflexivity are highlighted, the paper concludes by suggesting that the resistance on the part of researchers to providing such accounts is related to the pressures and constraints of the current academic climate.

WIN WIN's Struggles with the Institutional Transfer of the EMILY's List Model to Japan: The Role of Accountability and Policy

2011 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 75-94 ◽  
Author(s):  
ALISA GAUNDER
Keyword(s):  
Explanatory Power ◽  
National Level ◽  
The Political ◽  
List Type ◽  
Institutional Environments ◽  
Organization Level ◽  
Gender Consciousness ◽  
The Us ◽  
List Model

AbstractThis article addresses the complexities of institutional transfer by exploring the case of EMILY's List and WIN WIN, two women's organizations in the US and Japan respectively that seek to increase the number of women in office by providing funds early in candidates’ campaigns. Specifically, it asks why WIN WIN has struggled to successfully implement the EMILY's List model in Japan. This article argues that differing institutional environments and cultures have less explanatory power than decisions made at the organization level. In particular, while differences in the political funding regimes and so-called ‘cultures of giving’ exist, they do not necessarily preclude the success of an EMILY's List-type organization in Japan. Instead, WIN WIN made significant strategic organizational decisions that have impeded its ability to have a significant impact on female candidacy at the national level. Specifically, WIN WIN's lack of accountability to its members combined with its broader commitment to gender consciousness have limited its success.

scholarly journals Advocacy in Nonprofit Organizations: A Leadership Perspective

2015 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 297-324 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dyana P. Mason
Keyword(s):  
Nonprofit Organizations ◽  
Policy Process ◽  
Political Ideology ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Elites ◽  
Political Arena ◽  
Policy Issues ◽  
Advocacy Strategies ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Nonprofit Leaders

AbstractThe influence of nonprofit leaders in organizational advocacy strategies and outcomes has not been fully explored in the literature, despite the recognition that political or policy entrepreneurs are crucial to the American policy process. These leaders are placed squarely in the political arena with other political elites, including elected officials, and this study uses a common agency framework to describe the ways in which leaders should be expected to leverage their own personal preferences in guiding their organization’s behavior. Using data from a unique survey of nonprofit leaders in California, I measure the ways that a leader’s personal values and characteristics – specifically their political ideology on a left-right spectrum – have an effect on the organization’s advocacy efforts. Results indicate that political ideology is related to whether or not a leader identifies their group as one that engages in political or policy issues, and what types of tactics they use.

scholarly journals Democracy without political parties: the case of ancient Athens

2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (6) ◽  
pp. 983-998
Author(s):  
George Tridimas
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Majority Voting ◽  
The Political ◽  
Simple Majority ◽  
Political Leaders ◽  
Policy Issues ◽  
Ancient Athens ◽  
The Right

AbstractPolitical parties, formal, durable and mass organizations that inform voters on public policy issues, nominate candidates for office and fight elections for the right to govern, are ubiquitous in modern representative democracies but were absent from the direct participatory democracy of ancient Athens. The paper investigates how the political institutions of Athens may explain their absence. The arguments explored include voter homogeneity; the conditions at the start of the democracy, characterized by single constituency configuration of the demos, simple majority voting and lack of organized groups; the irrelevance of holding public office for determining public policy; appointment to public posts through sortition; and voting on single-dimension issues. The paper then discusses how in the absence of parties voters became informed and how political leaders were held accountable by the courts.

Assessing minority party influence on partisan issue attention in the US House of representatives, 1989–2012

2016 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 197-208 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tyler Hughes
Keyword(s):  
Time Series ◽  
House Of Representatives ◽  
Policy Process ◽  
Majority Party ◽  
Policy Issues ◽  
Specific Policy ◽  
Minority Party ◽  
The Us ◽  
Issue Attention ◽  
House Floor

The majority party dominates legislative outputs and throughputs in rule-driven institutions, but these agenda-setting powers may not extend to other facets of the policy process. This article assesses the minority party’s ability to influence majority party issue attention in the US House of Representatives by analyzing one-minute speeches given on the House floor. This new measure of partisan issue attention highlights how the parties focus on the same policy issues in the same relative proportions, rather than crafting divergent issue agendas. Time series analysis indicates gaps between the parties’ level of attention to particular issues result in corresponding changes to majority party attention, which suggests the minority party can influence majority party issue attention by placing more emphasis on specific policy issues.

scholarly journals The Collective Action Framing of Conservative Christian Groups in Britain

2016 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 286-310 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven Kettell
Keyword(s):  
Collective Action ◽  
National Level ◽  
The Political ◽  
Scholarly Research ◽  
Political Activities ◽  
Policy Issues ◽  
Collective Action Frames ◽  
High Profile ◽  
Conservative Christian ◽  
Elite Interviews

AbstractConservative Christian groups in Britain have been involved in a number of high profile and controversial policy issues. Scholarly research into the political activities of such groups, however, remains limited. This article addresses this lacuna by exploring the collective action frames deployed by conservative Christian groups in their attempts to influence national level policies and debates. Drawing on elite interviews with group representatives, it argues that these frames have been constructed largely in response to the pressures of secularization, but have, in many respects, become secularized themselves.

Reason, interest and passion in the East European transitions

1999 ◽  
Vol 38 (4) ◽  
pp. 499-519 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jon Elster
Keyword(s):  
Transitional Justice ◽  
The Political ◽  
Policy Issues ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
East European ◽  
Specific Policy ◽  
Transitions To Democracy ◽  
Forward Looking ◽  
Constitution Making

The politics of transitions to democracy include both the forward-looking task of constitution-making and the backward-looking task of transitional justice. To study these processes and to explain their outcomes, one must among other things identify the motives of the political actors that are involved. Following the French moralists, the article tries to identify and assess the importance of interest, passion and reason as motives of the actors. The article also discusses the tendency for actors to misrepresent their motivations, and the frequent formation of alliances between actors animated by different motives that converge on specific policy issues.

Bankers and politicians: mutual interests and contradictions (the historical experience of different countries)

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ирина Юдина ◽  
Irina Yudina
Keyword(s):  
Political Science ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Economic History ◽  
Banking System ◽  
Main Idea ◽  
The Political ◽  
Historical Experience ◽  
Banking Systems ◽  
Analysis Tools ◽  
Political Game

This work is an attempt to explain the political roots from which banking systems have evolved in different countries and how they have evolved at different times. For this purpose, materials and analysis tools from three different disciplines were used: economic history, political science and Economics. The main idea that is set out in this paper is the statement that the strength and weakness of the banking system is a consequence of the Great political game and that the rules of this game are written by the main political institutions.

“There is such a situation that Comrade Svoboda is under pressure”. The Soviet leadership and the settlement of relations with Czechoslovakia. May 1969

2019 ◽  
pp. 512-519
Author(s):  
Teymur Dzhalilov ◽  
Nikita Pivovarov
Keyword(s):  
Central Committee ◽  
Secretary General ◽  
Political Agenda ◽  
The Political ◽  
Soviet Government ◽  
Soviet Leadership ◽  
Policy Issues ◽  
The World ◽  
The Common

The published document is a part of the working record of The Secretariat of the CPSU Central Committee on May 5, 1969. The employees of The Common Department of the CPSU Central Committee started writing such working records from the end of 1965. In contrast to the protocols, the working notes include speeches of the secretaries of the Central Committee, that allow to deeper analyze the reactions of the top party leadership, to understand their position regarding the political agenda. The peculiarity of the published document is that the Secretariat of the Central Committee did not deal with the most important foreign policy issues. It was the responsibility of the Politburo. However, it was at a meeting of the Secretariat of the Central Committee when Brezhnev raised the question of inviting G. Husák to Moscow. The latter replaced A. Dubček as the first Secretary of the Communist party of Czechoslovakia in April 1969. As follows from the document, Leonid Brezhnev tried to solve this issue at a meeting of the Politburo, but failed. However, even at the Secretariat of the Central Committee the Leonid Brezhnev’s initiative at the invitation of G. Husák was not supported. The published document reveals to us not only new facets in the mechanisms of decision-making in the CPSU Central Committee, the role of the Secretary General in this process, but also reflects the acute discussions within the Soviet government about the future of the world socialist systems.

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