Evaluating SME Policies and Programmes: Technical and Political Dimensions

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
David J. Storey
Keyword(s):  
Policy Development ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Policy Formulation ◽  
The Political ◽  
Current Policy ◽  
Policy Making Process ◽  
New Ideas ◽  
Political Dimensions ◽  
Public Money ◽  
The Impact

This article is primarily focused on further developing the theme of the political economy way of evaluating the impact of Small and Medium-sized Enterprise (SME) policies. It reaches five key conclusions. First, that evaluation needs to become more central to the policy-making process. Evaluation should not be undertaken solely as a historic accounting exercise to determine whether public money has been spent wisely, although that role is of value. Instead of being, ‘at the end of the line’, evaluation should be used to inform current policy, so that current objectives and targets may be modified in the light of evidence of policy effectiveness. Hence considerations of how policy is evaluated should therefore be incorporated into policy formulation when new ideas are being developed. They could even influence the choices made by governments about how best to engage with SMEs. Specifically, evaluation has to be incorporated as a key element in policy development.

scholarly journals Assessing the impact of transport policy instruments on road haulage energy efficiency

2014 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 323-337 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olivera Medar ◽  
Vladimir Papic ◽  
Aleksandar Manojlovic ◽  
Snezana Filipovic
Keyword(s):  
Energy Efficiency ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Policy Instruments ◽  
Policy Formulation ◽  
Road Haulage ◽  
Policy Making Process ◽  
Network Process ◽  
The Republic ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Support Decision Making

This paper focuses on elements of transport policies affecting energy efficiency of road haulage. The purpose is to present a tool developed to support decision making during the policy making process, at the stage of formulating the elements of transport policies. The paper describes a model developed to assess the impact of policy instruments on fleet energy efficiency by multi-criteria ranking applying the Analytical Network Process. The paper describes the possibilities to employ the defined model giving the example of international road haulage in the Republic of Serbia. The application led to a proposal for policy instruments which could have the highest impact on the increase of energy efficiency in this sector and which will be considered further in detail during the policy formulation process.

The Dual Executive

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michelle Belco ◽  
Brandon Rottinghaus
Keyword(s):  
Policy Making ◽  
Political System ◽  
Government Support ◽  
The Political ◽  
Government Function ◽  
Dual Roles ◽  
System P ◽  
Policy Making Process

The president serves dual roles in the political system: one who “commands” by pursuing his or her agenda using unilateral orders and one who “administers” and who works to continue proper government function, often with the support of Congress. In a reassessment of the literature on unilateral power, this book considers the president’s dual roles during the stages of the policy-making process. Although presidents may appear to act “first and alone,” the reality is often much different. Presidents act in response to their own concerns, as well as assisting Congress on priorities and the need to maintain harmonic government function. The authors find support for both the model of an aggressive president who uses unilateral orders to push his or her agenda, head off unfavorable congressional legislation, and selectively implement legislation, and they find support for a unifying president who is willing to share management of government, support Congressional legislative efforts, and faithfully implement legislation. At the same time, presidents self-check their actions based on the ability of Congress to act to overturn their orders, through a shared sense of responsibility to keep government moving and out of respect for the constitutional balance. The shared nature of unilateral orders does not preclude an active president, as presidents remain strong, central actors in the political system.

From One-Stop Graft to Costly Corruption Webs: Democratisation and Shifting Patterns of Corruption in Korea

2012 ◽  
Vol 40 (5-6) ◽  
pp. 635-663 ◽  
Author(s):  
James C. Schopf
Keyword(s):  
Policy Making ◽  
Veto Players ◽  
Objective Measures ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Opposition ◽  
Policy Making Process ◽  
One Stop ◽  
The Web

Abstract Democratisation has brought a new, riskier pattern of corruption to Korea. More groups and institutions have secured a role in a more inclusive democratic policy making process. As a result, corruption schemes now require the consent of a wide and diverse set of veto players, often including the political opposition, producing expansive democratic ‘corruption webs’. The key democratic element of competition for votes rewards opposition members in the web for blowing the whistle. Increased likelihood of exposure and punishment deter many from corruption, which has subsequently declined in Korea under democracy, as measured by perception polls, experience surveys and objective measures of elite rent exchange. The Roh Moo-hyeon NACF scandals demonstrate that democratic corruption webs also mitigate damage from scandals — forcing participants to limit rent exchange to minimise exposure to clean veto players. Democratic oversight ensures that even bribe-taking officials implement policy according to publicly-declared objectives. Finally, competition for votes encourages timely exposure of democratic corruption rackets.

Integrating Ideas into Policy-Making Analysis

2002 ◽  
Vol 35 (9) ◽  
pp. 1054-1076 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erik Bleich
Keyword(s):  
Policy Development ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Vital Role ◽  
Policy Outcomes ◽  
Policy Frames ◽  
Policy Choices ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Impact ◽  
History Of Race ◽  
Cross National

This article argues that systematically integrating ideas into policy-making analysis greatly enhances our understanding of policy outcomes. Variables emphasized by other schools of thought—such as power, interests, institutions, and problems—often provide an inadequate explanation of policy choices. To demonstrate the contribution of ideas to policy-making analysis, this article examines the impact of policy frames, showing how they help actors define their interests, generate interpretations of pressing problems, and constrain actions. Retracing the history of race policy development in Britain and France reveals that each country's frames influenced domestic policy outcomes and thus played a vital role in explaining cross-national race policy differences.

Show Me the Numbers: Bureaucratic Use of Data in the Policy Making Process

2022 ◽  
pp. 009539972110699
Author(s):  
Tracey Bark
Keyword(s):  
Policy Making ◽  
Use Of Data ◽  
Policy Making Process ◽  
Legislative Agendas ◽  
The Impact

Bureaucracies often provide information to legislatures in an effort to influence the agenda. This paper assesses whether data affects this influence, arguing quantitative support can increase the likelihood of legislative discussion and passage of bills related to a given topic. I also assess the impact of centralization on an agency’s ability to provide information and shape legislative agendas. I find including data in bureaucratic reports can significantly increase an agency’s influence on the legislature, but this effect is only present in a centralized setting. These results suggest centralized agencies are better equipped to marshal quantitative support for arguments to legislatures.

scholarly journals The Denationalization and Agencification of Net Neutrality Policy in Lithuania

2019 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 29-43
Author(s):  
Deimantas Jastramskis
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Political Process ◽  
Policy Formulation ◽  
The Political ◽  
Net Neutrality ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Communications Policy ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
Stream Model

This paper focuses on the making of communications policy in Lithuania, specifically regarding net neutrality. The study employs a multiple stream model to analyze the conditions of the political process and the activity of political actors. The paper claims that the Lithuanian communications policy has become essentially denationalized since the country’s accession to the European Union. The issue of net neutrality policy has been framed in the context of EU policy, while the national agenda of net neutrality policy lost its significance. The denationalization of the net neutrality policy-making was harmonized with the agencification of policy formulation stage.

The State Political Party and the Policy-Making Process

1973 ◽  
Vol 67 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-72 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah McCally Morehouse
Keyword(s):  
Political Party ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
The State ◽  
The Political ◽  
Socioeconomic Variables ◽  
Policy Making Process ◽  
Party Cohesion ◽  
Party Support

This research investigated the proposition that variation in the structure of the political party can account for variation in the type of policy produced. The conditions under which legislators of the governor's party supported his legislative requests in sixteen sessions chosen for different degrees of party cohesion were investigated. The findings indicate that there is very little correlation between the legislator's district primary or election competition and his support for the governor's requests. The Democratic governor is supported by legislators from the districts in which he himself has strong party support as measured by his primary vote. The Republican governor's support cannot be geographically located in this manner. With respect to socioeconomic legislation, the pattern of support for a successful governor does not depend upon socioeconomic variables within the legislators' districts, but if the governor cannot control his legislators, socioeconomic variables provide the major basis for the factions which develop.

Public Opinion, Domestic Structure, and Foreign Policy in Liberal Democracies

1991 ◽  
Vol 43 (4) ◽  
pp. 479-512 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Risse-Kappen
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Public Opinion ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Public Attitudes ◽  
The United States ◽  
Policy Outcomes ◽  
Liberal Democracies ◽  
Policy Making Process ◽  
The Impact

The paper discusses the role of public opinion in the foreign policy-making process of liberal democracies. Contrary to prevailing assumptions, public opinion matters. However, the impact of public opinion is determined not so much by the specific issues involved or by the particular pattern of public attitudes as by the domestic structure and the coalition-building processes among the elites in the respective country. The paper analyzes the public impact on the foreign policy-making process in four liberal democracies with distinct domestic structures: the United States, France, the Federal Republic of Germany, and Japan. Under the same international conditions and despite similar patterns of public attitudes, variances in foreign policy outcomes nevertheless occur; these have to be explained by differences in political institutions, policy networks, and societal structures. Thus, the four countries responded differently to Soviet policies during the 1980s despite more or less comparable trends in mass public opinion.

The Neglected Tradition? – The Genesis of the EU Seal Products Trade Ban and Commercial Sealing

2013 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 417-450 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nikolas Sellheim
Keyword(s):  
Policy Making ◽  
Political Discourse ◽  
The Political ◽  
Policy Making Process ◽  
Negative Impacts ◽  
The Eu

Abstract The European Union’s ban on the placing on the market of seal products stemming from commercially hunted seals has triggered much controversy due to its negative impacts on Arctic livelihoods. This article looks at the different documents and steps that constitute the crafting process which has led to the adoption of Regulation 1007/2009 on trade in seal products. It puts special emphasis on the degree of recognition of commercial sealing as a livelihood and asks if it is a tradition that may have been neglected by the political discourse in the EU. Also the role of antisealing groups is considered that may have contributed to a pre-determined stance on the commercial seal hunt during the policy-making process.

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