Developing a Systematic Decision-Making Framework: Bureaucratic Politics in Perspective

1981 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 234-252 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jerel A. Rosati

The bureaucratic politics model has achieved great popularity in the study of decision making. Yet too often the term “bureaucratic politics” is used by scholars and practitioners without clearly stating its policy application. The decision-making behavior that occurred during the Johnson and Nixon administrations for SALT I serves to illustrate many of the limits of the model. First, the decision-making structure posited by the bureaucratic politics model is not nearly as prevalent within the executive branch as is commonly assumed. Second, even where the bureaucratic politics structure is present, the decision-making process is not always one of bargaining, compromise, and consensus. Finally, the decision context and the decision participants are ignored in the model. To provide a clearer understanding of policy-making behavior, a more systematic decision-making framework is offered, which should contribute to the development of better model- and theory-building.

2016 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 76-97 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joshin John ◽  
Sushil Kumar

The decision making process for shipbreaking is complicated and is dependent on multiple factors. However, due to the vastly unorganized nature of shipbreaking industry in major shipbreaking locations, there is little work done to the best of the authors' knowledge, wherein these factors are mapped, weighed and integrated in the form of a comprehensive decision making framework. In recent years, although there have been significant efforts by researchers to capture the process of shipbreaking and recycling in literature, a comprehensive decision support system that encapsulates the multiple criteria for shipbreaking in a quantifiable form, is yet to be developed. This paper attempts to bridge this gap, by formulating a decision making framework, particularly for selecting the shipbreaking facility and the extent of recycling subsequent to ship disassembly, using AHP methodology. The framework considers the relevant factors, and is useful not only for shipping companies and cash brokers for decision making, but also provides insights vis-à-vis the migrating pattern of shipbreaking industry, particularly from Indian subcontinent to China, as observed in the contemporary business environment.


2017 ◽  
Vol 233 ◽  
pp. 64-84
Author(s):  
Eun Kyong Choi

AbstractThis article reviews the decision-making process behind the creation of a new rural pension between the early 2000s and 2009. It finds that although policymaking was initially delegated to the bureaucratic level and hence involved a protracted bureaucratic struggle, the issue was resolved by a fiat imposed by top leaders rather than by bureaucratic compromise as a bureaucratic politics model would suggest. I call this policymaking process “delegation and then intervention.” Although the Ministry of Labour and Social Security (MOLSS) persistently argued in favour of creating the new rural pension, the Ministry of Finance obstinately objected to it. This study finds that when bureaucratic organizations are in conflict because of their core beliefs, rather than resource allocation, they are less likely to reach a consensus. Faced with a prolonged bureaucratic deadlock, top leaders decided in favour of the MOLSS policy initiative, thereby adopting a progressive measure that would provide a completely subsidized basic pension for the rural elderly.


NCC Journal ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 171-180
Author(s):  
Tej Raj Pokharel

Society is the mixture of mass and elite group. Elite group of society remains in apex and forcefully take the space in decision making process, direct and instruct the mass as well as administrators and drag the power in their own hands. Elites manipulate mass opinion and sentiments. They rule masses of people. Elite theories introduce not only elites, but also new important subjects like power, and raise questions for example on oligarchic tendencies in democracy.


2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (9) ◽  
pp. 198
Author(s):  
Mimi Lord

University endowments with broad portfolio diversification have been correlated with performance, but committees’ decision-making process has received relatively little attention. This study is unique in postulating that the committee’s learning commitment and open-mindedness are significant contributors to a decision process that is based on the principles of Modern Portfolio Theory (or, simply, Portfolio Theory). The use of Portfolio Theory as a decision-making framework leads to greater portfolio diversification, which, in turn, leads to higher risk-adjusted returns. This study also demonstrates that greater committee expertise across multiple asset classes contributes to more diversified portfolios.


2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 130-141
Author(s):  
Karen E Smith

Abstract Foreign policy analysis (FPA) opens the “black box” of the state and provides explanations of how and why foreign policy decisions are made, which puts individuals and groups (from committees to ministries) at the center of analysis. Yet the sex of the decision-maker and the gendered nature of the decision-making process have generally been left out of the picture. FPA has not addressed questions regarding the influence of women in foreign policy decision-making processes or the effects of gender norms on decision-making; indeed, FPA appears to be almost entirely gender-free. This article argues that “gendering” FPA is long overdue and that incorporating gender into FPA frameworks can provide a richer and more nuanced picture of foreign policy–making.


1950 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 72-87
Author(s):  
Janet Besse ◽  
Harold D. Lasswell

Opinion differs about the role of syndicated columnists in the forming of national opinion and in the decision-making process in the United States. Our columnists have been the subject of pioneering studies, but we have a long way to go before the picture can be called historically complete, scientifically precise, or fully satisfactory for policy-making purposes. What the columnists say is an important chapter in the history of the American public, and history is most useful for critical purposes when written close to the event. The general theory of communication and politics can be refined as the details of the opinion process are more fully known.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebin Dr. Fard

<p>To answer the research question , I focus on the domestic level to draw up a profile of the German foreign policy making process. For the analysis content analysis is used as a research method in order to examine the legitimate actors who make foreign policy decisions and determine the guidelines of German foreign policy. </p>


Author(s):  
D. B. Grafov

The article is about how pro-Israel and pro-China interest groups try to lobby on the ground of Capitol, White House and executive branch. The study of the lobbying results is based on «General theory of action» T. Parsons. It is concluded that for lobbying interests the main point will be the representation of the interests in the political and public spaces and the creating of advocacy and lobbying infrastructure. The ability of the Israeli lobby to achieve the goal can be explained, firstly, by political inclusion in the decision-making process, and, secondly, by almost axiomatic representation Israel interests through the national interests of the United States. The Israeli lobby can be considered as the religious lobby. It can use the possibilities of Jewish religious organizations in grass root action. Also this gives the opportunity to avoid the requirements of the LDA. From the point of view of the theory of Talcott Parsons, the success of the Israeli lobby is the cause of the action of a large number of actors that may form in large groups. Another advantage of the Israeli lobby is the ability of its members to get relevant information about the current situation in different spheres of political life in the U.S. The objective of the present study was to reveal the ways in which China lobby succeeds. The influence of China lobby on decision-making process in the United States can be explained through strong economic ties between American corporations and the Chinese market. When lobbying China uses numerous Chinese Diaspora in many States, as well as trying to interest of the former high-ranking American officials, granting them special privileges for doing business in China. In comparison to the Israeli lobby, the Chinese lobby has weaknesses. Chinese interest groups are not included in the political system of the USA and this is the disadvantage of the Chinese way of lobbying. Unlike Israel lobby Chinese one is external. The interests of the chinese pressure groups do not coincide with American national interests. Their actors are not rooted in the American political system.


2018 ◽  
Vol 24 (6) ◽  
pp. 2374-2396 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jing Gu ◽  
Zijian Wang ◽  
Zeshui Xu ◽  
Xuezheng Chen

Uncertainty and ambiguity are frequently involved in the decision-making process in our daily life. This paper develops a generalized decision-making framework based on the prospect theory under an intuitionistic fuzzy environment, by closely integrating the prospect theory and the intuitionistic fuzzy sets into our framework. We demonstrate how to compute the intuitionistic fuzzy prospect values as the reference values for decision-making and elaborate a four-step editing phase and a valuation phase with two key functions: the value function and the weighting function. We then conduct experiments to test our decision- making methodology and the key features of our framework. The experimental results show that the shapes of the value function and the weighting function in our framework are in line with those of prospect theory. The methodology proposed in this paper to elicit prospects that are not only under uncertainty but also under ambiguity. We reveal the decision-making behavior pattern through comparing the parameters. People are less risk averse when making decisions under an intuitionistic fuzzy environment than under uncertainty. People still underestimate the probability of the events in our experiment. Further, the choices of participants in the experiments are consistent with the addition and multiplication principles of our framework.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter M. Shane

This essay considers Robert S. McNamara’s 1995 memoir In Retrospect: The Tragedy and Lessons of Vietnam. First, it explores McNamara’s Lessons to understand the dangers of military policy making conducted without genuine input from Congress. Further, it argues that the pathologies of Vietnam War decision making are not likely to be unique—that is, the realities of executive branch organization and its decision-making processes are likely to re-create those pathologies when Congress is only tenuously involved in resolving the most basic policy questions regarding any substantial military engagement. The essay asserts that the values of sound military decision-making are well served by preserving a state of ambiguity as to the allocation of military decision-making authority in all by the easiest cases. To the extent, the War Powers Resolution has helped Congress to exploit this ambiguity in leveraging its own military policy making role, it has performed a useful function.


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