Brendan O’Callaghan
2/20/14
Public Policy
P.L.110-140
Kingdon’s Process
John Kingdon describes the public policy formation process in his book “Agenda’s Alternatives and Public Policies”. Kingdon explains the public policy process using three different streams, a window of opportunity, and a policy entrepreneur (Lovell, 9). Each of these is necessary in order for public policy to be created and signed into law. This process can be clearly seen in the Clean Energy Act of 2007, which moved the United States towards energy independence and cleaner reusable and environmentally friendly products.
This paper investigates Kingdon’s theory of agenda setting. After presenting Kingdon’s theory in section one, the paper will then compare the passage of the Clean Energy Act of 2007 directly to Kingdon’s theory. Section Two of the paper will investigate the streams that Kingdon describes and apply them to the passage of the Clean Energy act. The third section of the paper will delve into the different political entrepreneurs and how they participated in the passage of the law.
Kingdon’s Theory
Kingdon explains the public policy process using three different streams. The first stream is the problem stream. Kingdon explains that there is at all times a set of problems that a country is facing (Lovell, 9). Members of congress as well as the executive branch consider only some of these problems. Often times a crises or well-publicized event will set certain problems as precedent over others. Over the last decade, there has been a rise in concern for the state environment. Much focus has been directed towards issues such as climate change and green house gasses. Powerful actors in both Congress as well as the public eye are taking strong notice ...
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...ies, environmental policy creators, Wheat, corn, soybean, and cash grain farmers, as well as labor unions. The basic thought here is that those whom alternative energy affects negatively such as oil companies were against it. While those who’s businesses would increase such, as corn farmers would support it.
Creating Public Policy is a complex, multifaceted, chaotic, and intricate process. It entails understanding national interest, grasping hold of the politics, and uncovering the right policy to fix the issue at hand. Kingdon’s Theory provides a set of elements to further ones understanding of this process. The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, provides a clear depiction of Kingdon’s Theory, and once understanding both the legislative process behind the bill as well as Kingdon’s theory, it is possible to apply the Theory to the passage of the law.
Public policies are developed in response to the existence of a perceived problem or an opportunity. The analysis delves into a public issue or problem and assesses a set of proposed government action for addressing the issue. The job of the analyst is to describe the background and status of an issue and then, using research and analysis, determine a proper government action to resolve the issue. By comparing options and weighing their expected benefits, the analyst should conclude with a recommended course of action or inaction to addressing the issue.
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This book also elaborates on the study of rulemaking by giving examples through cases, studies, loads of government documentation and interviews with policy makers. Following the information and chapters is really easy. The book is illustrated with clear tables, charts, and figures. Each chapter is clearly defined and tables/figures are clearly marked after the table of contents.
The public interest defence was created by the deformation act 2013, to protect defamatory material. The concept of public interest can be a vague term. What one might consider public interest someone else may not? For example, some people believe celebrity gossip is the public interest. The public recognises the term public interest and it is used as a defence for media intrusions of privacy. Everyone has the right to privacy, but sometimes this is not the case. Depending on the person or the organisation this can be invaded depending on the degree of the public interest. In order for something to be in the public interest, the subject has to be of interest for a collective amount of people not just for an individual. The breaches of exposing privacy would be exempt if it was to be to expose crime if an investigator was to breach someone’s privacy but they were exposing crime, which would be of public interest, and then this would be acceptable. Protecting the public health or safety of the public is also an exception, protecting the public from being misled. Also disclosing someone’s failure or likely failure by any obligation they have. In order for these reasons to become except the publication will need to justify why this would
Kraft, M. E., & Furlong, S. R. (2013). Public policy: politics, analysis, and alternatives (4th ed.). Washington DC, CQ Press.
Wheelan, C. (2011). Introduction to Public Policy (1st ed.). United States: W.W. Nortion & Company, INC. (Original work published 2011).
One of the problems today is that America’s distrust for their leaders because they view them as ineffectual and removed. There is a need in America to democratize the public planning process and decision-making process. Many times projects, developments, and policy decisions are made without significant public input and participation. This often leads to m...
To understand the power struggle relating to foreign policymaking, it is crucial to understand what foreign policy entails. The Foreign Policy Agenda of the U.S. Department of State declares the goals of foreign policy as "to build and sustain a more democratic, secure, and prosperous world for the benefit of the American people and the international community." While this definition is quite vague, the actual tools of foreign policy include Diplomacy, foreign aid, and military force.
Democracy has been the root of a limited government, the system of which government powers are distributed so that one group of leaders do not have too much influence. The limited government has been structured to keep peace amongst all parties that are involved in the government. And under the U.S. Constitution, citizens are given ultimate power by their right to choose their representatives through the democratic process of voting. Each levels of the government are limited as they have their own responsibilities. The city government has the most local level of government as the residents elect a city council and mayor to represent their interest at the city level. All city governments establish housing and health regulations, and are responsible
Everyone has their own political leaning and that leaning comes from one’s opinion about the Government. Peoples’ opinions are formed by what the parties say they will and will not do, the amounts they want spend and what they want to save. In macroeconomic terms, what the government spends is known as fiscal policy. Fiscal policy is the use of taxation and government spending for the purposes of stimulating or slowing down growth in an economy. Fiscal policy can be used for expansionary reasons, which is aimed at growing the economy and increasing employment, or contractionary which is intended to slow the growth of an economy. Expansionary fiscal policy features increased government spending and decreases in the tax rates as where contractionary policy focuses on lowering government spending and increasing tax rates. It must be understood that fiscal policy is meant to help the economy, although some negative results may arise.
If one was to look at the political administration dichotomy, in theory only elected officials should be the ones who decide the public policy, since they are decision makers, but once the policy is made by the elected officials then the policy implementations. Furthermore, administrations are the responsibility of the bureaucrat with whatever they do. In practice, the bureaucrat is involved in implementation and formulation, in which they have the expertise and the knowledge on the subject. The question then is should bureaucrats be involved in policy formulation? This is structural and difficult to draw a line between these two functions. This paper will look at whether or not Bureaucrats should be involved in policy formulations and if what is stated in theory is actually practiced in reality. It will be argued bureaucracy should be involved in policy formulation in order such policies run smoothly.
As a minor purpose we provide a Theoretical framework to think deeply about political and social praxis. This is so as a matter of make them feasible answers to problems that have been appearing recently.
legislation being passed or not. Scholars recognize this power and recognize that it can make a big
Rabin, J. (2003). Encyclopedia of public administration and public policy: K-Z. United States: CRC press.
Today’s policies are essential to the development of the people; servicing the needs and interest of the citizens. Policy change builds a greater society; these revolutions are sometimes forced by external conditions “outside events or “shocks” – such as a change of government, an economi...