Understanding Public Policy

In its broadest sense, public policy is a reflection of how people in political society define a good life, and how they try to achieve it through their political institutions. In this course we emphasize the pivotal roles played in the policy process by the public administration. Public policy comprises substantive perspectives and values, mixed with institutional processes for realizing them. The policy process entails much more than formal policymaking conducted by legislative bodies. It involves the interaction of citizens animated by a concern or issue they believe deserves public attention. And then, if policies are adopted to address the concerns, they must be implemented through organizational processes. The disparity between intended policy goals and consequences on the ground means that we need to pay attention to policy choices, policy outputs, and policy impacts. Practitioners have developed a variety of policy models that can help us improve our understanding of how these processes work.