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Policy

Policy is a deliberate system of guidelines to guide decisions and achieve rational outcomes. A policy is a statement of intent and is implemented as a procedure or protocol. Policies are generally adopted by a governance body within an organization. Policies can assist in both subjective and objective decision making. Policies used in subjective decision-making usually assist senior management with decisions that must be based on the relative merits of a number of factors, and as a result, are often hard to test objectively, e.g. work–life balance policy... Moreover, Governments and other institutions have policies in the form of laws, regulations, procedures, administrative actions, incentives and voluntary practices. Frequently, resource allocations mirror policy decisions.

Policy is a blueprint of the organizational activities which are repetitive/routine in nature.

In contrast, policies to assist in objective decision-making are usually operational in nature and can be objectively tested, e.g. password policy.[1]

The term may apply to government, public sector organizations and groups, as well as individuals, Presidential executive orders, corporate privacy policies, and parliamentary rules of order are all examples of policy. Policy differs from rules or law. While the law can compel or prohibit behaviors (e.g. a law requiring the payment of taxes on income), policy merely guides actions toward those that are most likely to achieve the desired outcome.[2]

Policy or policy study may also refer to the process of making important organizational decisions, including the identification of different alternatives such as programs or spending priorities, and choosing among them on the basis of the impact they will have. Policies can be understood as political, managerial, financial, and administrative mechanisms arranged to reach explicit goals. In public corporate finance, a critical accounting policy is a policy for a firm/company or an industry that is considered to have a notably high subjective element, and that has a material impact on the financial statements.[citation needed]

It has been argued that policies ought to be evidence-based. An individual or organisation is justified in claiming that a specific policy is evidence-based if, and only if, three conditions are met. First, the individual or organisation possesses comparative evidence about the effects of the specific policy in comparison to the effects of at least one alternative policy. Second, the specific policy is supported by this evidence according to at least one of the individual’s or organisation’s preferences in the given policy area. Third, the individual or organisation can provide a sound account for this support by explaining the evidence and preferences that lay the foundation for the claim.[3]

Effects Edit

Intended effects and policy-design Edit

The intended effects of a policy vary widely according to the organization and the context in which they are made. Broadly, policies are typically instituted to avoid some negative effect that has been noticed in the organization, or to seek some positive benefit.[citation needed]

A meta-analysis of policy studies concluded that international treaties that aim to foster global cooperation have mostly failed to produce their intended effects in addressing global challenges, and sometimes may have led to unintended harmful or net negative effects. The study suggests enforcement mechanisms are the "only modifiable treaty design choice" with the potential to improve the effectiveness.[4][5]

Corporate purchasing policies provide an example of how organizations attempt to avoid negative effects. Many large companies have policies that all purchases above a certain value must be performed through a purchasing process. By requiring this standard purchasing process through policy, the organization can limit waste and standardize the way purchasing is done.[6]

The State of California provides an example of benefit-seeking policy. In recent years, the numbers of hybrid cars in California has increased dramatically, in part because of policy changes in Federal law that provided USD $1,500 in tax credits (since phased out) and enabled the use of high-occupancy vehicle lanes to drivers of hybrid vehicles. In this case, the organization (state and/or federal government) created an effect (increased ownership and use of hybrid vehicles) through policy (tax breaks, highway lanes).[7]

Unintended Edit

Policies frequently have side effects or unintended consequences. Because the environments that policies seek to influence or manipulate are typically complex adaptive systems (e.g. governments, societies, large companies), making a policy change can have counterintuitive results. For example, a government may make a policy decision to raise taxes, in hopes of increasing overall tax revenue. Depending on the size of the tax increase, this may have the overall effect of reducing tax revenue by causing capital flight or by creating a rate so high that citizens are deterred from earning the money that is taxed.[a][8]

The policy formulation process theoretically includes an attempt to assess as many areas of potential policy impact as possible, to lessen the chances that a given policy will have unexpected or unintended consequences.[9]

Cycle Edit

 
Example of the policy cycle concept.

In political science, the policy cycle is a tool used for analyzing the development of a policy. It can also be referred to as a "stages model" or "stages heuristic". It is thus a rule of thumb rather than the actual reality of how policy is created, but has been influential in how political scientists looked at policy in general.[10] It was developed as a theory from Harold Lasswell's work. It is called the policy cycle as the final stage (evaluation) often leads back to the first stage (problem definition), thus restarting the cycle.

Harold Lasswell's popular model of the policy cycle divided the process into seven distinct stages, asking questions of both how and why public policies should be made.[11] With the stages ranging from (1) intelligence, (2) promotion, (3) prescription, (4) invocation, (5) application, (6) termination and (7) appraisal, this process inherently attempts to combine policy implementation to formulated policy goals.[12]

One version by James E. Anderson, in his Public Policy-Making (1974) has the following stages:

  1. Agenda setting (Problem identification) – The recognition of certain subject as a problem demanding further government attention.
  2. Policy formulation – Involves exploring a variation of options or alternative courses of action available for addressing the problem. (appraisal, dialogue, formulation, and consolidation)
  3. Decision-making – Government decides on an ultimate course of action, whether to perpetuate the policy status quo or alter it. (Decision could be 'positive', 'negative', or 'no-action')
  4. Implementation – The ultimate decision made earlier will be put into practice.
  5. Evaluation – Assesses the effectiveness of a public policy in terms of its perceived intentions and results. Policy actors attempt to determine whether the course of action is a success or failure by examining its impact and outcomes.

Anderson's version of the stages model is the most common and widely recognised out of the models. However, it could also be seen as flawed. According to Paul A. Sabatier, the model has "outlived its usefulness" and should be replaced.[13] The model's issues have led to a paradoxical situation in which current research and updated versions of the model continue to rely on the framework created by Anderson. But the very concept of the stages model has been discredited, which attacks the cycle's status as a heuristic.[14]

Due to these problems, alternative and newer versions of the model have aimed to create a more comprehensive view of the policy cycle. An eight step policy cycle is developed in detail in The Australian Policy Handbook by Peter Bridgman and Glyn Davis: (now with Catherine Althaus in its 4th and 5th editions)

  1. Issue identification
  2. Policy analysis
  3. Consultation (which permeates the entire process)
  4. Policy instrument development
  5. Building coordination and coalitions
  6. Program Design: Decision making
  7. Policy Implementation
  8. Policy Evaluation

The Althaus, Bridgman & Davis model is heuristic and iterative. It is intentionally normative[clarification needed] and not meant to be diagnostic[clarification needed] or predictive. Policy cycles are typically characterized as adopting a classical approach, and tend to describe processes from the perspective of policy decision makers. Accordingly, some postpositivist academics challenge cyclical models as unresponsive and unrealistic, preferring systemic and more complex models.[15] They consider a broader range of actors involved in the policy space that includes civil society organisations, the media, intellectuals, think tanks or policy research institutes, corporations, lobbyists, etc.

Content Edit

Policies are typically promulgated through official written documents. Policy documents often come with the endorsement or signature of the executive powers within an organization to legitimize the policy and demonstrate that it is considered in force. Such documents often have standard formats that are particular to the organization issuing the policy. While such formats differ in form, policy documents usually contain certain standard components including:

  • A purpose statement, outlining why the organization is issuing the policy, and what its desired effect or outcome of the policy should be.
  • An applicability and scope statement, describing who the policy affects and which actions are impacted by the policy. The applicability and scope may expressly exclude certain people, organizations, or actions from the policy requirements. Applicability and scope is used to focus the policy on only the desired targets, and avoid unintended consequences where possible.
  • An effective date which indicates when the policy comes into force. Retroactive policies are rare, but can be found.
  • A responsibilities section, indicating which parties and organizations are responsible for carrying out individual policy statements. Many policies may require the establishment of some ongoing function or action. For example, a purchasing policy might specify that a purchasing office be created to process purchase requests, and that this office would be responsible for ongoing actions. Responsibilities often include identification of any relevant oversight and/or governance structures.
  • Policy statements indicating the specific regulations, requirements, or modifications to organizational behavior that the policy is creating. Policy statements are extremely diverse depending on the organization and intent, and may take almost any form.

Some policies may contain additional sections, including:

  • Background, indicating any reasons, history, ethical background statements, and/or intent that led to the creation of the policy, which may be listed as motivating factors. This information is often quite valuable when policies must be evaluated or used in ambiguous situations, just as the intent of a law can be useful to a court when deciding a case that involves that law.
  • Definitions, providing clear and unambiguous definitions for terms and concepts found in the policy document.

Types Edit

The American political scientist Theodore J. Lowi proposed four types of policy, namely distributive, redistributive, regulatory and constituent in his article "Four Systems of Policy, Politics and Choice" and in "American Business, Public Policy, Case Studies and Political Theory". Policy addresses the intent of the organization, whether government, business, professional, or voluntary. Policy is intended to affect the "real" world, by guiding the decisions that are made. Whether they are formally written or not, most organizations have identified policies.[16]

Policies may be classified in many different ways. The following is a sample of several different types of policies broken down by their effect on members of the organization.[16]

Distributive Edit

Distributive policies extend goods and services to members of an organization, as well as distributing the costs of the goods/services amongst the members of the organization. Examples include government policies that impact spending for welfare, public education, highways, and public safety, or a professional organization's benefits plan.[16]

Regulatory Edit

Regulatory policies, or mandates, limit the discretion of individuals and agencies, or otherwise compel certain types of behavior. These policies are generally thought to be best applied when good behavior can be easily defined and bad behavior can be easily regulated and punished through fines or sanctions. An example of a fairly successful public regulatory policy is that of a highway speed limit.[16]

Constituent Edit

Constituent policies create executive power entities, or deal with laws. Constituent policies also deal with fiscal policy in some circumstances.[16]

Redistributive Edit

Policies are dynamic; they are not just static lists of goals or laws. Policy blueprints have to be implemented, often with unexpected results. Social policies are what happens 'on the ground' when they are implemented, as well as what happens at the decision making or legislative stage.[16]

When the term policy is used, it may also refer to:[16]

  • Official government policy (legislation or guidelines that govern how laws should be put into operation)
  • Broad ideas and goals in political manifestos and pamphlets
  • A company or organization's policy on a particular topic. For example, the equal opportunity policy of a company shows that the company aims to treat all its staff equally.

The actions the organization actually takes may often vary significantly from stated policy. This difference is sometimes caused by political compromise over policy, while in other situations it is caused by lack of policy implementation and enforcement. Implementing policy may have unexpected results, stemming from a policy whose reach extends further than the problem it was originally crafted to address. Additionally, unpredictable results may arise from selective or idiosyncratic enforcement of policy.[16]

Types of policy analysis include:

  • Causal (resp. non-causal)
  • Deterministic (resp. stochastic, randomized and sometimes non-deterministic)
  • Index
  • Memoryless (e.g., non-stationary)
  • Opportunistic (resp. non-opportunistic)
  • Stationary (resp. non-stationary)

These qualifiers can be combined, so one could, for example, have a stationary-memoryless-index policy.

Notable schools Edit

 
Balsillie School of International Affairs at the CIGI Campus
 
Blavatnik School of Government building

Subtypes Edit

Induction of policies Edit

In contemporary systems of market-oriented economics and of homogeneous voting of delegates and decisions, policy mixes are usually introduced depending on factors that include popularity in the public (influenced via media and education as well as by cultural identity), contemporary economics (such as what is beneficial or a burden in the long- and near-term within it) and a general state of international competition (often the focus of geopolitics). Broadly, considerations include political competition with other parties and social stability as well as national interests within the framework of global dynamics.[17][additional citation(s) needed]

Policies or policy-elements can be designed and proposed by a multitude of actors or collaborating actor-networks in various ways.[18] Alternative options as well as organisations and decision-makers that would be responsible for enacting these policies – or explaining their rejection – can be identified. "Policy sequencing" is a concept that integrates mixes of existing or hypothetical policies and arranges them in a sequential order. The use of such frameworks may make complex polycentric governance for the achievement of goals such as climate change mitigation and stoppage of deforestation more easily achievable or more effective, fair, efficient, legitimate and rapidly implemented.[19][20][21][22][additional citation(s) needed]

Contemporary ways of policy-making or decision-making may depend on exogenously-driven shocks that "undermine institutionally entrenched policy equilibria" and may not always be functional in terms of sufficiently preventing and solving problems, especially when unpopular policies, regulation of influential entities with vested interests,[22] international coordination and non-reactive strategic long-term thinking and management are needed.[23] In that sense, "reactive sequencing" refers to "the notion that early events in a sequence set in motion a chain of causally linked reactions and counter-reactions which trigger subsequent development".[24] This is a concept separate to policy sequencing in that the latter may require actions from a multitude of parties at different stages for progress of the sequence, rather than an initial "shock", force-exertion or catalysis of chains of events.

In the modern highly interconnected world, polycentric governance has become ever more important – such "requires a complex combination of multiple levels and diverse types of organizations drawn from the public, private, and voluntary sectors that have overlapping realms of responsibility and functional capacities".[25] Key components of policies include command-and-control measures, enabling measures, monitoring, incentives and disincentives.[19]

Science-based policy, related to the more narrow concept of evidence-based policy, may have also become more important. A review about worldwide pollution as a major cause of death – where it found little progress, suggests that successful control of conjoined threats such as pollution, climate change, and biodiversity loss requires a global, "formal science–policy interface", e.g. to "inform intervention, influence research, and guide funding".[26] Broadly, science–policy interfaces include both science in policy and science for policy.[27]

See also Edit

Notes Edit

  1. ^ For more information on the effect of tax policy on state revenues, see Laffer curve.

References Edit

  1. ^ Office, Publications. "What is policy". sydney.edu.au. Retrieved 15 April 2018.
  2. ^ Voican, Mădălina (2008). "Government's Role in Coordination of Decision- Making Process". Revista de Științe Politics. Journal of Political Science (17): 26–31.
  3. ^ Gade, Christian (2023). "When is it justified to claim that a practice or policy is evidence-based? Reflections on evidence and preferences". Evidence & Policy: 1–10. doi:10.1332/174426421X16905606522863. S2CID 261138726.   This article incorporates text available under the CC BY 4.0 license.
  4. ^ "Most international treaties are ineffective, Canadian study finds". CTVNews. 3 August 2022. Retrieved 15 September 2022.
  5. ^ Hoffman, Steven J.; Baral, Prativa; Rogers Van Katwyk, Susan; Sritharan, Lathika; Hughsam, Matthew; Randhawa, Harkanwal; Lin, Gigi; Campbell, Sophie; Campus, Brooke; Dantas, Maria; Foroughian, Neda; Groux, Gaëlle; Gunn, Elliot; Guyatt, Gordon; Habibi, Roojin; Karabit, Mina; Karir, Aneesh; Kruja, Krista; Lavis, John N.; Lee, Olivia; Li, Binxi; Nagi, Ranjana; Naicker, Kiyuri; Røttingen, John-Arne; Sahar, Nicola; Srivastava, Archita; Tejpar, Ali; Tran, Maxwell; Zhang, Yu-qing; Zhou, Qi; Poirier, Mathieu J. P. (9 August 2022). "International treaties have mostly failed to produce their intended effects". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 119 (32): e2122854119. doi:10.1073/pnas.2122854119. ISSN 0027-8424. PMC 9372541. PMID 35914153.
    • University press release: "Do international treaties actually work? Study says they mostly don't". York University. Retrieved 15 September 2022.
  6. ^ Herbert, Peter (1984). "The financial implications of purchasing policy". Journal of General Management. 9 (4): 36–54.
  7. ^ Nesamani, K.S.; Lianyu, C.H.U.; Recker, Will (2010). "Policy implications of incorporating hybrid vehicles into high-occupancy vehicle lanes". Journal of Transportation Systems Engineering and Information Technology. 10 (2): 30–41. doi:10.1016/S1570-6672(09)60031-3. Retrieved 7 June 2023.
  8. ^ Lai, Yu-Bong (2006). "Capital Tax Competition in the Presence of Rent-Shifting Incentives" (PDF). 經濟研究 (Taipei Economic Inquiry). 42 (1): 1–24. Retrieved 7 June 2023.
  9. ^ Deleon, Peter; Steelman, Toddi A. (2001). "Making public policy programs effective and relevant: The role of the policy sciences". Journal of Policy Analysis and Management. 20 (1): 163–171. doi:10.1002/1520-6688(200124)20:1<163::aid-pam2011>3.0.co;2-w. ISSN 0276-8739.
  10. ^ Nakamura 1987.
  11. ^ Laswell, H(1971). A Pre-View of Policy Sciences. New York, Elsevier.
  12. ^ Howlett, M. (2011) Designing public policies: principles and instruments. Routledge.
  13. ^ Sabatier, Paul A. (June 1991). "Toward Better Theories of the Policy Process". PS: Political Science and Politics. 24 (2): 147–156. doi:10.2307/419923. JSTOR 419923. S2CID 153841704.
  14. ^ Fischer, Frank; Miller, Gerald J. (2006-12-21). Handbook of Public Policy Analysis: Theory, Politics, and Methods. CRC Press. ISBN 978-1-4200-1700-7.
  15. ^ Young, John and Enrique Mendizabal. Helping researchers become policy entrepreneurs, Overseas Development Institute, London, September 2009.
  16. ^ a b c d e f g h Lowi, Theodore J. (July 1972). "Four Systems of Policy, Politics, and Choice". Public Administration Review. 32 (4): 298–310. doi:10.2307/974990. JSTOR 974990.
  17. ^ Birkland, Thomas A. (2 July 2019). An Introduction to the Policy Process: Theories, Concepts, and Models of Public Policy Making (5 ed.). Routledge. ISBN 978-1-351-02394-8.
  18. ^ Taeihagh, Araz (1 June 2017). "Network-centric policy design". Policy Sciences. 50 (2): 317–338. doi:10.1007/s11077-016-9270-0. ISSN 1573-0891. S2CID 157209343.
  19. ^ a b Furumo, Paul R.; Lambin, Eric F. (27 October 2021). "Policy sequencing to reduce tropical deforestation". Global Sustainability. 4. doi:10.1017/sus.2021.21. ISSN 2059-4798. S2CID 239890357.
  20. ^ Meckling, Jonas; Sterner, Thomas; Wagner, Gernot (December 2017). "Policy sequencing toward decarbonization". Nature Energy. 2 (12): 918–922. Bibcode:2017NatEn...2..918M. doi:10.1038/s41560-017-0025-8. ISSN 2058-7546. S2CID 158217818.
  21. ^ Pahle, Michael; Burtraw, Dallas; Flachsland, Christian; Kelsey, Nina; Biber, Eric; Meckling, Jonas; Edenhofer, Ottmar; Zysman, John (October 2018). "Sequencing to ratchet up climate policy stringency". Nature Climate Change. 8 (10): 861–867. Bibcode:2018NatCC...8..861P. doi:10.1038/s41558-018-0287-6. ISSN 1758-6798. S2CID 92543128.
  22. ^ a b "Timing is everything: Researchers reveal why the right sequence of policies is essential to slow deforestation". Stanford University. Retrieved 23 November 2021.
  23. ^ Howlett, Michael (December 2009). "Process Sequencing Policy Dynamics: Beyond Homeostasis and Path Dependency". Journal of Public Policy. 29 (3): 241–262. doi:10.1017/S0143814X09990158. ISSN 1469-7815. S2CID 155023873.
  24. ^ Daugbjerg, Carsten (1 April 2009). "Sequencing in public policy: the evolution of the CAP over a decade". Journal of European Public Policy. 16 (3): 395–411. doi:10.1080/13501760802662698. ISSN 1350-1763. S2CID 153785609.
  25. ^ Carlisle, Keith; Gruby, Rebecca L. (2019). "Polycentric Systems of Governance: A Theoretical Model for the Commons". Policy Studies Journal. 47 (4): 927–952. doi:10.1111/psj.12212. ISSN 1541-0072.
  26. ^ Fuller, Richard; Landrigan, Philip J; Balakrishnan, Kalpana; Bathan, Glynda; Bose-O'Reilly, Stephan; Brauer, Michael; Caravanos, Jack; Chiles, Tom; Cohen, Aaron; Corra, Lilian; Cropper, Maureen; Ferraro, Greg; Hanna, Jill; Hanrahan, David; Hu, Howard; Hunter, David; Janata, Gloria; Kupka, Rachael; Lanphear, Bruce; Lichtveld, Maureen; Martin, Keith; Mustapha, Adetoun; Sanchez-Triana, Ernesto; Sandilya, Karti; Schaefli, Laura; Shaw, Joseph; Seddon, Jessica; Suk, William; Téllez-Rojo, Martha María; Yan, Chonghuai (June 2022). "Pollution and health: a progress update". The Lancet Planetary Health. 6 (6): e535–e547. doi:10.1016/S2542-5196(22)00090-0. PMID 35594895. S2CID 248905224.
  27. ^ "Science-Policy Interface Platform". Major Group for Children and Youth. Retrieved 10 July 2022.

Bibliography Edit

  • Althaus, Catherine; Bridgman, Peter; Davis, Glyn (2007). The Australian Policy Handbook (4th ed.). Sydney: Allen & Unwin.
  • Blakemore, Ken (1998). Social Policy: an Introduction. Buckingham; Philadelphia: Open University Press.
  • Dye, Thomas R. (1976). Policy Analysis. University of Alabama Press.
  • Greenberg, George D.; et al. (December 1977). "Developing Public Policy Theory: Perspectives from Empirical Research". American Political Science Review. 71 (4): 1532–1543. doi:10.2307/1961494. JSTOR 1961494. S2CID 145741414.
  • Heckathorn, Douglas D.; Maser, Steven M. (1990). "The Contractual Architecture of Public Policy: A Critical Reconstruction of Lowi's Typology". The Journal of Politics. 52 (4): 1101–1123. doi:10.2307/2131684. JSTOR 2131684. S2CID 154496294.
  • Jenkins, William (1978). Policy Analysis: A Political and Organizational Perspective. London: Martin Robertson.
  • Kellow, Aynsley (Summer 1988). "Promoting Elegance in Policy Theory: Simplifying Lowi's Arenas of Power". Policy Studies Journal. 16 (4): 713–724. doi:10.1111/j.1541-0072.1988.tb00680.x.
  • Lowi, Theodore J.; Bauer, Raymond A.; De Sola Pool, Ithiel; Dexter, Lewis A. (1964). "American Business, Public Policy, Case-Studies, and Political Theory". World Politics. 16 (4): 687–713. doi:10.2307/2009452. JSTOR 2009452. S2CID 154980260.
  • Lowi, Theodore J. (1972). "Four Systems of Policy, Politics, and Choice". Public Administration Review. 32 (4): 298–310. doi:10.2307/974990. JSTOR 974990.
  • Lowi, Theodore J. (1985). "The State in Politics". In Noll, Roger G. (ed.). Regulatory Policy and the social Sciences. Berkeley: University of California Press. pp. 67–110.
  • Müller, Pierre; Surel, Yves (1998). L'analyse des politiques publiques (in French). Paris: Montchrestien.
  • Nakamura, Robert T. (September 1987). "The textbook policy process and implementation research". Review of Policy Research. 7 (1): 142–154. doi:10.1111/j.1541-1338.1987.tb00034.x.
  • Paquette, Laure (2002). Analyzing National and International Policy. Rowman Littlefield.
  • Smith, K. B. (2002). "Typologies, Taxonomies, and the Benefits of Policy Classification". Policy Studies Journal. 30 (3): 379–395. doi:10.1111/j.1541-0072.2002.tb02153.x.
  • Spitzer, Robert J. (June 1987). "Promoting Policy Theory: Revising the Arenas of Power". Policy Studies Journal. 15 (4): 675–689. doi:10.1111/j.1541-0072.1987.tb00753.x.

Further reading Edit

  • K. Cummins, Linda (2011). Policy Practice for Social Workers: New Strategies for a New Era. Pearson. ISBN 9780205022441.
  • Hicks, Daniel L.; Hicks, Joan Hamory; Maldonado, Beatriz (January 2016). "Women as policy makers and donors: female legislators and foreign aid". European Journal of Political Economy. 41: 46–60. doi:10.1016/j.ejpoleco.2015.10.007.

External links Edit

  • Policy institutes at Curlie
  • "Policy Studies Organization". ipsonet.org.

policy, other, uses, disambiguation, confused, with, police, policies, regarding, wikipedia, wikipedia, list, policies, wikipedia, policies, guidelines, deliberate, system, guidelines, guide, decisions, achieve, rational, outcomes, policy, statement, intent, i. For other uses see Policy disambiguation Not to be confused with Police For policies regarding Wikipedia see Wikipedia List of policies or Wikipedia Policies and guidelines Policy is a deliberate system of guidelines to guide decisions and achieve rational outcomes A policy is a statement of intent and is implemented as a procedure or protocol Policies are generally adopted by a governance body within an organization Policies can assist in both subjective and objective decision making Policies used in subjective decision making usually assist senior management with decisions that must be based on the relative merits of a number of factors and as a result are often hard to test objectively e g work life balance policy Moreover Governments and other institutions have policies in the form of laws regulations procedures administrative actions incentives and voluntary practices Frequently resource allocations mirror policy decisions Policy is a blueprint of the organizational activities which are repetitive routine in nature In contrast policies to assist in objective decision making are usually operational in nature and can be objectively tested e g password policy 1 The term may apply to government public sector organizations and groups as well as individuals Presidential executive orders corporate privacy policies and parliamentary rules of order are all examples of policy Policy differs from rules or law While the law can compel or prohibit behaviors e g a law requiring the payment of taxes on income policy merely guides actions toward those that are most likely to achieve the desired outcome 2 Policy or policy study may also refer to the process of making important organizational decisions including the identification of different alternatives such as programs or spending priorities and choosing among them on the basis of the impact they will have Policies can be understood as political managerial financial and administrative mechanisms arranged to reach explicit goals In public corporate finance a critical accounting policy is a policy for a firm company or an industry that is considered to have a notably high subjective element and that has a material impact on the financial statements citation needed It has been argued that policies ought to be evidence based An individual or organisation is justified in claiming that a specific policy is evidence based if and only if three conditions are met First the individual or organisation possesses comparative evidence about the effects of the specific policy in comparison to the effects of at least one alternative policy Second the specific policy is supported by this evidence according to at least one of the individual s or organisation s preferences in the given policy area Third the individual or organisation can provide a sound account for this support by explaining the evidence and preferences that lay the foundation for the claim 3 Contents 1 Effects 1 1 Intended effects and policy design 1 2 Unintended 2 Cycle 3 Content 4 Types 4 1 Distributive 4 2 Regulatory 4 3 Constituent 4 4 Redistributive 5 Notable schools 6 Subtypes 7 Induction of policies 8 See also 9 Notes 10 References 11 Bibliography 12 Further reading 13 External linksEffects EditIntended effects and policy design Edit The intended effects of a policy vary widely according to the organization and the context in which they are made Broadly policies are typically instituted to avoid some negative effect that has been noticed in the organization or to seek some positive benefit citation needed A meta analysis of policy studies concluded that international treaties that aim to foster global cooperation have mostly failed to produce their intended effects in addressing global challenges and sometimes may have led to unintended harmful or net negative effects The study suggests enforcement mechanisms are the only modifiable treaty design choice with the potential to improve the effectiveness 4 5 Corporate purchasing policies provide an example of how organizations attempt to avoid negative effects Many large companies have policies that all purchases above a certain value must be performed through a purchasing process By requiring this standard purchasing process through policy the organization can limit waste and standardize the way purchasing is done 6 The State of California provides an example of benefit seeking policy In recent years the numbers of hybrid cars in California has increased dramatically in part because of policy changes in Federal law that provided USD 1 500 in tax credits since phased out and enabled the use of high occupancy vehicle lanes to drivers of hybrid vehicles In this case the organization state and or federal government created an effect increased ownership and use of hybrid vehicles through policy tax breaks highway lanes 7 Unintended Edit Policies frequently have side effects or unintended consequences Because the environments that policies seek to influence or manipulate are typically complex adaptive systems e g governments societies large companies making a policy change can have counterintuitive results For example a government may make a policy decision to raise taxes in hopes of increasing overall tax revenue Depending on the size of the tax increase this may have the overall effect of reducing tax revenue by causing capital flight or by creating a rate so high that citizens are deterred from earning the money that is taxed a 8 The policy formulation process theoretically includes an attempt to assess as many areas of potential policy impact as possible to lessen the chances that a given policy will have unexpected or unintended consequences 9 Cycle Edit nbsp Example of the policy cycle concept In political science the policy cycle is a tool used for analyzing the development of a policy It can also be referred to as a stages model or stages heuristic It is thus a rule of thumb rather than the actual reality of how policy is created but has been influential in how political scientists looked at policy in general 10 It was developed as a theory from Harold Lasswell s work It is called the policy cycle as the final stage evaluation often leads back to the first stage problem definition thus restarting the cycle Harold Lasswell s popular model of the policy cycle divided the process into seven distinct stages asking questions of both how and why public policies should be made 11 With the stages ranging from 1 intelligence 2 promotion 3 prescription 4 invocation 5 application 6 termination and 7 appraisal this process inherently attempts to combine policy implementation to formulated policy goals 12 One version by James E Anderson in his Public Policy Making 1974 has the following stages Agenda setting Problem identification The recognition of certain subject as a problem demanding further government attention Policy formulation Involves exploring a variation of options or alternative courses of action available for addressing the problem appraisal dialogue formulation and consolidation Decision making Government decides on an ultimate course of action whether to perpetuate the policy status quo or alter it Decision could be positive negative or no action Implementation The ultimate decision made earlier will be put into practice Evaluation Assesses the effectiveness of a public policy in terms of its perceived intentions and results Policy actors attempt to determine whether the course of action is a success or failure by examining its impact and outcomes Anderson s version of the stages model is the most common and widely recognised out of the models However it could also be seen as flawed According to Paul A Sabatier the model has outlived its usefulness and should be replaced 13 The model s issues have led to a paradoxical situation in which current research and updated versions of the model continue to rely on the framework created by Anderson But the very concept of the stages model has been discredited which attacks the cycle s status as a heuristic 14 Due to these problems alternative and newer versions of the model have aimed to create a more comprehensive view of the policy cycle An eight step policy cycle is developed in detail in The Australian Policy Handbook by Peter Bridgman and Glyn Davis now with Catherine Althaus in its 4th and 5th editions Issue identification Policy analysis Consultation which permeates the entire process Policy instrument development Building coordination and coalitions Program Design Decision making Policy Implementation Policy EvaluationThe Althaus Bridgman amp Davis model is heuristic and iterative It is intentionally normative clarification needed and not meant to be diagnostic clarification needed or predictive Policy cycles are typically characterized as adopting a classical approach and tend to describe processes from the perspective of policy decision makers Accordingly some postpositivist academics challenge cyclical models as unresponsive and unrealistic preferring systemic and more complex models 15 They consider a broader range of actors involved in the policy space that includes civil society organisations the media intellectuals think tanks or policy research institutes corporations lobbyists etc Content EditThis section does not cite any sources Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed June 2023 Learn how and when to remove this template message Policies are typically promulgated through official written documents Policy documents often come with the endorsement or signature of the executive powers within an organization to legitimize the policy and demonstrate that it is considered in force Such documents often have standard formats that are particular to the organization issuing the policy While such formats differ in form policy documents usually contain certain standard components including A purpose statement outlining why the organization is issuing the policy and what its desired effect or outcome of the policy should be An applicability and scope statement describing who the policy affects and which actions are impacted by the policy The applicability and scope may expressly exclude certain people organizations or actions from the policy requirements Applicability and scope is used to focus the policy on only the desired targets and avoid unintended consequences where possible An effective date which indicates when the policy comes into force Retroactive policies are rare but can be found A responsibilities section indicating which parties and organizations are responsible for carrying out individual policy statements Many policies may require the establishment of some ongoing function or action For example a purchasing policy might specify that a purchasing office be created to process purchase requests and that this office would be responsible for ongoing actions Responsibilities often include identification of any relevant oversight and or governance structures Policy statements indicating the specific regulations requirements or modifications to organizational behavior that the policy is creating Policy statements are extremely diverse depending on the organization and intent and may take almost any form Some policies may contain additional sections including Background indicating any reasons history ethical background statements and or intent that led to the creation of the policy which may be listed as motivating factors This information is often quite valuable when policies must be evaluated or used in ambiguous situations just as the intent of a law can be useful to a court when deciding a case that involves that law Definitions providing clear and unambiguous definitions for terms and concepts found in the policy document Types EditThe American political scientist Theodore J Lowi proposed four types of policy namely distributive redistributive regulatory and constituent in his article Four Systems of Policy Politics and Choice and in American Business Public Policy Case Studies and Political Theory Policy addresses the intent of the organization whether government business professional or voluntary Policy is intended to affect the real world by guiding the decisions that are made Whether they are formally written or not most organizations have identified policies 16 Policies may be classified in many different ways The following is a sample of several different types of policies broken down by their effect on members of the organization 16 Distributive Edit See also Distributive tendency Distributive policies extend goods and services to members of an organization as well as distributing the costs of the goods services amongst the members of the organization Examples include government policies that impact spending for welfare public education highways and public safety or a professional organization s benefits plan 16 Regulatory Edit Regulatory policies or mandates limit the discretion of individuals and agencies or otherwise compel certain types of behavior These policies are generally thought to be best applied when good behavior can be easily defined and bad behavior can be easily regulated and punished through fines or sanctions An example of a fairly successful public regulatory policy is that of a highway speed limit 16 Constituent Edit Constituent policies create executive power entities or deal with laws Constituent policies also deal with fiscal policy in some circumstances 16 Redistributive Edit Policies are dynamic they are not just static lists of goals or laws Policy blueprints have to be implemented often with unexpected results Social policies are what happens on the ground when they are implemented as well as what happens at the decision making or legislative stage 16 When the term policy is used it may also refer to 16 Official government policy legislation or guidelines that govern how laws should be put into operation Broad ideas and goals in political manifestos and pamphlets A company or organization s policy on a particular topic For example the equal opportunity policy of a company shows that the company aims to treat all its staff equally The actions the organization actually takes may often vary significantly from stated policy This difference is sometimes caused by political compromise over policy while in other situations it is caused by lack of policy implementation and enforcement Implementing policy may have unexpected results stemming from a policy whose reach extends further than the problem it was originally crafted to address Additionally unpredictable results may arise from selective or idiosyncratic enforcement of policy 16 Types of policy analysis include Causal resp non causal Deterministic resp stochastic randomized and sometimes non deterministic Index Memoryless e g non stationary Opportunistic resp non opportunistic Stationary resp non stationary These qualifiers can be combined so one could for example have a stationary memoryless index policy Notable schools Edit nbsp Balsillie School of International Affairs at the CIGI Campus nbsp Blavatnik School of Government buildingBalsillie School of International Affairs Blavatnik School of Government Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California Berkeley London School of Economics King s College London The University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy Harvard Kennedy School of Government Hertie School of Governance Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy Norman Paterson School of International Affairs Paul H Nitze School of Advanced International Studies Princeton School of Public and International Affairs Sciences Po Paris University of Cambridge University of Glasgow University of Warwick Paris Nanterre UniversitySubtypes EditCompany policy Communications and information policy Human resource policies Privacy policy Public policy Defense policy Domestic policy Economic policy Education policy Energy policy Environmental policy Foreign policy Forest policy Health policy Macroeconomic policy Monetary policy Plan Population policy Public policy in law Science policy Security policy Social policy Urban policy Transport policy Water policyInduction of policies EditIn contemporary systems of market oriented economics and of homogeneous voting of delegates and decisions policy mixes are usually introduced depending on factors that include popularity in the public influenced via media and education as well as by cultural identity contemporary economics such as what is beneficial or a burden in the long and near term within it and a general state of international competition often the focus of geopolitics Broadly considerations include political competition with other parties and social stability as well as national interests within the framework of global dynamics 17 additional citation s needed Policies or policy elements can be designed and proposed by a multitude of actors or collaborating actor networks in various ways 18 Alternative options as well as organisations and decision makers that would be responsible for enacting these policies or explaining their rejection can be identified Policy sequencing is a concept that integrates mixes of existing or hypothetical policies and arranges them in a sequential order The use of such frameworks may make complex polycentric governance for the achievement of goals such as climate change mitigation and stoppage of deforestation more easily achievable or more effective fair efficient legitimate and rapidly implemented 19 20 21 22 additional citation s needed Contemporary ways of policy making or decision making may depend on exogenously driven shocks that undermine institutionally entrenched policy equilibria and may not always be functional in terms of sufficiently preventing and solving problems especially when unpopular policies regulation of influential entities with vested interests 22 international coordination and non reactive strategic long term thinking and management are needed 23 In that sense reactive sequencing refers to the notion that early events in a sequence set in motion a chain of causally linked reactions and counter reactions which trigger subsequent development 24 This is a concept separate to policy sequencing in that the latter may require actions from a multitude of parties at different stages for progress of the sequence rather than an initial shock force exertion or catalysis of chains of events In the modern highly interconnected world polycentric governance has become ever more important such requires a complex combination of multiple levels and diverse types of organizations drawn from the public private and voluntary sectors that have overlapping realms of responsibility and functional capacities 25 Key components of policies include command and control measures enabling measures monitoring incentives and disincentives 19 Science based policy related to the more narrow concept of evidence based policy may have also become more important A review about worldwide pollution as a major cause of death where it found little progress suggests that successful control of conjoined threats such as pollution climate change and biodiversity loss requires a global formal science policy interface e g to inform intervention influence research and guide funding 26 Broadly science policy interfaces include both science in policy and science for policy 27 See also EditBlueprint Distributive tendency Iron triangle Mandate politics Overton window Pattern language Policy alienation Policy analysis Policy Governance Policy studies Political science Program evaluation Public administration Public health Public policy law Public policy schools Public services Social contract Social welfare Social work Think tankNotes Edit For more information on the effect of tax policy on state revenues see Laffer curve References Edit Office Publications What is policy sydney edu au Retrieved 15 April 2018 Voican Mădălina 2008 Government s Role in Coordination of Decision Making Process Revista de Științe Politics Journal of Political Science 17 26 31 Gade Christian 2023 When is it justified to claim that a practice or policy is evidence based Reflections on evidence and preferences Evidence amp Policy 1 10 doi 10 1332 174426421X16905606522863 S2CID 261138726 nbsp This article incorporates text available under the CC BY 4 0 license Most international treaties are ineffective Canadian study finds CTVNews 3 August 2022 Retrieved 15 September 2022 Hoffman Steven J Baral Prativa Rogers Van Katwyk Susan Sritharan Lathika Hughsam Matthew Randhawa Harkanwal Lin Gigi Campbell Sophie Campus Brooke Dantas Maria Foroughian Neda Groux Gaelle Gunn Elliot Guyatt Gordon Habibi Roojin Karabit Mina Karir Aneesh Kruja Krista Lavis John N Lee Olivia Li Binxi Nagi Ranjana Naicker Kiyuri Rottingen John Arne Sahar Nicola Srivastava Archita Tejpar Ali Tran Maxwell Zhang Yu qing Zhou Qi Poirier Mathieu J P 9 August 2022 International treaties have mostly failed to produce their intended effects Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 119 32 e2122854119 doi 10 1073 pnas 2122854119 ISSN 0027 8424 PMC 9372541 PMID 35914153 University press release Do international treaties actually work Study says they mostly don t York University Retrieved 15 September 2022 Herbert Peter 1984 The financial implications of purchasing policy Journal of General Management 9 4 36 54 Nesamani K S Lianyu C H U Recker Will 2010 Policy implications of incorporating hybrid vehicles into high occupancy vehicle lanes Journal of Transportation Systems Engineering and Information Technology 10 2 30 41 doi 10 1016 S1570 6672 09 60031 3 Retrieved 7 June 2023 Lai Yu Bong 2006 Capital Tax Competition in the Presence of Rent Shifting Incentives PDF 經濟研究 Taipei Economic Inquiry 42 1 1 24 Retrieved 7 June 2023 Deleon Peter Steelman Toddi A 2001 Making public policy programs effective and relevant The role of the policy sciences Journal of Policy Analysis and Management 20 1 163 171 doi 10 1002 1520 6688 200124 20 1 lt 163 aid pam2011 gt 3 0 co 2 w ISSN 0276 8739 Nakamura 1987 Laswell H 1971 A Pre View of Policy Sciences New York Elsevier Howlett M 2011 Designing public policies principles and instruments Routledge Sabatier Paul A June 1991 Toward Better Theories of the Policy Process PS Political Science and Politics 24 2 147 156 doi 10 2307 419923 JSTOR 419923 S2CID 153841704 Fischer Frank Miller Gerald J 2006 12 21 Handbook of Public Policy Analysis Theory Politics and Methods CRC Press ISBN 978 1 4200 1700 7 Young John and Enrique Mendizabal Helping researchers become policy entrepreneurs Overseas Development Institute London September 2009 a b c d e f g h Lowi Theodore J July 1972 Four Systems of Policy Politics and Choice Public Administration Review 32 4 298 310 doi 10 2307 974990 JSTOR 974990 Birkland Thomas A 2 July 2019 An Introduction to the Policy Process Theories Concepts and Models of Public Policy Making 5 ed Routledge ISBN 978 1 351 02394 8 Taeihagh Araz 1 June 2017 Network centric policy design Policy Sciences 50 2 317 338 doi 10 1007 s11077 016 9270 0 ISSN 1573 0891 S2CID 157209343 a b Furumo Paul R Lambin Eric F 27 October 2021 Policy sequencing to reduce tropical deforestation Global Sustainability 4 doi 10 1017 sus 2021 21 ISSN 2059 4798 S2CID 239890357 Meckling Jonas Sterner Thomas Wagner Gernot December 2017 Policy sequencing toward decarbonization Nature Energy 2 12 918 922 Bibcode 2017NatEn 2 918M doi 10 1038 s41560 017 0025 8 ISSN 2058 7546 S2CID 158217818 Pahle Michael Burtraw Dallas Flachsland Christian Kelsey Nina Biber Eric Meckling Jonas Edenhofer Ottmar Zysman John October 2018 Sequencing to ratchet up climate policy stringency Nature Climate Change 8 10 861 867 Bibcode 2018NatCC 8 861P doi 10 1038 s41558 018 0287 6 ISSN 1758 6798 S2CID 92543128 a b Timing is everything Researchers reveal why the right sequence of policies is essential to slow deforestation Stanford University Retrieved 23 November 2021 Howlett Michael December 2009 Process Sequencing Policy Dynamics Beyond Homeostasis and Path Dependency Journal of Public Policy 29 3 241 262 doi 10 1017 S0143814X09990158 ISSN 1469 7815 S2CID 155023873 Daugbjerg Carsten 1 April 2009 Sequencing in public policy the evolution of the CAP over a decade Journal of European Public Policy 16 3 395 411 doi 10 1080 13501760802662698 ISSN 1350 1763 S2CID 153785609 Carlisle Keith Gruby Rebecca L 2019 Polycentric Systems of Governance A Theoretical Model for the Commons Policy Studies Journal 47 4 927 952 doi 10 1111 psj 12212 ISSN 1541 0072 Fuller Richard Landrigan Philip J Balakrishnan Kalpana Bathan Glynda Bose O Reilly Stephan Brauer Michael Caravanos Jack Chiles Tom Cohen Aaron Corra Lilian Cropper Maureen Ferraro Greg Hanna Jill Hanrahan David Hu Howard Hunter David Janata Gloria Kupka Rachael Lanphear Bruce Lichtveld Maureen Martin Keith Mustapha Adetoun Sanchez Triana Ernesto Sandilya Karti Schaefli Laura Shaw Joseph Seddon Jessica Suk William Tellez Rojo Martha Maria Yan Chonghuai June 2022 Pollution and health a progress update The Lancet Planetary Health 6 6 e535 e547 doi 10 1016 S2542 5196 22 00090 0 PMID 35594895 S2CID 248905224 Science Policy Interface Platform Major Group for Children and Youth Retrieved 10 July 2022 Bibliography EditAlthaus Catherine Bridgman Peter Davis Glyn 2007 The Australian Policy Handbook 4th ed Sydney Allen amp Unwin Blakemore Ken 1998 Social Policy an Introduction Buckingham Philadelphia Open University Press Dye Thomas R 1976 Policy Analysis University of Alabama Press Greenberg George D et al December 1977 Developing Public Policy Theory Perspectives from Empirical Research American Political Science Review 71 4 1532 1543 doi 10 2307 1961494 JSTOR 1961494 S2CID 145741414 Heckathorn Douglas D Maser Steven M 1990 The Contractual Architecture of Public Policy A Critical Reconstruction of Lowi s Typology The Journal of Politics 52 4 1101 1123 doi 10 2307 2131684 JSTOR 2131684 S2CID 154496294 Jenkins William 1978 Policy Analysis A Political and Organizational Perspective London Martin Robertson Kellow Aynsley Summer 1988 Promoting Elegance in Policy Theory Simplifying Lowi s Arenas of Power Policy Studies Journal 16 4 713 724 doi 10 1111 j 1541 0072 1988 tb00680 x Lowi Theodore J Bauer Raymond A De Sola Pool Ithiel Dexter Lewis A 1964 American Business Public Policy Case Studies and Political Theory World Politics 16 4 687 713 doi 10 2307 2009452 JSTOR 2009452 S2CID 154980260 Lowi Theodore J 1972 Four Systems of Policy Politics and Choice Public Administration Review 32 4 298 310 doi 10 2307 974990 JSTOR 974990 Lowi Theodore J 1985 The State in Politics In Noll Roger G ed Regulatory Policy and the social Sciences Berkeley University of California Press pp 67 110 Muller Pierre Surel Yves 1998 L analyse des politiques publiques in French Paris Montchrestien Nakamura Robert T September 1987 The textbook policy process and implementation research Review of Policy Research 7 1 142 154 doi 10 1111 j 1541 1338 1987 tb00034 x Paquette Laure 2002 Analyzing National and International Policy Rowman Littlefield Smith K B 2002 Typologies Taxonomies and the Benefits of Policy Classification Policy Studies Journal 30 3 379 395 doi 10 1111 j 1541 0072 2002 tb02153 x Spitzer Robert J June 1987 Promoting Policy Theory Revising the Arenas of Power Policy Studies Journal 15 4 675 689 doi 10 1111 j 1541 0072 1987 tb00753 x Further reading EditK Cummins Linda 2011 Policy Practice for Social Workers New Strategies for a New Era Pearson ISBN 9780205022441 Hicks Daniel L Hicks Joan Hamory Maldonado Beatriz January 2016 Women as policy makers and donors female legislators and foreign aid European Journal of Political Economy 41 46 60 doi 10 1016 j ejpoleco 2015 10 007 External links Edit nbsp Look up policy in Wiktionary the free dictionary Policy institutes at Curlie Policy Studies Organization ipsonet org Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Policy amp oldid 1177800423, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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