What is public policy? Public policy is the main category of public management research in the world today. Traditional public policy research originates from political science and administrative science, aiming at discussing the balance of interests between the state, society and citizens in a normative sense. Through the analysis of the principles and models of political science and administrative science, it studies the formulation, implementation and evaluation of policies at the national, local and group levels, thus providing suggestions for high-quality public policies.
Historical evolution background of public policy
Public policy is a new interdisciplinary subject in the United States after the Second World War. The emergence of public policy as a discipline is not only the inevitable requirement of the rapid development of society, economy and politics in the contemporary world, but also closely related to the special social situation in the United States after the war. Although there are many reasons for the emergence of public policy discipline, the more direct reasons are mainly the following aspects: (1) the pressure of social problems; The needs of government management; The development of political science. [ 1]
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Primitive period
The 1950s and 1960s were the initial period of western policy science. 195 1 year, the famous American political scientist Harold? The book Policy Science: Recent Development of Scope and Method, co-edited by lasswell and Rana, was officially published. Policy science? The concept of (policy science) marks the birth of policy science. Lasswell himself was called. Founder of modern policy science? .
In addition to lasswell, the scholars who promoted the emergence of policy science in this period were David? Charles Easton? E. Linde blom, Thomas? R. Day et al.
formative period
The late 1960s and early 1970s were the formative period of western policy science. The famous American philosopher of science Thomas? The Structure of Scientific Revolution published by Kuhn in 1962 liberated methodology and promoted the rapid development of policy science.
Revision period
The policy science in the formative stage, like the policy analysis practice in the initial stage, pays attention to the study of the policy-making process, but pays relatively little attention to the content of the policy. However, after the mid-1970s, the situation changed? The implementation and evaluation after policy formulation, as well as the adjustment and even termination of public policies, have attracted the attention and research of policy scientists.
In the late 1960s and early 1970s, the so-called? Precedence tendency? That is, the significance of policy consultation for policy formulation is emphasized in policy research.
In the middle and late 1970s, it appeared in public policy research? Backward tendency? , that is, pay attention to the research of public policy? Implementation and evaluation? , what else? End of policy? And then what? Policy cycle? Wait a minute.
The theory of public choice, which arose in 1970s, can also be regarded as the achievement of public policy science in this period. [2]
Interpretation and definition of the concept of public policy
Public policy is a scheme selected and formulated by public authorities through political process to solve public problems, realize public goals and realize public interests. Its function is to regulate and guide the behavior of relevant institutions, groups or individuals, and its manifestations include laws and regulations, administrative rules or orders, oral or written instructions from state leaders, government planning, etc.
As the authoritative distribution of social interests, public policy reflects social interests, which determines that public policy must reflect the interests of the majority in order to make it legal. Therefore, many scholars position the goal orientation of public policy as the realization of public interest, and think that public interest is the value orientation and logical starting point of public policy, as well as its essence, attribute, starting point and ultimate goal. ? Regarding whether public policy should conform to public interest or private interest, most people will choose public interest. ? [3]
Scholar's view
Woodrow, USA? Wilson believes that public policies are laws and regulations formulated by politicians, that is, people with legislative power, and implemented by administrative personnel. [4]
Harold? D. lasswell and Abraham? Kaplan pointed out? Is a policy a plan designed for a certain goal, value and practice? .
David? Easton believes that public policy is the authoritative distribution of social value by the government.
Thomas? R. Day thinks? Public policy is what the government chooses to do or not to do. ?
Robert? According to Ashton, what is public policy? The relationship between a government agency and its surroundings is expressed by a formula, that is, P=f (G, e), p refers to public policy, g refers to government system, and e refers to living environment.
Stuart. s？ Nagel believes that public policy is a decision made by the government to solve various problems. ?
Value Relevance of Public Policy Features
What is related to the policy value is its interest relevance. Most public policies involve the distribution of social values centered on interests.
term of validity
The legitimacy of the policy should be obtained through legal procedures, which can be passed by the legislature or approved by the relevant departments explicitly authorized by the legislature.
authority
The authority of public policy is closely related to its legitimacy, and authority is related to compulsion. [5]
As a theoretical tool of policy analysis, public policy analysis model is a conceptual model that can provide assumptions, definitions, descriptions, explanations and countermeasures for decision makers. [6] Public policy analysis models can basically be divided into two categories: political analysis models and rational analysis models. [7]
1. The main point of the political analysis model is that public policy is the output of the political system, and the policy process is essentially a political process. Political analysis models generally include system analysis model, elite analysis model and group analysis model. The institutional analysis model holds that public policy is the product of government agencies, and different government systems lead to different public policies. The elite analysis model holds that public policy is a reflection of the value preference of political elites, and the dominant political elites have the initiative to formulate policies. The group analysis model holds that public policy is the product of the balance and balance of group interests, and public policy is the result of mutual compromise in group struggle. [8]
According to the theory of institutional analysis, different government systems lead to different policy outputs, and the policies of the socialist system are necessarily different from those of the capitalist system. The socialist system is based on public ownership, and the goal of formulating policies must be to maintain public ownership; Capitalism is based on private ownership, and the policies formulated are mainly to maintain the existence and development of private ownership. It has certain adaptability to analyze the policies introduced in the early stage of socialist development in China with the theory of institutional analysis. For example, the public-private partnership policy in the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China and the establishment of state-owned enterprises were all based on the needs of building a socialist system. [7]
The theory of elite analysis holds that the public is numb, passive and closed, and public policies are only formulated by a few people in the ruling class, reflecting the interests and preferences of the elite. Elite theory is most concerned with the role of leaders in the formation of public policies. It has good adaptability to analyze the policies issued by feudal society and authoritarian developing countries with elite analysis theory. For example, from the middle of Ming Dynasty to the beginning of Qing Dynasty? Closed to the outside world? Policy, the implementation of the maritime ban, led to the stagnation of the development of shipping and port industry, reflecting the negative and conservative value orientation of the feudal ruling class. [7]
According to the theory of group analysis, public policy is the result of mutual compromise in group struggle and the product of balance among different interest groups. Public policy is generally biased towards influential interest groups, and public policy changes with the influence of interest groups. It is quite applicable to analyze the policies of capitalist countries and countries with democratic political tendencies with group theory. For example, America's Iraq policy can be said to reflect the interests of its domestic oil and energy interest groups. [7]
2. The main point of the rational analysis model is that the formulation of public policies should aim at maximizing social benefits, and the government should choose policies that maximize the benefits to the society beyond the costs paid. Rational analysis models generally include complete rational decision model, limited rational decision model and progressive decision model. Based on figures and facts, the fully rational decision-making model analyzes the advantages and disadvantages of various policy schemes to solve problems with reasonable scientific methods and accurate calculations, so as to obtain the best policy or scheme to solve problems. The limited rational decision-making model sets the minimum standard in advance, and seeks the scheme that meets the requirements or satisfaction among the alternatives, thus basically solving the problems pointed by the policy scheme. The gradual decision-making model regards the process of public policy formulation as a process of constantly correcting previous policy behaviors, and seeks solutions to problems in the process of trial and error. [7]
According to the theory of completely rational decision-making, the decision-maker has absolute rationality, can compare and analyze various schemes, and choose the best scheme through sorting. Rational decision-making reflected in the economic society is to pursue the maximization of interests. Based on sufficient information and accurate calculation, the rational decision-making model is suitable for analyzing the policies of countries that fully implement market economy, especially economic policies. For example, the adjustment policy of bank interest rate should be formulated after quantitative analysis according to the operation of national economy, storage scale and credit scale. [7]
According to the theory of bounded rational decision-making, decision makers are not completely rational, and are often restricted by many factors, including subjective factors and objective factors, and can only seek satisfactory schemes or suboptimal schemes. The bounded rational decision-making model takes the pursuit of satisfactory solution as the main goal, and is suitable for analyzing government planning, government expenditure, safety, environmental protection and other related policies. If the safety production policy is restricted by the level of economic development, the optimal scheme is often difficult to achieve, and only the basically satisfactory scheme can be sought. [7]
According to the theory of gradual decision-making, the policy process is a process of constantly supplementing and correcting previous policy behaviors. The gradual decision-making model takes the gradual adjustment of policies as the main way, requires the inheritance and gradual adjustment of policies, and is suitable for analyzing the relevant policies implemented by the government. China put forward in the early days of reform and opening up? Cross the river by feeling the stones? Our policy can be said to be a typical gradual decision. [7]
Function of Public Policy The function of public policy refers to the efficacy and function of public policy in public affairs management. Judging from its basic positive role in society, there are mainly the following aspects:
Allocation of social resources
Standardize social behavior
Solve social problems