WHAT IS PUBLIC POLICY?
This Write is about public policy. It is concerned with what governments do, why they do it, and what difference it makes. It is also about political science and the ability of this academic discipline to describe, anze, and explain public policy.
Definition of Policy
Public policy is whatever governments choose to do or not to do (Thomas dye). Governments do many things. They regulate conflict within society; they organize society to carry on conflict with other societies; they distribute a great variety of symbolic rewards and material services to members of the society; and they extract money from society, most often in the form of taxes. Thus, public policies may regulate behavior, organize bureaucracies, distribute benefits, or extract taxes--or all of these things at once
WHY STUDY PUBLIC POLICY?
Political science is also the study of public policy-the description and explanation of the causesand consequences of government activity. This focus involves a description of the content of public policy; an analysis of the impact of social, economic, and political forces on the content of public policy; an inquiry into the effect of various institutional arrangements and political processes on public policy; and an evaluation of the consequences of public policies on society, both intended and unintended.
WHAT CAN BE LEARNED FROM POLICY ANALYSIS?
Policy analysis is finding out what governments do, why they do it, and what difference, if any, it makes. What can be learned from policy analysis?
We can describe public policy-we can learn what government is doing (and not doing) in welfare, defense, education, civil rights, health, the environment, taxation, and so on. A factual basis of information about national policy is really an indispensable part of everyone's education.