public policy

Abstract

Public policy studies have been one of the most interesting topics. This is a concept that arose in the 1960s as a result of the need to have governance performance to be subject to public scrutiny. The real emphasis on the development of this article is to address what public policy is and how it is related to the law. Numerous researches has been conducted on public policy and many researchers have proved that there is a link between public policy and the law, this article adds to that body of knowledge and brings in another dimension to this pool of knowledge.

Full text

Imperial Journal of Interdisciplinary Research (IJIR)
Peer Reviewed – International Journal
Vol-3, Issue-9, 2017 (IJIR)
ISSN: 2454-1362, http://www.onlinejournal.in
What is Public Policy? How is it related
to the law?
Francis Mukosa1, Burton Mweemba2 & Moses Katebe3
1ZCAS University
2,3ZCAS University.
Abstract: Public policy studies have been one of the
most interesting topics. This is a concept that arose
in the 1960s as a result of the need to have
governance performance to be subject to public
scrutiny. The real emphasis on the development of
this article is to address what public policy is and
how it is related to the law. Numerous researches has
been conducted on public policy and many
researchers have proved that there is a link between
public policy and the law, this article adds to that
body of knowledge and brings in another dimension
to this pool of knowledge.
1. Introduction
Public policy studies arose in the 1960s as a
result of the dissatisfaction with the
performance of governments (Mead, 2012).
Public policy is important as it is a means
by which nationals understand how their
governments are operating and how they
can monitor and measure their performance.
Policy gives direction to an individual
performing public functions because it
allows them to act or function within laid
down guidelines and avoid breaching or
jumping procedure. Public policy can be
seen as that tool in public management
which promotes transparency in the way
public servants operate. Public policy is also
important because it enables governments to
protect its citizens against the unethical
behaviors of solution, product and service
providers. Government regulation for
example, protects consumers against market
failures and irregularities (Stewart, 2015).
Public policy gives birth to regulation and it
is important to understand the relationship
between regulation and public policy in
order to explore the question of what public
policy is. This paper addresses the question
of what public policy is, and how it is
created or arrived at and how public policy
directs government operations, decisions
and how it affects human behavior.
The political environment has a lot of
influence on public policy as it is observed
that political leaders make pronouncements
which later become policy and is used to
direct the conduct of public servants and the
legal frameworks. Leaders with Executive
powers such as Presidents and other public
officers, through their pronouncements are
able to change public policy and direct how
the nation’s affairs are to be conducted. In
the absence of public policy there would be
no direction in governance and this may
affect the economic performance of any
country. The role of politicians is to create
policy and this policy is used to direct how
government agencies and ministries operate,
this is the reason why politicians bring a
range of skills to public policy (Richards,
2014). Politicians are responsible for
creating accountability and responsibility in
public spending and in decision making.
Public policy is therefore an important
subject to explore and understand as it
enables the appreciation of public sector
management as a whole.
2. The History of Public policy
Public policy can be defined as the action
taken by the government to better things or
improve lives for its nationals and solve
problems so that lives for its citizens are
improved (Angelo University, 2016). The
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Imperial Journal of Interdisciplinary Research (IJIR)
Peer Reviewed – International Journal
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ISSN: 2454-1362, http://www.onlinejournal.in
development of public policy is linked to
the development of politics; Orozco in his
research paper suggests that politics
emerged from controversy while public
administration emanates from social crises
(Guerrero-Orozco, 2014). In America
public policy can be traced back in the times
when political leaders wanted to create
moral order in the early 1900s, while in
Australia it was developed around the 1950
when the political leaders wanted to create
legislation through public referendum that
created Capitalism and was largely driven
by anti-communist campaigns (Gore, 1999).
Largely public policy has been created
through pronouncements of political and
civic leaders who want to create public
order and be able to govern society through
the creation of rules and regulations. Policy
direction in any society exist so that there
can be order and human behavior can be
regulated and controlled in the quest to
make governance easier and provide a
framework for decision making, for
example in Makassar, they formed policy
that would make it possible for government
to be able regulate street vending by
constructing streets where vendors could
freely trade (Babasa, 2015). The control of
street vending is a social issue that involves
public health management and creates a
moral dilemma because governments have
an obligation to provide its nationals with a
decent living through provision of public
jobs. In the absence of this, government
cannot be seen to stop its citizens from
earning a living through street vending.
Street vending also on the other hand poses
a health hazard and this is the reason why in
Makassar they created policy to allow the
vendors to have to certain streets for them to
conduct their business. The need for public
policy in this instance comes in to resolve a
moral and health crisis in Makassar. Public
policy can help resolve moral crisis and it
can also help governments to create order.
Public policy is generated through
pronouncements by people in leadership, for
instance, in Zambia the former republican
President Fredrick Chiluba pronounced that
Zambia was a Christian nation, that
pronouncement led to the establishment of a
religious national policy, a ministry for
religious affairs (later after his regain) and
the inclusion of a clause in the constitution
to support that pronouncement. Policy is as
a result of leader’s pronouncements, which
they use to create direction in society or in a
nation.
Morality and culture are greatly a part of
public policy as they form a share of the
beliefs and cultures of the people involved
in public pronouncements and are in
positions of leadership. In the USA they
have a three government arms system where
the President is the head of the Executive
and his policy pronouncements are ratified
by the congress.
3. Essence of Public Policy
Public policy is the basis for effective
control as it enables principle players in key
sectors to be able to follow a predetermined
fashion or procedure for action and decision
making. Public policy ensures that the tax
payer’s money is handled according to a
prescribed framework which requires that
there is lots of accountability in the way it is
dispensed. In the United States of America
they have a system of cow funding which
ensures that individuals contribute their
money to common projects including
helping charitable organization (McKay,
2015).
The cow funding project is guided by public
policy which exempts them from
contributing tax on the finances collected as
this is for a noble cause. The existence of
public policy in this regard ensures that
there is consideration for causes such as
charitable organizations. Without policy
direction, they would be subject to
contributing tax just like any other business.
Public policy creates the ability for
governments to be able to develop capacity
in non- profit making organizations by
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giving them tax incentives so that they can
develop stronger corporate social
responsibility programs that assist the needs
of society and supplement government
efforts.
Organizations that have a stronger corporate
social responsibility in many countries are
offered friendly tax incentives that enable
them to sponsor social programs such as
sports or even help governments in public
health sector (ZRA Report, 2016). Public
policy is what allows governments to be
able to decide on who can be exempted
from tax and who cannot. Public policy
enables the creation of equity. In the health
sector for instance, they have a policy
framework that ensures that there is social
and health equity that must be created
through decision making and distribution of
resources (O’Hara, 2005). Descent health
care is a human right and in many countries
inclusive of Zambia and the UK is provided
by the State. For the State to achieve this, it
must follow a written policy which is
backed and influenced by the law. Public
policy in the health sector guides decision
makers on how they can respond to a
pandemic and also how they can ensure the
equitable distribution of health facilities and
also that other essential public services are
provided.
Public policy is an attempt by government
to address a public issue by instituting laws,
regulations, decisions, or actions pertinent
to the problem at hand. Numerous issues
can be addressed by public policy including
social needs, education as well as other
essential services including industry
(Adamolekun, 1986)
4. Creating Public Policy
Creating public policy involves first
establishing a framework for that policy so
that the context of the policy can be
understood and an analysis can be carried
out to gather enough information on the
need and purpose of the policy. Stokey and
Zeckhauster suggested a process of public
policy generation (Zeckhauser, 2007). The
framework for public policy generation
cited out the following steps:
Establish the context
This is a step concerned with determining
what the problem is and analyzing the
problem to investigate the underlying
details. According to Zeckhauser (2007), it
is at this stage that the objectives are also
defined in terms of what will be achieved
when the problem is resolved. In public
policy planning governments put in plain
objectives that are in line with the national
laws and national objectives. Public policy
in Federal States also follows a similar
direction as ultimately the decisions are
made by central government.
Valuing the outcome
This is the stage at which policy
measurement tools are selected by
answering questions related to how and
what means will be used to assess policy
effectiveness. The policy success
measurement is done by comparing its
achievements with the objectives. Elaine
Hoi in the Journal of student nursing
research, talks about the importance of
policies being measurable, as this enables to
track the input through performance output
(Hoi, 2008). Policy evaluation is one of the
most challenging aspects in Public policy
implementation and this is the reason why
governments and non-governmental
organizations driven projects employ a
dedicated individual to run policy
monitoring and evaluation.
Making a choice
This involves making a choice on the
available policy alternatives that have been
delivered and looking at the action direction
as well as the consequences of each
alternative. Zeckhauser (2007) further stated
that, the choice is made from the available
options that have been provided at the
valuing stage. The aspects of analysis are
gathered at this stage and then the
information is used to select which choice
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Imperial Journal of Interdisciplinary Research (IJIR)
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ISSN: 2454-1362, http://www.onlinejournal.in
alternative is appropriate. The analysis
carried out provides for the choice of a
direction that is based on data analysis so
that the decision on the choice is based on
analytical decisions.
Policy formulation, implementation and
monitoring
Adopted from public policy and
administration research by Ayuba, A. Aminu
(2012)
The public policy making process is an
important aspect of coming up with a good
roadmap of policy formulation,
implementation and monitoring to ensuring
that the intended results are achieved to
better the lives of the citizens. Policy
making process is a serious sequential
process or pattern of action that involves a
number is activities (Egonmwan, 1991).
Policy formulation: Policy formulation is a
stage where the state or other stakeholders
have noticed a problem or challenge that
needs to be solved or to do nothing about it.
Policy formulation is a difficult and
dynamic process which is monitored by
internal and external stakeholders and is
highly subjected to unpredictable influential
factors such as intra and inter sectarian that
also include the local challenges (Aminu,
2012). This is a stage where the government
makes a decision on what course of action
to be taken due available problems of which
it includes when and how it should be done
(Okotoni, 2001). The challenges that this
stage faces has to do with the political will,
it becomes difficult to implement a policy if
there is little or no deliberate broad based
political and policy programing in place.
Implementation: the implementation stage
is one which comes after the formulation
stage. After the public problem has been
identified and the policy agenda drawn, the
stakeholders now consider the various
options of handling the problem or
challenge at hand (Aminu, 2012). Policy
formulation without an implementation road
map is not worth undertaking. Therefore,
after the various options have been
provided, what remains is putting the policy
into practical terms so that the objective can
be met.
Feedback and Evaluation: after the
implementation stage, it becomes important
to ensure that feedback is collected to
understand the impact of the formulated
policy. This stage involves the assessment
of the policy’s decision and its impact on
the stakeholders (Gortner, 1981). Gortner
further stated that the outcome always
comes into two forms; negative and positive
outcomes. When citizens as stakeholders are
against the formulated policies, it is normal
to see them react in a violent way,
demonstrations and massive mob actions.
Leaders should be quick to interpret the fact
when people react in a negative way when
implementing a policy. They are supposed
to take a consultative role to reduce the
violence and have a buy-in from all affected
stakeholders and no action should be
ignored (Ingram, 1980). Gortner (1981)
further stated that when the formulated
policy has been fully accepted by the
stakeholders, this will be evident through
massive solidarity, jubilations and
commendations. This is considered to be the
positive outcome of policy formulation.
Therefore, it is imperative for policy
formulators to involve the stakeholders to
ensure conflicts are reduced when
implementing the proposed policy.
Public policy formulation happens when the
government has identified public problems
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that it needs to institute policy around in
order for them to be resolved. Government
creates policy so that it can have an
acceptable framework that it uses to resolve
public problems and address the issues that
are affecting the public. Dewey in 1927
stated that public policy focuses on the
public and public problems (Jans, 2007).
This means that each public policy that is
formulated is targeted at resolving a public
problem and that it must be focused on the
public.
5. Policy reforms
Reforms represent reviews of policies
whose implication is that changes in public
perception, business growth or economic
growth requires that policy is revisited. The
law is dynamic it changes and whenever
laws change, policy changes as these are
actively related and shall be discussed in the
next segment (Curto, 2014). Policy reform
is important as it ensures that as society
experiences changes and environments
change policies need to be adjusted in order
for them to be in line with these changes.
Policies just like certain aspects of the law
cannot be static but must be dynamic as
they need to move with the changes in time
(Kim, 2014).
6. POLICY REALITY, RESEARCH
AND REFORM
When a policy is being formulated, it should
be understood that there is a serious
difference between policy, policy reality,
and policy research, and policy reform.
Anderson (2000) states that the clear
difference between policy and policy reality
is that policy is a mare instrument or tool
that makes it possible for policy to become
a reality. This simply means that a policy
can still be called a policy even when it is
just on paper and has no effect. Until policy
is implemented, this is when it is a reality
according to the intended purpose.
Anderson (2000) further stated that when
policy becomes reality, there should be
policy research conducted either before or
after the implementation of policy. Policy
formulation can never be deemed perfect
and would solve available problems for
many years. Therefore, policy research
needs to be conducted to ensure that the
changes in the triggering challenges would
be taken note of so that appropriate changes
to the available policy would be effected to
ensure its relevance to the problem. After
research has been conducted and lapses
discovered, policy makers such as
government functionaries and political
players need to make policy reforms to
ensure the policy remains relevant to
solving available problems.
However, taking a Nigerian example where
policies have been formulated before and
failed, questions rose as to whether the
Nigerian bureaucrats and government
officials should resign or not. The
government officials and other technocrats
defended themselves and held on to power
as it became a culture (Mbaya, 2013).
Therefore, the responsible policy makers
need to monitor the effective
implementation of the policy and be able to
recommend for institutional changes or
reforms in order to have a viable policy.
Mbaya (2013) further argued that effective
policy implementation can never be
separated from good and effective
management and monitoring. Policy
implementation requires strict adherence to
management procedures by all operational
staff. This also calls for all stakeholders to
be strictly policy result oriented. Charas
Tella explained that many governments fail
to have an effective implementation of the
policy due to lack of experienced and
quality employees (Tella, 2012). Failure to
have qualified staff to handle policy
formulation and reforms would definitely
bring about policy implementation failure.
Mbaya (2013) in his argument stated that
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Imperial Journal of Interdisciplinary Research (IJIR)
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Vol-3, Issue-9, 2017 (IJIR)
ISSN: 2454-1362, http://www.onlinejournal.in
policy failures in Nigeria would be
attributed to unskilled employees who are
simply mediocre and conservative in their
disposition to effective and efficient policy
implementation and would rather maintain
the status-quo for their benefits. This policy
formulation situation ascribed to Nigeria
would make it difficult to implement policy
reforms or innovations.
7. Public Policy and law
Harrington and Carter described the
relationship between public policy and the
law as ‘hand and glove’, (Carter, 2009).
This means that public policy is enforced by
the law and that when it is created it must fit
within the framework of the law in order to
ensure that there is no conflict between the
law and public policy. The Law is created to
protect private interests while public
policies protect competing interests i.e.
private vs. private and private vs. public
(Kim, 2014). Policy cannot exist without the
law as the law stamps its creation and gives
the implementers of the law the legal
powers to be able to implement the policy
within the guidelines of a legal framework.
The Law provides for a foundation by
which public policy can operate and this is
the reason why Harrington and Carter
describe this relationship as ‘hand and
glove’. There are four sets of laws that
govern the behaviors of administrators
according to Kim and these are; Regulatory,
Statutory, Common, and constitutional. It
can therefore be said that public policy
operates within these four dimensions of the
law.
8. Conclusion
In conclusion public policy is the action that
governments take in order to improve the
lives of its citizens and to be able to protect
their rights as well as provide a framework
for decision making that is highly
acceptable by its citizens. Public policy is
created for purposes of solving public
problems and has a structured method that is
used in order to formulate it (William,
2001).
The actions and decisions that public office
holders take should always be in line with
the direction provided in the public policy
framework. Governments throughout the
world use public policy as a control tool as
this provides guidelines for principal players
across sectors to act in a certain manner.
Public policy focuses on resolving and
solving public problems and it is also a
means by which both private and public
sector management can be aligned to the
regulations and the laws. The Law and
public policy are linked in that the latter acts
or is directed and must operate within the
regulatory framework. Statutory laws,
common laws, constitutional laws and
regulatory laws shape behaviors and these
are the boundaries in which public policy
must exist.
9. Acknowledgements
Sincere thanks to our Lecturer Dr. Kwesi
Sakyi who has inspired us to write and
maximize our potential and talent. A special
thank you also goes to Mr. Anderson
Malumo the Head of Social Sciences
programs at ZCAS University who through
his efforts we are able to study in the DBA
program at ZCAS University. We also wish
to sincerely thank the DBA Program
Coordinator Dr. Austin Mwange at ZCAS
University for his support and guidance.
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