Topic: Policy-making is driven by the need to solve societal problems and should result in interventions to solve these societal problems.” (Janssen, 2015)
Question:
- Discusses several developments that influence policy-making.
- Describe how that development can influence policy to solve a specific problem.
Instructions:
For Initial Post:
Need 1 Initial post (Minimum 300 words)
Need minimum 3 APA references
No Plagiarism please
Need 3 Responses (Use uploaded Document)
1 attachments
Slide 1 of 1
attachment_1
attachment_1
UNFORMATTED ATTACHMENT PREVIEW
Topic: Policy-making is driven by the need to solve societal problems and should result in interventions to solve these societal problems.” (Janssen, 2015) Question: • • Discusses several developments that influence policy-making. Describe how that development can influence policy to solve a specific problem. Instructions: For Initial Post: Need 1 Initial post (Minimum 300 words) Need minimum 3 APA references No Plagiarism please For Responses: Post 1: Policy is an important tool used to develop interventions that meet the needs of people in a society. It is a process that involves several stakeholders such as the government, businesses, and interest groups among many others. The stakeholders in policy-making use different methods to push for particular policies such as lobbying and collaboration. Notably, the successful development of a policy considers the interests of stakeholders, political feasibility, cost, effectiveness and equity (Moat, Lavis, Abelson, 2013). Therefore, the development of policy is influenced by public opinion, economic conditions and, scientific and technological advancements as well as the interests of stakeholders. These factors that influence policy developments are in most instances complex and thus slow the process down significantly. These factors however work together to keep the process in check in an incremental way as opposed to a radical one (Craft, Howllet, 2012). For instance, economic conditions has helped solve the problem of unemployment in an incremental way since the recession of 2008. The recession helped policy makers develop policies that encourage investment in the public sector as well as incentives for different sectors such as energy. This in turn has created a significant number of jobs and reduced unemployment. Another example is the influence public opinion has had in policy. Public opinion has greatly increased recently on issues such as the environment, use of volatile energy and global climate change. This has influenced electoral politics which forced the government to develop policies that enhance sustainable business. Technological advancements such as the use of renewable energy has also influenced policy developments towards the use of sustainable energy. Scientific advancements have allowed for businesses to have cost effective options in terms of renewable energy making easier for the development of policies towards the increased use of sustainable energy. Such policies include simple steps such as the use of materials that reduce environmental costs (Dyllick, & Muff, 2016). Post 2: ” A public policy is an action which employs a governmental authority to commit resources in support of a preferred value” (Considine, 1994). A policy can, therefore, be defined as a statement of intent to achieve specific goals by an authority such as a regional or national government. The development of a policy is usually accompanied by various prerequisites such as the need for reforms and development of a wholly new way or a new proposed bill aiming at solving at a particular societal problem such as unemployment, pollution, health, criminality, immigration, and well-being. There are various types of policies namely macro policy and micro policy. The macro policy is developed to develop a complete framework of how best to articulately solve a problem. Micro policies are designed to create actionable course through the selection of appropriate tools. Some of the development that influences decision policy making includes; first knowledge and innovation, this influences policymaking by catalyzing new debates and creating awareness on new opportunities. The second one is institutional development, which is the structure and capabilities of formal institutions such as local government, NGOs, political parties and the private sector. And lastly the need for reform. The society is faced with the task of solving a problem before they uncontrollably affect the societal social, economic growth and development (Dolan, 2000). To solve some societal problems, certain stages are to be followed to achieve the desired goal. A development such as the need for reforms is developed in case there arise some loopholes that might inhibit the realization of specific purposes. This may be caused by the need to align specific policies with other national processes. The alignment of operations with other causes of action can lead to ensuring that sustainable goals are developed, i.e. Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s). The methods of synchronizing development goals improve their viability and promote efficiency among various sectors hence ultimately producing the desired developmental goals (Sutton, 1999). Such development ensures that development standards are upheld and are in line with the expected goals. A program such as the transition into full use of digital media is followed by the passing of a policy that restrains the press from broadcasting in any other form rather than digital form. Formulation of such policies leads to the improvement of society’s welfare thereby preventing the community from backwardness hence acting as a measure of cushioning people against future societal problems. The need to develop new ways or to pass a new bill might trigger the formulation of policy. In a case example, if a countries road is categorized to be among the most dangerous way to travel in (Craft & Howlett, 2012). To remedy the situation the government can pass a new policy that all the Public Service Vehicles (PSV’s) were to be fitted with safety belts and digital speed governors. The passing of this new policy and its development into law is meant to produce tremendous results that lead to a reduction in the number of road accidents. Such a system boosts the social order and leads to the solving of a societal problem. Development of new policies may be aimed at building partnerships. If society is to develop fully, then there has to be full cooperation of all agencies. New systems can establish new links between ministries hence solving related societal problems. Therefore, the need to develop new legislation can lead to the formulation of policies that act as a solution to societal issues such as reduced deaths from road carnage. Post 3: Policy making is a continuous process and it involves both government and private organization and often both based on the policy. Public policies are made by the government organizations while private policies such as organization policy is limited to the organization. However, all the institutions should work according to the policy that was in execution by the government. In any government whether a democratic or non-democratic government, policy implementation is a continuous process and the nature and prioritization of the type of policy depends on the nature of the government. Policies are formulated to deal with the societal problems such as environment, quality control, safety and security, privacy, health etc. which will have direct effect on the citizens. As the societal problems keep changing based on circumstances prevailing during that time, policies should be intervened to handle the problems effectively. Policy formulation is made by policy makers which involves coordination with experts and administrative organizations and receiving the inputs on high level from the politicians on how a policy should be as politicians directly work or elected by the people and would be the ultimate authority for a policy approval. Policy making should be of evidence based in order to be effective which involves assessment, budget and other checks and balances required which can be more practical and can be evaluated if the policy is working by pilot implementation in certain cases (Dube, 2018). Some of the major polices that may required periodic interventions are digital policies, security policies and tax policies as they may need to change based on the circumstances according the time. Need Responses to above 3 posts (Each Response