Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Syllabus:
http://www.uvm.edu/~jfarley/pa306/pa306
syllabus.doc
Please hand in all assignments
electronically as e-mail attachments, RTF
or MSWord documents
“What is Public
Policy?”
Introduction to PA 306
Josh Farley (with thanks to Chris Koliba)
August 29, 2005
What is policy?
Today’s
newspaper…
A solution to a problem…
What is public?
Does public policy always imply a role for
government?
Public -- Private
Synonyms?
What distinguishes:
Public from private interests?
How does public policy
relate to other disciplines?
Economics
The allocation of scarce resources among
alternative desirable ends
Political science
Sociology
Hard sciences
Ethics
Legacy of the
Enlightenment Philosophy
The “self” comes of age…
Rational, self interested actors
Dangers of factionalism… Federalist
Papers
Acceptance of special interests
Use of checks and balances to keep
interests in check.
What does it mean to
be/act rational?
Scientific:
Application of scientific methods to
determine problems and derive solutions to
those problems.
Science, derived from the Latin word
scientia, meaning “having knowledge.”
Birkland (p.7)
Rational policy cycle
Identify objectives
Identify alternative courses of action for
achieving objectives
Predict the possible consequences of each
alternative
Evaluate the possible consequences of each
alternative
Select the alternative that maximizes the
attainment of objectives.
Science as a social
construct….
Scientific paradigms
Positivist
Interpretivist
Post normal
Stone P.11
A Democratic Imperative?
What role should ordinary citizens play within
public policy development and implementation?
with
D. You don’t talk to people about politics
With whom do you speak about politics
with? (check all that apply)
A. Family– which ones
B. Friends– which ones
C. Professional/work colleagues
D. Strangers and acquaintances
E. Fellow students and faculty
What can we do to ensure that we are
able to talk about our political views and
perspectives in this classroom?