Public Policy:

The State
and the
Citizen
Ralph Henry
November 2, 2020
Presentation 1
Introductory Lecture – The Public Policy
Course

• Modus Operandi – Three hour presentation

• A Project -
• Lectures Notes in Power Point
• Key Readings –electronic and other,
• Podcasts
Formal Objectives of the Course

• Explore and analyze the process of public policy formulation and

implementation – the why of public policy
• Assess impact of public policies on economic activity, business,
trade and human rights
• Occupational Safety and Health
• Other areas of regulation in the world of work, business, trade,
living and in life itself
• Wide range of areas to be examined
Learning Outcomes

• Discuss, analyse, and evaluate the principal inputs to public policy

decisions
• Communicate the local, national and international responsibilities
for risk management to an organisation
• Communicate the results of risk assessments to workers and
communities
• Discuss and explain the legal basis of OESH legislation and other
regulatory systems, and serve as expert witness
• Engage in own business in this area
General Introduction

• Quick Overview of the Area

Policy Sciences

• Application of the Sciences in matters of governance and

government

• Problem Oriented

• Multidisciplinary
• Values Orientation
Public Policy

• What is it really?
• Why should we have it as an area of study?
• Who is responsible for Public Policy?
Defining the Public - The Individual and the
State

• The private and the public and societal organisation over time
• From Hunter/gatherers to the modern state
• All societies fulfill certain functions to sustain the existence of the
group
• Who gets to set public policy over time?
• Rulers and the Ruled, in political systems, in the final analysis
• Theocratic States, Kingdoms and Hereditary Rule
• Machiavelli – the Prince
The State in Modern Times

• Who gets to set public policy over time?

• Exploration of systems under which human beings have lived over time, including within the Caribbean

• The economy, the polity, the society and rules for exploiting the lived space – common to all societies

• The state and the individual in modern times - highly developed countries, emerging market
economies, developing economies

• Conceived in private and public thereafter

• Civil Society Organiisations and rights

Policy – The Various Dimensions

• The Policy-Making Process

• Agenda – systemic, institutional, discretionary, decision
• Policy Formation
• Policy Legitimation
• Policy Implementation
• Policy Evaluation
• Policy Maintenance, Succession or Termination
Public Policy (Cont’d)

• Public Policy is made in the public’s name

• Public Policy is made by Governments
• Public Policy is interpreted and implemented by public and private actors
• Public Policy Is what government intends to do
• Public Policy is what government chooses not to do.

• Miller and McTavish (2014) Making and Managing Public Policy

Public Policy – Multi and Inter-disciplinary
Base

• Formal study draws on a number of disciplines

• Multidisciplinary in practice and interdisciplinary as a field of
study
• Law, History, Economics, Government/Political Science, Sociology,
Anthropology, Psychology/Social Psychology, Science, Technology
et al

• Implications for students of public policy

Questions and Comments
Nature of the State and Public Policy

• Democratic States in modern times, industrial revolution and the

shape of modern societies and economies
• Public Policy is not static – the polity, the society, culture,
technological change
Evolution of Public Policy in the Caribbean

• Who gets to set public policy over time?

• Public Policy has not been static in the Caribbean
The Individual and the State in English-
speaking Caribbean and in T&T
• Conquest and the First Peoples of the Caribbean
• Slavery, Emancipation, Indentureship and Rights of the Individual
• Moyne Commission after rejection by population of political conditions under which
people lived: a number of services introduced following the Moyne Commission Report of
1939
• Universal Suffrage to Self Government to Independence – public policy defined by
representatives of the people of T&T
• Decolonisation after the Second World War – India, Pakistan, Indonesia, African countries,
• Independent State and International Society – our commitments as independent countries
• United Nations Charter 1948 – Human Rights et al.
Universal Declaration of Human Rights

The Thirty Articles – Rights of the Individual

Governments pledge to uphold these rights in implementation public policy
• https://www.un.org/en/universal-declaration-human-rights/
• Article 1 – All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights
• Article 3 – Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person
• Article 14 - Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other
countries asylum from persecution
• Frequent areas of tension between the rights of the individual and the
state in its implementation of public policy.
Agencies of the United Nations

• Agencies established to promote rights of individual rights among

states
• Treatment of Refugees
• The Paris Convention and Climate Change and Global Warming,
• WHO and Pandemics – Zika, Ebola, Covid 19 and beyond;
Peter Deleon (2006) – The Disciplines in
Public Policy
• The policy sciences are explicitly problem oriented, addressing public policy
problems and identifying recommendations for their relief. It is not about
studying a phenomenon for its own sake: the context is the frame for the
analysis and the recommendations.
• The policy sciences are distinctively multidisciplinary in their intellectual and
practical approaches. Any social or political problem has to be addressed from
various academic disciplines rather than from one specific domain.
• The policy sciences approach is consciously value oriented: no social problem
is value free.
De Leon, “The Historical Roots of the Field,” Oxford Handbook of Public Policy
Development of Formal Study and Teaching

• Universities in the North Atlantic – UK, Europe and USA

• Government, Public Administration, Economics, Business, Statistics
Scientific Management Influence and Public
Administration

• Frederick Taylor – efficiency in the factory environment at the beginning of

the last century – rise of Fordism
• Efficiency in Government in the late 20 th century
• Public Administration – Budgeting, accounting, finance, standardization of
procedures, performance management

• In Caribbean – Accounting systems adopted from Britain in the colonial

period
• The Colonial Office, the Governor, the Legislative Council, the Civil Service
From Public Administration to Public Policy

• Growing reach of the state in developed and developing countries

in the Post World War II years and economic transformation of
countries leading up to formation of WTO and the globalization
model incorporating all of humanity
• The activist role of the state – need for policy entrepreneurs and
innovators
• Need for bureaucrats beyond neutral implementers of policy

• Civil Society and Constraint on the State in setting policy

Internationa
l Public
Policy, • https://www.weforum.org/agend
a/2019/09/greta-thunberg-climat
National e-change-strikes
Public Policy • Black lives Matter in USA, among
the Aborigines in Australia, and
and Civil the Dalits in India
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/p
Society in lay/w3ct0wjd
21st Century
Climate Change and the Caribbean- “1.5 C to
Stay Alive”

• Greenland – Subtropical
• Melting of the Artic and Antartic Oceans
• Drought in Southern Africa
• Sea Rise in the Caribbean
Ending on a Sombre Note

• Abaco in the Bahamas

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5xcqJ24bi4
Comments and Discussion