Public policy is a complex process that involves identifying a problem, formulating a policy, adopting it, implementing it, and evaluating it. Policies can be social, economic, or foreign. Citizens and government work together to formulate policies, which are then voted on and implemented. The effectiveness of the policy is evaluated over time, and adjustments can be made.
Making public policy is not an easy or quick process, even if the steps may seem intuitive. Each stage requires a significant amount of time and debate, turning what appears to be a quick five-step process into a long struggle, full of vigorous conflicting opinions, concessions and unforeseen complications. The five basic steps are: identify a problem, formulate a policy, adopt a policy, implement the policy, and evaluate the policy.
There are three basic areas of public policy in the United States. Almost all policies can be classified as social, economic or foreign. Many citizens associate public policy with only burning issues such as welfare, crime, abortion, education and health care, but all fall into the social policy category and represent only part of the picture.
The first step is to identify a problem. Sometimes, the issue is brought to the attention of government officials by individual citizens. Other times, lobbyists or private groups come to talk about an issue, or the issue may be identified from above and turned over to Congress for resolution. When making public policies, one should consider whether the problem affects many citizens and whether the solution will degrade civil liberties.
Once the problem is identified, government and citizens work together to formulate a policy. Government is formed in such a way that, ideally, public opinion should be a major factor in shaping public policy. Citizens appeal to their members of Congress and encourage them to vote for or against the policy. Likewise, supporters or detractors will provide media coverage of the policy and attempt to sway public opinion through these avenues. Policy is critiqued and refined among experts to find the best possible wording and compromises on issues important to one side or the other.
The next step in creating a public policy is adopting the policy. Lawmakers vote on whether or not the formulated policy should be turned into law. Once it was approved and approved by the president, suggestions for implementation passed to the executive branch of government.
When the policy has been in place long enough, lawmakers analyze the effectiveness of the policy. This analysis is based on information gleaned from statistics and the opinions of executives who worked on the implementation. If your policy needs to be changed to account for unforeseen complications, you can add changes to your policy. Making public policy is never really done, and in reality the process is far from perfect. However, problems can always be reviewed over time and adjustments, corrections or improvements can be made.
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