Inside Public Policy and Public Administration

• Government decisions aren’t just made by politicians and their political staffers
• Public policy is not based entirely on ideology
• Nor is it bereft of any guiding principle beyond re-electing the government
• There is no truth to the maxim that absolute power corrupts absolutely

Resolving Difficult Public Issues

• What should be done when complicated issues need resolving?
• Should the courts decide the merits of government programs?
• Should policy decisions be left up to elected governments alone?

Government and Public Policy

• Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan (1651)
• Theorized society lacking govt would exist in a “state of nature” would be “nasty, brutish, and short”
• People throughout world struggle to:
• satisfy their basic needs
• protect themselves from harm
• advance personal priorities
• achieve communities’ priorities
• Social order improves our lives

Government and Public Policy

• Welfare state: suite of government programs, services, & financial supports designed to assist the least fortunate in
• Govt attempts to regulate human behaviour to achieve a civilized society through creation & enforcement of laws
• Funds are raised largely through taxation

Government and Public Policy

• Public administration: study and delivery of public policy by government
• Clerks, deputy ministers, etc., provide counsel to prime ministers, premiers, and ministers;
• whatever political decision is made by the executive will be acted upon faithfully
• Elected officials decide and direct
• Bureaucrats advise and implement

Government and Public Policy

• Max Weber, Economy and Society (1922)
• Concludes that government is organized like a military operation:
• There must be rules within the civil service
• Government must employ skilled experts
• These experts must operate within an organized hierarchy
• There must be employee training so as to encourage uniform performance
• Bureaucrats take action, and must follow written rules and preserve their actions as files for others’ reference
• People must be treated equally, including through standardized hiring and firing

Public Policy

• Public policy: plan or course of action chosen by a government to respond to an identified problem
• Public policy sets the boundaries of acceptable conduct in society
• Objectives are met through any combination of:
• public education
• financial incentives
• guidelines or standards
• sanctions

Connecting the Public to Policymaking

• Plebiscites, referendums, initiatives
• Green paper: government document released to explore policy options, no commitment to the outcome
• Mackenzie King government issued series of green papers on university healthcare
• White paper: document outlining proposed policy commitment by government
• 1969 White Paper on Indian Policy
• 1970 White Paper on Metric Conversion

Democracy and Pluralism

• Democracy theoretically stronger when decision-makers consider different points of view
• Pluralism: presence of diverse socioeconomic groups participating in public affairs
• Problem with pluralism:
• pressure of many competing voices ≠ good public policy
• may even result in decision/policy paralysis

The Public Policy Cycle

• Elected officials make ultimate policy decisions under Canada’s system of parliamentary democracy
• Public policy cycle: common stages in public decision-making:
• Conception to implementation and modification

Agenda Setting

policy problems gain government attention

Policy Formulation

government explores potential policy responses

Decision-making

government determines how to respond

Policy Implementation

government introduces the policy

Policy Evaluation

government monitors the policy

Policy Change

policy is adjusted in response to feedback and monitoring data

The Public Policy Cycle

• Policymakers influenced by own opinions and underlying value systems
• Public policy theories can help determine and rationalize existence of a given policy
• Anthony Downs, An Economic Theory of Democracy (1957)
• humans routinely evaluate costs and benefits when making a decision
• Rational actors seek to optimize personal situation.

The Public Policy Cycle

• Public policy scholar Eugene Bardach points out policy analysis is not an exact science
• It is not nearly as rigid as textbooks would have us believe
• He suggests that policy analysts learn ways to apply less structure on problem-solving through:
• Experience
• Trial and error

Financial Administration

• Ability of a government to make public policy decisions is highly dependent on its fiscal situation
• Treasury board: cabinet committee tasked with reviewing and authorizing government revenue and expenditure policies
• Committee of five ministers, including the president of the Treasury Board, who is the chair

Funding the Public Service

• Collective bargaining: formal negotiation of the terms of an employment contract between the representatives of a group of employees and their employer
• Presents two challenges for government:
• Provincial governments must navigate challenging contract demands from civil servants, doctors, nurses, homecare workers, police officers, etc.
• Work disruptions and stoppages can grow from an internal matter to a broader public policy problem

Taxation policy

regulations, mechanisms, and rates set by government to generate revenues from people and businesses in its jurisdiction

Direct taxation

collection of taxes by government without using an intermediary (property tax, etc.)

Indirect taxation

collection of taxes by intermediate body on behalf of government (income tax, sales tax)

Government Spending

• State spending ensures citizens enjoy baseline quality of life through provision of public services
• Government seeks to ensure citizens are safe and have basic necessities of life (access to water and food, clothing and shelter)
• Bulk of government spending focused on:
• young families and seniors
• those who fall on hard times when they lose their job, get sick, or experience some other type of crisis
• citizens who are perpetually homeless, unemployed, and/or poor

Government Spending

• Welfare state expansion = fed govt creating policies entitling eligible citizens to financial assistance.
• Social assistance: Financial support provided by government to citizens with no other recourse to income.
• Canada Pension Plan: A mandatory federal retirement program funded by workers and employers.

Insurance Programs

• A large number of people pay into Canada’s insurance programs, but at any given time only a minority use it.
• Medicare: A publicly funded health care service administered by each province.
• Employment insurance: A mandatory insurance program, funded by employees and employers, that provides temporary income to workers who lose their jobs.
• Disaster financial assistance programs
• Public motor vehicle insurance

Patronage and the Merit Principle

• Those who hold senior positions within government and within agencies, boards, and commissions (ABCs) sometimes criticized as beneficiaries of a system that is rife with patronage
• Patronage: cultural practice that reflects an expectation among the supporters of a political party, its leader, and/or its candidate(s) that they will receive something in return for their loyal service

Patronage and the Merit Principle

• Patronage runs counter to merit principle
• Merit principle: notion that the most qualified candidate should be awarded a position, contract, or other financial benefit
• Means all citizens should be eligible to apply for government positions
• Formal criteria should be consistently applied
• The most qualified person should be offered the job

Inside Political Communication

Inside Political Communication

• Emergence of the Internet as a dominant communication platform does not mean the end for traditional political media
• Political communication is much more than “spin”
• Even in an era of 24-hour news cycles and public demand for transparency, politicians are not bound to answer journalists’ questions

Traditional Media 

• Mainstream news media:
• newspaper, radio, and television outlets
• Politicians often allow news coverage to guide their decision-making;
• For the public, the news informs their knowledge of political happenings

Party Press

• Party Press: Early newspapers that relied on government advertising and that were blatantly partisan
• Operated by publishers who were sympathetic to a political party 
• Readership comprised of elites 
• As literacy rates increased, demand grew for mass distribution of non-partisan news

PRESS GALLERY 

 each legislature has a press gallery comprised of accredited journalists who are assigned to cover government and legislative proceedings

fourth estate

informal term for the media, implies that a free press is so vital to democracy that it is on par with the three branches of government (executive, legislature, and judiciary)

de Tocqueville, 1831.

“The more I consider the chief effects of the independence of the press, the more convinced I am that, among the moderns, independence of the press is the most important, indeed the essential, ingredient of liberty. 

A people that wants to remain free therefore has the right to insist that the independence of the press is the most important, indeed the essential, ingredient of liberty …”.

De Tocqueville & the Free Press

• De Tocqueville ranked the press as being second in power, after the people
• Identified the existence of a pluralistic press, which meant that the press found it difficult to act in a unified manner
• Plurality allowed the press to perform its watchdog and gate-keeping functions as reporters of facts
• Enabled citizens to make individual decisions on political and other issues

De Tocqueville & the Free Press

• Was critical of the proliferation of newspaper, which he saw as 
• (1) contributing to the dilution of journalistic acumen
• (2) offering excesses in commercial advertising space at the expense of substantive content

De Tocqueville & the Free Press

• Was critical of the proliferation of newspaper, which he saw as 
• (1) contributing to the dilution of journalistic acumen
• (2) offering excesses in commercial advertising space at the expense of substantive content

Sen, 1999

“Liberal theorists from Milton through Locke and Madison to John Stuart Mill have argued that a free and independent press within each nation can play a vital role in the process of democratization by contributing toward the right of freedom of expression, thought and conscience, strengthening the responsiveness of governments to all citizens, and providing a pluralist platform of political expression for a multiplicity of groups.” 

Lippmann, 1922

“For the real environment is altogether too big, too complex … for direct acquaintance. We are not equipped to deal with too much … we have to reconstruct it on a simpler model … . All reporters in the world working all hours of the day could not witness all the happenings in the world. But the facts are not simple ... but subject to choice and opinion, it is natural that everyone should wish to make his own choice of facts for the newspaper to print …”. 

Fourth Estate

• Legislative (Law making)
• Executive (Policy execution)
• Judiciary (reviewing the law)
• Press (Reporting the system honestly).
• Without the institutions of democracy, journalists = propagandists / entertainers
• Passion for democracy is the necessary bond journalists must have with the public
• No journalism, no democracy
• But, equally, no democracy, no journalism
• Journalism and democracy are names for the same thing

Fourth Estate

• Media systems strengthen good governance and promote positive development ... under 2 conditions:
• 1) where there is an independent press; 
• 2) where there is widespread access to the media.
• Studies show that media systems meeting these conditions are more closely linked with metrics of good governance and human development.

Freedom Of Expression

Charter of Rights and Freedoms: 

“… freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including freedom of the press and other media of communication.”

Public Sphere

“… the institutional sites where popular political will should take form and citizens should be able to constitute themselves as active agents in the political process … The goal is to establish structures of broadcasting in the public interest … which optimize diversity in terms of information, viewpoints and forms of expression, and which foster full and active citizenship.”

Dahlgren, quoted in Gamson, Ch. 3 

Digital Media 

• In early 1990s, Web introduced a cost-efficient means of global communication
• Early 2000s saw rise of blogs, emergence of attack websites, and widespread use of Blackberries by campaign operatives and journalists
• Today, email communication, websites, and social media are major components of everyday politicking

Budget Media - 2019

• Digital advertising revenue in 2017 eclipsed television, newspaper and radio advertising combined;
• Est. at $6.77 billion.
• Advertising revenue for print newspapers and magazines was estimated at a combined $924 million;
• Down from $3.1 billion in 2008.
• Print advertising revenue has primarily gone to U.S. internet giants Google and Facebook;
• This has led to the shuttering of hundreds of news organizations across the continent.

Budget 2019- Media ($595M)

• 1. Subscribers to Cdn digital news can claim up to $500 in costs towards eligible digital subscriptions for a maximum tax credit of $75 per year;
• 2. Qualified Cdn journalism organizations can claim a 25% credit on the salaries/wages paid to eligible newsroom employees ($13,750 per year per eligible employee); 
• 3. Qualified Cdn journalism organizations will be able to apply to be a new category of tax-exempt qualified done that will let them issue charitable tax credits or donation deductions.

Budget 2019- Media ($595M)

• Subscribers to Cdn digital news can claim up to $500 in costs towards eligible digital subscriptions for a maximum tax credit of $75 per year;
• Qualified Cdn journalism organizations can claim a 25% credit on the salaries/wages paid to eligible newsroom employees ($13,750 per year per eligible employee); 
• Qualified Cdn journalism organizations will be able to apply to be a new category of tax-exempt qualified done that will let them issue charitable tax credits or donation deductions.

Digital Media 

• Non-elites greatly benefited from the rise of information communication technologies (ICTs)
• Small political parties, interest groups, and grassroots movements can benefit:
• easily mobilize supporters
• send, receive, discuss breaking information
• Rumours, falsehoods, negativity, and hate speech may flourish as well