(Week1) intro government, politics, and the policymaking process

Intro: Government,

Politics, and the

Policymaking Process

Copyright © 2011, 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

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The Importance of Government• Politics and government have enormous

influence on us.– Government affects us through

• regulations • taxes• services

• If we understand how it works, we will be better equipped to take advantage of the benefits and services.


The Importance of Government

• Philosophical questions concerning– Role of government– Kinds of service government should provide – What limits should be placed on it, addressed by

individual preferences

• Knowing how government influences our lives helps us frame responses to these philosophical questions.


• Government – Institution with the authority to set policy for society – Actions inherently political

• Politics – The way in which decisions for a society are made

and considered binding most of the time by most of the people

• Government and politics are intertwined.

Government and Politics


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The Policymaking Process

• Public Policy: what government officials choose to do or not to do about public problems.

• Government policies can take the form of laws, executive orders, administrative regulations, court decisions, or, in some cases, no action at all.


• The policymaking process takes place within a context of the factors that determine problems that government addresses, the set of policy alternatives that decision-makers are willing to consider, and the resources available to the government for addressing the problems.

• Issues, responses, and resources, all depend on these environments:

– Social– Economic– Political– Governing– Cultural



The policymaking process has several stages:

Agenda Setting: the process through which problems become matters of public concern and government action.

Policy Formulation: involves the development of strategies for dealing with the problems on the official policy agenda.

Policy Adoption: official decision of a government body to accept a particular policy and put it into effect.



Policy Legitimation: actions taken by government officials to ensure citizens regard a policy as legal and appropriate.

Policy Implementation: the stage of the policy process in which policies are carried out.

Policy Evaluation: Is the policy working well?

Policy Change: the modification of policy goals and means in light of new information or shifting political environments.

