Analysing Public Policy

Analysing Public Policy What is Public Policy? Public policy happens when the government tries to answer a public issue, such as healthcare, education, environmental issues, crime, transportation, foreign policy, and poverty and welfare. Public policy is whatever governments choose to do or what not to do. Whether it is local, state, or federal government they develop public policy by laws, regulations, decisions, and actions. So, behind every decision that is made there is always a process that takes place, setting the agenda, making decisions, formulation, implementation, and evaluation. So, once laws are established they are put into practice in the form of public policy. Public policy affects our quality of life and can also influence the quality of life for those in other countries. In order for public policy to work citizens must participate in the process. A lot of pressure that comes from the outside affects the creation of public policy whether it is for the better of the country or for the worst. Citizens groups as well as commercial groups put pressure on public policy to defend their interest. As lawmakers debate the making of policies and set them in place, it is important for citizens and outside groups to analyze the effects of the policy so that the wrong type of policies are not set into practice. Individuals and groups attempt to shape policy through education, advocacy, or mobilization of interest groups. There are three parts to public policy making: problem, players, and the policy. The problem is the issue that needs to be addressed. The players are the individuals and groups that are influential in forming and implementing a plan to address the problem in question. Policy is the course of action decided upon by the government and public. Public policies are widely open to influence and interpretation by non-governmental players, including those in the non-profit and private sectors. Policies are dynamic, responding to changes in the government and the public interest. What is Policy Analysis? Public policy analysis is determining which of several alternative policies will most achieve a given set of goals no matter the relationship between the policy and the goal. Policy analysis involves a primary concern with explanation rather than prescription. Also it is a sought out search for the cause and consequences of public policies. Furthermore, it is an effort to develop and test general propositions about the causes and consequences of public policy and to continue to accumulate reliable research findings of general relevance. Public policy analysis strives to define the problems addressed by a particular policy, assess the steps taken to address these problems and evaluate the intended and unintended effects. Policy analysis has the greatest potential to improve the policy making process when government decision makers use the results and findings to craft better policy. It occurs in political environment, in which policy makers, elected or otherwise, makes decisions about the allocation of public funds, power and resources. It requires insight, creativity, and imagination in identifying societal problems and describing them, in devising public policies that might alleviate them, and then in finding out whether these policies end up making things better or worst. It requires knowledge of economics, political science, public administration, sociology, psychology, laws, statistics, engineering, natural sciences, etcà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Policy analysis is an applied subfield of all of these traditional disciplines. The Six Models of Policy Analysis System Model The system model relies on concepts of information theory, especially feedback, input, and output, and conceives of the process as being essentially cyclical. Policy is originated, implemented, adjusted, re-implemented, and readjusted. The system model is concern with such things as: the significant variables and patterns in the public policy making system, what constitutes the black box of the actual policy making process, and the inputs, outputs and the feedback of the process. In the systems model of public policymaking and implementation, inputs are the demands, resources, and opposition. The outputs are goods, services, and symbols to public and other policymakers. The black box represents the conversion process. Institutional Model The institutional model focuses on the organizational chart of the government. It describes the arrangements and official duties of bureaus and departments, but customarily it has ignored the living linkages between them. The institutional model is interested in the constitutional provisions, administrative and common law and similar legalities. Things that are of less concern are the behavioral connections between a department and the public policy coming from it. Neo-Institutional Model The neo-institutional model is an attempt to categorize public policies according to policymaking subsystems. For example Theodore J. Lowi classifies policies by four arenas of power: redistributive, distributive, constituent, and regulative. Distributive policy includes for example agricultural subsidies. Constituent policy arena includes reapportionment of legislature. Regulative policy includes elimination of fraudulent advertising. Last, redistributive policy includes for example, the progressive income tax. Organized Anarchy Model The organized anarchy model has three streams that flow largely independently of one another and constitutes the policymaking process. First, is the problem stream, which involves focusing the publics and policymakers attention on a particular social problem, defining the problem, and either applying a new policy to the resolution of the problem or letting the problem fade from sight. The second stream is the political stream that the governmental agenda or in other words, the list of issues or problems to be resolved is formed. This formulation occurs as the result of the interaction of major forces, such as the national mood, the perspective and the clout of organized interests and the dynamics of government itself, including personnel turnover, the settling of jurisdictional disputes among agencies and branches. The primary participants in the formulation of government agenda are high-level political appointees and the presidents staff members of Congress, the media, interest grou ps, those associated with elections, parties, and campaigns and the general public opinion. Third is the policy stream. It is in the policy stream that the decision agenda or alternative specification is formulated. The major participants in the formulation of the decision agenda are career public administrators, academic researchers and consultants, congressional staffers, the Office of Management and Budget and interest groups. Group Model Another way of describing the group model is the hydraulic thesis, in which the polity is considered as a system of forces and pressures acting as a system of forces and pressures acting and reacting to one another in the formulation of public policy. Normally the group model is associated with the legislature rather than the bureaucracy. Agency administrators grow increasingly to distinguish between policies that are beneficial to the interest of the public and policies of the groups being regulated. The group model goes by the saying that what is good for the group is good for the nation, in the eyes of the regulators. Elite Model The elite or mass model contends that a policymaking and policy executing elite is able to act in an environment characterized by apathy and information distortion, and thereby govern a largely passive mass. Policy flows downward from the elite to the mass and prevailing public policies reflect the elite values. The Policy Analysis Process Verify, define and detail the problem This is the most important step of the policy analysis process because there are many instances where the objectives are not clear or even contradictory from one another; a good political analysis will have will have clearly identified the problem that is to be resolved. This is the mandatory process that determines how efficient and effective the outcome of the whole process will be. The analyst must question both the interested parties involved as well as their agendas of the outcome. In this process you want to state the problem, determine the extent and magnitude of the problem eliminate irrelevant material, and make a quick estimate of resources required to deal with the issue. Establish evaluation criteria This step is important in order to compare measure and select among the alternatives, relevant evaluation data must be established. In this process it must be considered cost, net benefit, effectiveness, efficiency, equity, administrative ease, legality, and political acceptability. Economic benefits must be considered in evaluating the policy. How the policy will harm or benefit a particular group or groups will depend on the number of options available. Political and other variables go together with the evaluation criteria to be followed. Most of the time the client, or person or group, interested in the policy analysis will dictate the direction or evaluation criteria to follow. This step, deals with what the important goals are and how they will be measured. It clarifies the goals values, and objectives. It looks at the cost and benefits, effectiveness, equity, legality and political acceptability. Identify alternative policies In this third step understanding what is being sought out is important. In order to generate alternatives, it becomes important to have a clear understanding of the problem and how to go about it. Possible alternatives include the â€Å"do nothing approach† (status quo), and any others that can benefit from the outcome. Combining alternatives generates better solutions not thought of before. Relying on past experiences from the other groups or policy analysis, helps to create a more thorough analysis and understanding. It is important not to settle prematurely on a certain number of options when it comes to this step; many options must be considered before settling into a reduced number of alternatives. Brainstorming, researching, experimenting, writing scenarios, or concept mapping will help to find new alternatives that will help reach the optimal solution. This step considers a wide range of options, consults with experts, and redefines the problem if necessary. Evaluate alternative policies In this step it becomes necessary to evaluate how each possible alternative benefits the criteria previously established. Additional data needs to be collected in analyzing the different levels of influence: the economical, political and social dimensions of the problem. These dimensions are analyzed through quantitative and qualitative analysis, which is the benefits and cost per alternative. New aspects of the problem may be found to be of importance and even different from the original statement, after political questions in obtaining the goals are analyzed. Several fast interactions through the policy analysis may be efficient and effective than a single detailed one. What this means is that the efficiency is greatly increased when several projects are analyzed and evaluated rather than just one in great detail, allowing for a wider scope of possible solutions. This process considers selecting appropriate methods and applying them correctly. It also estimates expected outcomes, e ffects, and impacts of each policy alternative. Display and distinguish among alternative policies In this step, comparison schemes are used to summarize virtues, they are a great help in distinguishing among several options; scenarios with quantitative methods, qualitative analysis, and complex political considerations can be melded into general alternatives containing many from the original ones. In this process the comparison and distinction of each alternative must be looked at against the economic, political, legal, and administrative ramification of each option. Political analysis is a major factor of decision of distinction among the choices; display the positive effects and negative effects interested in implementing the policy. This political approach will ultimately analyze how the number of participants will improve or diminish the implementation. It will also criticize on how the internal cooperation of the interested units or parties will play an important role in the outcome of the policy analysis. Mixing two or more alternatives is a very common and practiced approa ch in attaining a very reasonably justified policy analysis. Monitor the implemented policy This process looks to see if the policy is actually having an impact. Even after a policy has been implemented, there may be some doubt whether the problem was resolved appropriately and even whether the selected policy is being implemented properly. These concerns require that policies and programs be maintained and monitored during implementation to assure that they do not change for unintentionally, to measure the impact that they are having, to determine whether they are having the impact intended, and to decide whether they should be continued, modified or terminated. References Daneke, G. A., Steiss, A. W. (1980, August 13). Administrative Policy Analysis, Budgeting, Implementation, and Evaluation. Retrieved July 2009, 29, from http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICDocs/data/ericdocs2sql/content_storage_01/0000019b/80/994. Hall, S. (n.d.). Public Policy analysis. Retrieved july 29, 2009, from eHow: http://www.ehow.com/facts_5185777_public-policy-analysis.html Patton, C. V. (1999, April 22). Social Reasearch Methods. Retrieved July 29, 2009, from Steps for a Successful Policy Analysis: http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/tutorial/Barrien/barrien.htm

Cultural studies

? â€Å"Literature is the mirror of life† is one of the main quotes which our lecturer, Mr. Puveneswaran keep on telling to us in his every lesson. This quote answered my question which I asked myself since the first lesson of Literature in English. A great literature is the mirror upon which the realities of life are reflected. A term that used to describe written or spoken material is known as literature. By studying this subject, I could understand that literature is all about the obsession with ideas and also a way in which we can capture and interpret what has happened and is happening to us personally and to the world as a whole.Broadly speaking, the study of literature allows people to develop new ideas and ethical standpoints and can help individuals to present themselves as educated members of society. There are many short stories that I have studied in this semester such as A Dream of China, The Mahogany Table, No Place For A Woman and so on. As the requirement of my coursework, I choose two short stories such as Everything’s Arranged and Dey Raju. This Everything’s Arranged by Siew Yee Killingley tells about a Ceylonese girl named Rukumani having secret affair with a Ceylonese boy named Devanayagam while studying at University.Their secret affair discovered by their parents. Rukumani have struggle and suffer because of their family members, relatives and their community as they try to get together in life. The Ceylonese, however educated, still hold to their tradition, beliefs and family values so adamantly. At the end their marriage was called off. Dey Raju by Saras M Manickam is a story about a boy named Raju. Raju’s father arranged a marriage for him. Raju wrongly saw the ‘bride’. He refuses to get married because the lady that he thought his bride was fat.Amazingly, he found out that the fat lady was not his bride. His bride was beautiful. Raju got to know the truth and talked to his bride. They both love each other. According to Mathew Arnold, literary criticism is a disinterested endeavor to learn and propagate the best that is known and thought in the world. Using the theories and principles of theoretical criticism, the practical critic defines the standards of taste and explains, evaluates, or justifies a particular piece of literature.Since there are a few literary criticisms in those two short stories, I found cultural criticism is the most suitable one for those two short stories that I have been chosen. Cultural criticism is known as criticism or analysis of a specific culture and society on a continuing basis with the end result being some sort of practical solution being found to fix any problems. In the Everything’s Arranged short story, Indian culture is well depicted and portrayed. As a Ceylonese, Rukumani’s parents believe that marriage is a spiritual thing and if a girl has an affair with a guy before marriage, it is considered as a sin.The girls shouldn ’t be in love before marriage. This can be clearly seen when a man who is a visitor to Rukumani’s house said that â€Å"When we were young our mother never mentioned the word ‘marriage’ to any of my seven sisters until two days before they were to be married. Everything fixes first, then talk. † We can know that they are very possessive and exposed to Indian culture that were truly practiced when Rukumani’s mother scolded her by telling that Rukumani have been so brazen and shameless as to spoilt yourself with her beloved ones.Even though she protested herself that she never did anything wrong, her mother cried and told her not to tell about shameful things. I also found evidence for the culture that they belief where the girls shouldn’t choose a guy as their life partner by themselves. For an example, â€Å"How dare you choose somebody for yourself? † wept her mother. Moreover, sex is an issue that cannot be mentioned in home. There was stated that Rukumani’s parents liked to pretend Rukumani was too spiritual to know anything about sex and that topic was never mentioned at home.The Ceylonese, however educated, still hold to their tradition, beliefs and family values so adamantly. Education failed to change their thinking. Social life is a taboo for their young sons what more for a daughter. Dey Raju is one of the most favorite short stories of mine where I found the pure love between married to be couple. The cultural criticism in this short story is arranged marriage. Raju who works in Kuala Lumpur received a telegram from his father states that â€Å"Marriage arranged. Come immediately†.Even though he hasn’t seen his bride, he agreed to his father’s statement and went back to his hometown immediately by train without thinking for a second. When the mates at work ribbed Raju mercilessly about marrying a bride that he had never seen before, he said that â€Å"Mine was traditi onal Indian culture with five thousand years of history. By golly, I was proud of it†. This shows that Raju is still conservation and holds his Tamil culture which is arranged marriage. This is also can be clearly seen when an elderly neighbor from home, Auntie Rukku asked him whether he has set eyes on his bride and know his bride’s name ornot. â€Å"It’s our tradition, Auntie Rukku† replied Raju. It is being a common thing to modern culture where people can find their own spouses and didn’t depend on their parents but yet Raju follows the Indian culture. In a conclusion, I could understand more clearly and well about cultural criticism by reading and interpreting those two short stories. I also able to know that the formal study of literature enables us to explain our responses to any text, allows us to articulate the function of literature in an academic and a personal way.

We Create Our Own Monsters

Woods 1 Taylor Woods Mrs. Eryes Language Arts 3-4 H 16 October 2012 We Create Our Own Monsters Monsters are different for everyone. Some may think monsters are purple, hairy, one-eyed freaks. Others may think they are atrocious beasts with chain-saws and bloody faces out to kill you! But monsters don’t just have to be a literal thing that we can see and feel. Many monsters are figurative, meaning that it’s not an actual real life monster but are features and characteristics made up of our own fears.Many times the things that make a monster scary are because of the traits we give to them from our own fears. Monsters are creatures of our own imagination that help us deal with and reflect our fears and taboos.. The University of Michigan attempts to define monsters. The way they explain monsters is that they are creatures of our own imagination. James Mitchell describes monsters and says that, â€Å"Cultures create and ascribe meaning to monsters, endowing them with their characteristics derived from their most deep-seeded fears and taboos†.What Mitchell is trying to say is that monsters are made up of our own fears. We create the characteristics of the monster based on our fears and taboos. So, for example, when we are younger we are scared of a monster in our closet and under our beds. So, a monster to a young child would be a hairy, colorful creature like a monster from the movie â€Å"Monsters, Inc. †. But as we grow up we don’t fear that type of monster anymore. We overcome those worries. We are then faced with new problems and fears. For example, many teens fear not being socially accepted and people making fun of them Woods 2 nd bullying them – much like Frankenstein, not because the way he looked, but how he wasn’t accepted by anyone because peopled feared him. Monsters don’t just have to be big and scary creatures. They are also figurative just like in the books The Outsiders and Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time. In the book The Outsiders by S. E. Hilton the monster is â€Å"being alone† because in the book they fear being alone because they could be attacked by the Socs. The Socs were the â€Å"cool† and â€Å"popular† kids. They always have each other’s backs and protect one another from the Socs and everything they fear.After Ponnyboy got beat up in the beginning of the book by the Socs you can tell that they are all there for him, â€Å"Our gang had chased the Socs to their car and heaved rocks at them. † In the book The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon, Christopher doesn’t like anything he can’t use logic to figure out such as metaphors, jokes, sarcasm. That’s why he even says in his book, â€Å"This will not be a funny book. I cannot tell jokes because I do not understand them. †(Haddon, 8) Christopher fears the unknown and chaos because of his autism.Christopher cannot handle it when there is chaos and people asking too many question, â€Å"He was asking me too many questions and he was asking them too quickly†¦I rolled back onto the lawn and pressed my forehead to the ground again and made the noise that Father calls groaning. † (Haddon, 7) The unknown and chaos are the monsters in this book. Figurative monsters are in all the books even the well-known monster books.. Even most of the classic monsters have figurative monsters in the stories as well. In the book Frankenstein by Mary Shelly you would think ‘The Monster’ would be the monster.He still is, it’s obvious, he is a massive, atrocious beast. But ‘The Monster’ actually fears being rejected. He has been rejected by so many people because all they see when they see Woods 3 him is his looks and not any of his personality. Just like when he was learning from his neighbors that he was spying on and decided to go to their house and meet them, and they immediately are frightened and do not accept ‘The Monster’ even though he was not there to harm them. He had very good intensions. When people saw him, they just assumed he was out to cause harm.In Beowulf-poet everyone fears Grendel because he wants to kill Beowulf. This makes Grendael the monster of this story. But just like any other story there is a figurative monster as well. The people in this story fear Grendel’s power to kill whoever he wants, thus making the figurative monster power. But overall, the people of this town fear themselves or loved ones being killed which makes their biggest fear, death, just like in most books. In every story, movie, poem or T. V. show there is a monster. Whether it’s just the antagonist or a classic monster, a monster is a monster.You can always find a figurative monster. What most people fear almost always ends up being the figurative monster. Just like in Frankenstein he fears being rejected, in the Outsiders the y fear being on their own and in the Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time Christopher fears the unknown. In all these books they also all fear one thing in common: death. One of the biggest fears to everyone is dying which makes every monster almost have to do with death. As we know, we create our own monster, by having their characteristics come from our fears.Every monster is different and every person has a different view on monsters. Woods 4 Works Cited Haddon, Mark. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time. New York: Doubleday, 2003. Print. Hinton, S. E. The Outsiders,. New York: Viking, 1967. Print. THe Holt Reader: An Interactive Worktext. Austin: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, n. d. Print. Sixth Course. Mitchell, James. â€Å"Introductory Essay to Our Exploration of Monstrosity. † University of Michigan. N. p. , n. d. Web. Aug. 2012. . Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein. New York: Barnes & Noble, 1831. Print.

Ten Facts About Port au Prince, Haiti

Port au Prince (map) is the capital and largest city based on population in Haiti, a relatively small country that shares the island of Hispaniola with the Dominican Republic. It is located on the Gulf of Gonà ¢ve on the Caribbean Sea and covers an area of nearly 15 square miles (38 sq km). The metro region of Port au Prince is dense with a population of over two million but like the rest of Haiti, the majority of the population in Port au Prince is extremely poor although there are some wealthier areas within the city. The following is a list of the ten most important things to know about Port au Prince: 1) Most recently, much of Haitis capital city was destroyed in a catastrophic magnitude 7.0 earthquake which hit near Port au Prince on January 12, 2010. The death toll in the earthquake was in the thousands and most of Port au Princes central historic district, its capital building, the parliament building, as well as other city infrastructure such as hospitals were destroyed. 2) The city of Port au Prince was officially incorporated in 1749 and in 1770 it replaced Cap-Franà §ais as the capital of the French colony of Saint-Domingue. 3) Modern-day Port au Prince is located on a natural harbor on the Gulf of Gonà ¢ve which has allowed it to sustain more economic activity than other areas of Haiti.4) Port au Prince is Haitis economic hub as it is an export center. The most common exports leaving Haiti through Port au Prince are coffee and sugar. Food processing is also common in Port au Prince. 5) The population of Port au Prince is difficult to accurately determine because of a large presence of slums in the hills adjacent to the city. 6) Although Port au Prince is densely populated the citys layout is divided as commercial districts are near the water, while residential areas are in the hills next to the commercial areas. 7) Port au Prince is divided into separate districts that are administered by their own local mayors who are under the jurisdiction of the entire citys general mayor. 8) Port au Prince is considered the educational hub of Haiti as it has several different educational institutions which range from large universities to smaller vocational schools. The State University of Haiti is also located in Port au Prince. 9) Culture is an important aspect of Port au Prince museums featuring artifacts from explorers like Christopher Columbus and historic buildings. Many of these buildings, however, were damaged in the January 12, 2010 earthquake. 10) Recently, tourism has become an important part of Port au Princes economy, however most tourist activity focuses around the citys historic districts and affluent areas. Reference Wikipedia. (2010, April 6). Port-au-Prince - Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port-au-Prince