Or, Can T These Academics Just All Get Along?

Chapter Two: The Study of Public Policy Or, Can’t These Academics Just All Get Along? Lecture Three

“The only really new thing about public policy is the self-conscious study of it.” Shafritz On the Menu for Today • Philosophical Influences • Academic Disciplines • Pluralism and Elite Theory Philosophical Influences • Basic Forms of government and their “perversions” – Aristotle

• Kingship (Monarchy) – Tyranny • Aristocracy – Oligarchy • Polity (Democracy) – Well, actually, democracy – mob rule Philosophical Influences • Utilitarianism – Jeremy Bentham (oh, and John Stuart Mill)

• “The greatest happiness for the greatest number” • Prime motivator – self interest (utility) • Government is NOT created by divine intervention

• Bentham and William Wilberforce worked together on prison reform Philosophical Influences • Progressivism – Teddy Roosevelt – Woodrow Wilson • The inevitable, upward progress of mankind • Government is a tool to aid that progress along • Challenging the “spoils system”

• Sharpening the “tool” of government: – Civil Service Reform – Voting Reforms • Initiative, Referendum, Recall • Direct Primary – City Managers – The Science of Public Administration I’m Progressive; You’re Archaic • City Bosses – Tammany Hall • Settlement Houses – Hull House

• Muckrakers – Teddy coins a term – put it “in the face of the middle class and politicians so that it can no longer be ignored” (p. 30) “I Can See for Miles and Miles and Miles and Miles, oh yeah…” • The Miles Doctrine – Where you stand depends on where you sit.

• “Nothing is more important in determining the nature of a public policy study or proposal than its source or origin.” (p. 30)

• First rule of history… • Academic Disciplines A Big Question: • Why are the fights in academia so fierce?

– Because there is so little at stake… Who ARE These People? • Political Scientists – They love a machine, until it turns into machine politics… – Constitutionalism • A mechanism that limits and controls judgments and authority • “Is it constitutional?” – This is the “parent” discipline of Public Administration • Why does John Adams study politics? (p. 33) Who ARE These People? • Public Administrators • I am not a member of an organized political party… – Once we figure out who we are and what we’re doing, we’ll be fine • Necessary because “it was getting harder to run a constitution than to frame one.” (W. Wilson) – Economy and efficiency

• “The art and science of management applied to the public sector” Who ARE These People? • International Relations-Specialists – Focus on the “relations among states and other actors in the international system” – Realpolitik • Realism vs. Idealism

• In the Iraq war scenario on page 37, who’s the idealist? Who ARE These People? • Political Economists – Adam Smith – • The Wealth of Nations – The allocation of scarce resources amongst competing needs – Public Choice Theory (Friedman)

• Limited Resources vs. Unlimited Wants Who ARE These People? • Policy Science and Policy Studies “Experts” – The family tree: – History begat • Political Science begat – Public Administration begat » Policy Studies » Which gets no respect • Seriously multidisciplinary • I call Kevin’s leftovers…

Remember… • It all depends upon which side of the fence you are on!

• Pluralism and Elite Theory Pluralism and the Power Elites Who gets to be the “decider”? An Even Bigger Question:

Who’s in charge here? • A “restricted elite who limit power to themselves” or • a “multitudinous pluralistic Republic” Elitism • Those who get more than others of the values society has available. (Wasserman) • Elite theory: society is ruled by a small number of people who exercise power in their self interest. (Schmidt)

• What makes us different: we believe we can all become elites if we work hard enough. I’m not paranoid, they really are out to get me… • The Paranoid Style in American Politics Richard Hofstadter

LOTS of Pluralists… • Group theory – James Madison – Factions (Federalist 10) – de Tocqueville - Associations – Earl Latham – • The Legislative Referee • The Bureaucratic “occupying force” vs the interest groups – Latham’s typology of groups: • Incipient, conscious, organized – Group pressure • Competition and the potential for new groups keep elitism in check

Remember the Iron Triangle? “The allocation of scarce resources amongst competing needs”

• Can the competition between iron triangles use both pluralist and elite theory models to help create a reflective policy?

• Plural Elitism Toby Keith and Public Policy • “Pluralism assumes that power will shift from group to group as elements in the mass public transfer their allegiance in response to their perceptions of their individual interest”

• Look, we’ve circled all the way back to Bentham’s “Utility”! The Problem With Pluralism • Hyperpluralism – Political inflation leads to so many competing groups making so many demands that the government begins to choke on budget deficits caused by trying to please all the groups. (Sound familiar?) • David Walker vs. Ado Annie… – (She “cain’t say no”.) So… • Many philosophies have influenced US policy making. • Many groups look at policy in many different ways.

• They don’t even agree on who gets to make policy.

• But everybody knows it is fun to watch!!! For Thursday • Research Project How-To

• Time to pick your topic. Come Thursday with an index card with your name and your chosen topic.

• Homework – – Bring me at least 4 interest groups related to your topic, two in support and two opposed. Who loves it, who hates it? Extra smiley faces for obscure connections. – Print off the their position statement, or if you can’t find that, the first page of their webpage.