olicy Impact and Civic Engagement

Part 1: Chapter 10 of the required text The New Public Service: Servin" rel="nofollow">ing, not Steerin" rel="nofollow">ing covers citizen engagement and the New Public Service. The text gives examples of a wide variety of approaches to enhanced citizen participation. They conclude with practical recommendations. Why do you thin" rel="nofollow">ink most citizens do not take more in" rel="nofollow">interest in" rel="nofollow">in politics and public policy? Is citizen engagement an issue to which we should be payin" rel="nofollow">ing attention? What might in" rel="nofollow">increase our national level of in" rel="nofollow">interest and participation? What would motivate you to become more active? Did the text cover the primary approaches or are there others? Fin" rel="nofollow">inally, what other recommendations would you add to their list? Part 2: Get out and do it! Apply what you have learned and engage! Kraft and Furlong wrote on page 156 that "students should arrange visits to government and other offices to obtain" rel="nofollow">in in" rel="nofollow">information and in" rel="nofollow">interview policy actors." A good startin" rel="nofollow">ing poin" rel="nofollow">int may a topic from this class that piqued your in" rel="nofollow">interest (thin" rel="nofollow">ink gun violence in" rel="nofollow">in schools, military retirement). Write your representatives, join" rel="nofollow">in a PAC, or share your thoughts with member of your local or state government. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Politics, Analysis & Policy Choice We close our class by discussin" rel="nofollow">ing policy conflicts, in" rel="nofollow">incremental decision makin" rel="nofollow">ing, evaluatin" rel="nofollow">ing policies, and engagement of citizens in" rel="nofollow">in the policy makin" rel="nofollow">ing and implementation processes. The textbook authors argue that ultimately all policies are a compromise or a collaborative position. Because the political/policy makin" rel="nofollow">ing system is fraught with various ideas, positions, ideologies and underlyin" rel="nofollow">ing goals, a policy will rarely end the way it was origin" rel="nofollow">inally started. Workin" rel="nofollow">ing through this system is what drives in" rel="nofollow">incremental decision makin" rel="nofollow">ing. In other words, because we compromise through the policy makin" rel="nofollow">ing process, in" rel="nofollow">inherently the policy will need adjustment in" rel="nofollow">in the future and we will need to in" rel="nofollow">incrementally make changes. While this can be catastrophic for some policy areas, overall it provides an opportunity to contin" rel="nofollow">inually modify, fin" rel="nofollow">ine-tune, and evaluate various pieces of a policy issue. When considerin" rel="nofollow">ing collaborative/compromise positions or adjustments to policies, it is imperative that we work through a policy analysis. Remember from the discussion in" rel="nofollow">in the textbook's Chapters 4-6, policy analysis provides clarity to problems and solutions, provides in" rel="nofollow">information on actions and alternatives, and gives us knowledge to make in" rel="nofollow">informed and sustain" rel="nofollow">inable decisions. The factors we have considered when evaluatin" rel="nofollow">ing public policy are listed in" rel="nofollow">in this table: Effectiveness how well the policy achieves its goals Efficiency the cost of the policy in" rel="nofollow">in relation to the expected benefits Equity the level of fairness in" rel="nofollow">in the distribution of costs and benefits through society Ethics (Liberty/Freedom) impacts on freedom, liberty and cultural norms Political Feasibility the level of acceptance by elected officials Social Acceptability the level of public acceptance and support Admin" rel="nofollow">inistrative Feasibility the ability to implement the policy Technical Feasibility the availability and reliability of the technology needed for implementation In addition to providin" rel="nofollow">ing clarity and support, policy analysis can also provide in" rel="nofollow">insight in" rel="nofollow">into policy capacity. Policy capacity considers the performance of government and the ability to respond to citizens’ concerns. Through examin" rel="nofollow">inin" rel="nofollow">ing policy capacity, we are: Analyzin" rel="nofollow">ing in" rel="nofollow">institutional reforms Providin" rel="nofollow">ing better evaluation of agencies charged with implementation Assessin" rel="nofollow">ing better ways to in" rel="nofollow">inform citizens on actions to address problems and identify alternate solutions Citizen Engagement It is crucial and highly valuable for citizens to engage in" rel="nofollow">in the policy-makin" rel="nofollow">ing process. Whether it is elevatin" rel="nofollow">ing needs, communicatin" rel="nofollow">ing issues, or monitorin" rel="nofollow">ing and analyzin" rel="nofollow">ing policy actions, we all have a role in" rel="nofollow">in the policy-makin" rel="nofollow">ing process. I would encourage you to take part in" rel="nofollow">in public policy in" rel="nofollow">in some manner at the local, state or federal level. One place that over 60% of American homeowners participate in" rel="nofollow">in micro-democracies is membership in" rel="nofollow">in homeowner associations (HOAs). These have evolved primarily from property developers wantin" rel="nofollow">ing to ensure property values were not adversely affected by neighborhood issues, such as loose dogs, unsightly garbage, overgrown grass, etc. Given that all homeowners signed agreements when purchasin" rel="nofollow">ing property within" rel="nofollow">in the HOA boundaries for organization by-laws and conditions, covenants, and rules (CC&Rs), they willin" rel="nofollow">ingly submit to followin" rel="nofollow">ing the aforementioned documents or suffer the consequences (eg, HOA fin" rel="nofollow">ines, property liens, and/or lawsuits). Each HOA is required to have a board of directors led by an elected president for a certain" rel="nofollow">in term limit. The Board can request homeowners do thin" rel="nofollow">ings they otherwise may not do, and can enforce these requests through local courts. As such, the HOA by-laws and CC&Rs have the force of law. Recently, a freedom of speech issue came up when homeowners wanted to post signs supportin" rel="nofollow">ing candidates durin" rel="nofollow">ing political elections. HOAs can prohibit even the postin" rel="nofollow">ing of such signs in" rel="nofollow">in your home or car win" rel="nofollow">indows. To learn more about HOAs and their political powers, please read at least section 2 of Brian Jason's 2006 article entitled "Regulation of Political Signs in" rel="nofollow">in Private Homeowner Associations: A New Approach." Fin" rel="nofollow">inally, for any social issue to be considered, there needs to be an issue champion. An issue champion is a person or group of people who actually expend personal resources and time to get their in" rel="nofollow">interest (s) in" rel="nofollow">into the public forum for consideration. The process to do this is often referred to as issue mobilization. In my HOA, to get road signs posted to remin" rel="nofollow">ind people to drive no faster than 15 MPH so as to min" rel="nofollow">inimize dust clouds, I had to go to each neighbor to explain" rel="nofollow">in what I wanted to do (ie, how many signs, where they would be posted, how much money would they cost, etc). If I had not done this, there would be no speed limit signs posted today. Conclusion Public Policy makin" rel="nofollow">ing in" rel="nofollow">involves many steps and people. However, the key factor to makin" rel="nofollow">ing any of this work is the in" rel="nofollow">involvement of citizens. Reference (1 source must come from) Kraft, Michael and Scott Furlong. (2015) Public Policy: Politics, Analysis, and Alternatives. Sage Press.