Public Policy System: Attributes and Weaknesses

Public Policy is the principled manual for a move made by the administrational executive branches of the state as to a class of issues in a way predictable with law and institutional traditions. It is a system of courses of action, regulatory measures, and law concerning a given idea to promote by a government official.

Public Policy making is a complex role as it includes a lot of participants from various backgrounds having different ideologies, concepts and role and for country like India, it is definitely a difficult task as India is a large, diverse and populous nation as compared to some other smaller nations.

For example: When lawmakers pass legislation like the Violence against Women Act, this is an act that shapes public policy. It shows that there is a priority to provide protection for women. 

Public Policy making has various attributes and weaknesses, i.e.

Attributes of Good Policy:

·         One way of describing a good policy is that it should have a high quality decision and due consideration of up-to-date knowledge and relevant data should be there.

·         Second way can be there should be the proper analysis of available data and policy maker should know that if I will frame this policy then what will it effect, i.e. Policy maker should have proper knowledge about trade of between policies.

·         Third, There should not only be the theoretical framework of a policy, but also the practical consultation should also be done that whether this policy is beneficial or not.

·         Fourth, Policy should be like that, it can be executed swiftly and successfully, that means, close involvement, duty formulation of expertise but not the control over it.

Weaknesses in Public Policy Making:

·         Excessive fragmentation in thinking and action, i.e. For Ex, In India, transport sector is dealt by five ministries where as in UK, it is part of only a single department.

·         Excessive overlap between policy making and implementation

·         Lack of non-government inputs and informed debate, i.e. without the adequate input of government as a cost factor and inadequate debate between the expertises, by which we can’t get many viewpoints on a single policy which doesn’t make the policy better.

·         Lack of systematic analysis and integration prior to policy making, i.e.
Excessive Fragmentation
Inadequate time spent
inadequate expertise for framing the policy, etc.

Therefore, to form a good public policy, each and every factor should be kept properly in order and then the policy should be formulated and then implemented.