Public Policy: A Key to Understanding Government Obligations - Essay Sample

Introduction

One crucial way to understand public policy is first to learn that it is the main tool that the government uses to carry out its obligations. And its broadness helps to discuss and address the related social problems in the society also. Public policy is the drafted rules and laws contained in the constitution that allows the government to ensure that order has been maintained and that the needs of the citizens are met. Public policy also, on the other hand, can be defined as the collection of regulations and laws that are established through the political process. Public policy is a policy that helps to regulate and guide all the actions and works of the legislature; it can be used for both long term and short term obligations. Public policy is made through thorough, investigation, and debated by the legal and authorized government institutions, after which it is established to become law (Fabian & Breunig, 2018).

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If we take an example of the United States health care recent changes, where every citizen is required to have a health care insurance, this was a bill which had to undergo voting and debate by the members of the assembly to make it law. Since it was on the excellent interest of the Americans, the bill was passed, and it became law and public policy which had to be adhered to. The urge to expand the access of health care system took several weeks before it was passed to be law, and it was even one of the agenda of the Democratic Party a long time before its enactment. During the administration of Bill Clinton the first lady Hillary Clinton some other stakeholders suggested for this expansion of the health care and in 2010 both ACA and HCERA were passed which saw millions of Americans being able to afford health services easily. We see that public policy has to undergo sometime of research before it is made a law (Peters, 2013).

Public policy is known to usually tackling vital issues of a larger group of the society rather than dealing with specific individuals or group of people (Knill & Tosun, 2012). Thus, the main aim of the government by enforcing laws is to tackle the problem experienced in the society as a whole and not the interest of an individual.

One of the most important and last characteristics of the public policy is that it entails more than just government actions, but also the behavior or result that the government action creates. This is the reason as to why when the government wants to draft a bill or public policy then it has to take into account the possible result or effect of the bill before passing it (Fandl, 2018).

Types of Public Policy

Since the main aim of the public policy is to address the problems being faced by individuals in the society, it has been categorized into different categories to be able to tackle various issues affecting people as a whole. This will enable one to understand how clear the role of public policy in society.

Health policy, this policy helps to handle all health-related issues in a country and even the rest of the world. For example, with the emergence of AIDS, every government drafted policy on how to handle the diseases and also provided civic awareness to the public in the 1980s.

Legal policy, this policy determines how those breaking laws will be handled, and what will be considered crime what will not. Like when a person kills someone, the killer is liable to be sentenced for along imprisonment and even sometimes the death penalty. But the process of investigating these murder case until the person is proven guilty is contained in the public policy (Petersilia & Wilson, 2011).

Agricultural policy, agricultural activity is very important for any country whether developed or still developing. Thus it's vital for policy to be made to help guide in its development.

Educational Policy, Public policy concerned with education matters helps to ensure easy and affordable education to every member of the society despite their social status. When many people in a country are educated, then the development of that country is enhanced because there will be enough skills from within not imported.

Public Policy as Outcomes

Every government hardly want that their policies to be kept a secret, that is why every politician wants to be given credit in all that they managed to achieve in their respective areas and if the policies fail they are equally blamed. This gives an indication that a policy is what every appointed leader is striving to achieve and accomplish. President in power may also want to change the law by giving executive order on how rules and laws should be implemented under his/her government. The court can also make policy changes of law. It is of very great impotence to note that every government official from the most to the lower ranked person does not rely on his/her own decision alone until he/she seeks guidance from the government bureaucracy (Petersilia & Wilson, 2011).

Public policy can also be viewed in terms of losers and winners. This is because if a law is drafted and passed, there those people whom the law will favor and there those who will not be favored by the law. Those favored by the law are winners while those not favored are more of losers and from how the term public policy is defined, it tends to promote some kinds of behaviors and pushing others away. When a policy seems to be the best, it can equally cause harm to some individuals., for example if policy of tax is raised in order to curbed inflations, many people especially small traders will be really affected but in real sense the policy was meant to bring good than harm (Shapiro, 2016).

Conclusion

In conclusion, the public policy ensures that there is a smooth running of the government and that people live in peace and harmony, and the government meets all their needs. This is great and important because any country and government need clearly stated rules and regulations to ensure that order and laws are maintained and that lives knowing that any wrongdoing they will be subjected to penalty in accordance to rules contained the constitution.

References

In Fabian, M., & In Breunig, R. (2018). Hybrid public policy innovations: Contemporary policy beyond ideology.

In Fandl, K. J. (2018). Law and public policy.

Knill, C., & Tosun, J. (2012). Public policy: A new introduction.

Peters, B. G. (2013). American public policy: Promise and performance. Xvii, 581p: Ill.

Petersilia, J., & Wilson, J. Q. (2011). Crime and public policy. Oxford: Oxford University Press

Shapiro, S. (2016). Analysis and public policy: Successes, failures, and directions for reform.