Theories of Public Policy

Political Science 342

Douglas Brown

January 2008

The Role of Theory

1. Empirical generalizations2. Paradigmatic model3. Critical ideology

Why theory needs to change….new empirical evidencenew crises and perspectives

new ways of considering knowledge

Schools of Theory

Pluralism Hybrid: public choice

Institutionalism (or Elite Theory)Hybrid: Neo-institutionalism

Marxist / Class analysisHybrid: Neo-marxist

Comparing Theories

Pluralist Elite Marxist

Level of analysis individual organization class Situational power Voters and groups

compete for influence Organizational elites using their resources

Agents of capital and labour struggle

Structural power State as mosaic with multiple access points

State as autonomous, coercive, technocratic authority

State takes whatever form it needs to reproduce capitalist social relations

Systemic power Consensual value system defines state action

Complex changing society constrains the state

Capitalism’s tendency to crisis limits hegemony of state and capital

Key aspect of the state democratic bureaucratic capitalist

Pluralism

Rule by the many and the diverse Focus on individuals and their values Society-centred The State is implicit only Dominant view of US political science Key preoccupations: elections, influence and

lobbying, polling Major theoretical hybrid: Public Choice

Recent Trends Reinforcing the power of Pluralist Theory ….

Information technology empowers individuals

Media concentration and convergence can keep the state in check

Advent of global civil society

Recent trends challenging Pluralist theory

Increasing recognition of group/ collective rights

Intensifying of the privileged position of business

Religious fundamentalism

Public Choice: a Pluralism Hybrid

Applying economics assumptions and methods to politics

Rational choice of individuals is what explains political behaviour

Bureaucrats are “budget-maximizing” individuals

Game theory: simplified logical interactions help plot out complex relationships

Institutional or Elite Theory

The rule of institutions Focus on organizations and behaviour of office-holders State-centred: Society molded and led by the State Dominant view of European theorists Key preoccupations: leadership, coercion, decision-

making, accommodation, organizational logic Major hybrid: Neo-institutionalism

Recent trends that reinforce power of institutional theory

Sponsorship scandal (what counts is insider politics)

Rise of global governance/ regimes Charter-shaping of moral issues/politics Concentration of media ownership

(interlocking elites)

Challenges to Institutional theory

Globalization weakening the nation-state

Organized crime/ drugs etc. outside control of states

Welfare state reform and retrenchment

Religious fundamentalism

Marxist or Class Analysis

Rule by the dominant economic class of society Focus on class formation and “struggle” Society-centred A once-prominent perspective in academic

circles Key preoccupations: capital accumulation, class

hegemony, State legitimacy, emancipation of labour

Major hybrids: neo-marxism, neo-institutionalism

Recent Trends reinforcing the power of Class Theory

Dominance of property rights over environmental priorities

Moral issues that mask materialist inequality

Dominant position of capital in globalization

Concentrated media ownership

Challenges to Class theory

Demise of the USSR, other communist systems

Success of consumerism Knowledge economy (“post-Fordism”) Religious fundamentalism Green politics

Conclusions …1

Pluralism is alive and well, expanding its scope to global civil society,

Pluralism is increasingly challenged by new collective ideas, including religious fundamentalism

Public choice still important, but less so, post-911

Conclusions…2

Institutionalism and elite theory: still important, especially in context of globalization and multilevel governance

Marxism (Class theory) is still being imploded by feminism and environmentalism.

Class theory is still capable of an effective explanation for the dominance of global capitalism.