Wednesday, May 9, 2018

Public Policy Paradigms and Options - 1


Public Policies are primarily knowledge and analytical framework and process that help to govern the interface between the state, society and market. Public policy has philosophical, political, economic, technical and managerial dimensions. Public Policy operate at the level of theory and practice- and hence it is an arena of praxis - that requires constantly bridge ideas and action- and actions in to sustainable impact within the government, society and market.
The words Policy, police and polis ( city) - are from the same roots. It implies order of things and affairs in a city. Public Policies are firstly about public, people. Hence, they are about power-relations as well. Hence public policy is about ordering of power in a society in systematic manner, using knowledge, institutions , building core social consensus, ensuring larger common good in a society to ensure the legitimacy for those who govern and governed . In modern as well post modern society, public policy is the bridge that connect the state and society. This on the one hand helps to keep systems, and institutions revitalized and made relevant to the changing needs of a society in aligning with the changing context of economy, and politics. Public Policies that facilitate inclusion and participation of people in the process of governance as well enhances transparency and public accountability are now a part of the new social contract of politics and governance.
Within the context of government too, policies operate at multiple levels - from macro to micro. From broad policy paradigm to micro policy management and implementation at the level of community or local government . In the braoder sense , policies are statement of intentions for change. Secondly they become the primary software for bring change to a system or sector . At a higher level public policies are also broad meta narratives largely influence specific policy choices of a government or sector or institution.Therefore Public Policies exist as a paradigm , as a software for change and then as statement of intentions to change a particular system or sector or sub-sector. Hence Public Policy often get designed based on particular analytical knowledge framework based on certain ethics and assumptions about human beings, society , environment and state.
Public Policy drivers: Knowledge, Technology and Institutions
Depending on the context of the dominant power-relations within the economy ,market, and politics, the broad policy paradigm too change. One of the major livers for such changes is the shifts in technology. Because, in the modern world , all systems and institution framework are basically build on knowledge and technology. Knowledge framework and technological options in many ways influence each other. For example in the 1950s and even before, telegram was a major method of communication. And the entire paradigm was based on printing press, telephone , telegrams, typewriting machines. This was important as modes of technology influence communications. Modes of communications influence thinking as well as the institutions in the society. And at the core of government and society management system is the communicative paradigm. The knowledge paradigm of a policy is to large extent determined and influence by the communication and technology paradigm. This is due to two reasons. Firstly power operate through knowledge and communication.
Institutional power is always maintained through strategic use of knowledge, technology and communications. For example, till the end of 1980s, typewriting machine was core to the management and administration of the office. Short-hard and typewriting was the major methods through which management and administration were implemented. The core skills in those years was the typewriting and drafting skills. The most important documents were printed word. Law was basically printed word; orders were printed and signed.
Public Policy Paradigm : Welfare State bureaucracy and public administration
This mode of management of technology, communications and systems are also function of the larger policy paradigm, informed by political ideological framework. And there are normative or value framework that influenced that policy paradigm. For example, in the aftermath of the Second world war, the major policy paradigm were influenced by three broad ideas democracy, human rights and development. A developmental state, with an obligation to protect rights became a major paradigm of the social contract from the mid 1950s. This was broadly driven by the Keynesian analytical knowledge framework of a market oriented welfare state. or driven by state driven welfare socialist model largely inspired by the Soviet model of Centralized five year plans. In the aftermath of the destruction and financial troubles following the Second Wold War, welfare state was the only imperative.
Hence, public policy paradigm from the 1950s to early 1980s were driven by a state-centric paradigm of politics. Public Policies were seen as a domain of bureaucracy and public administration. Though there were state driven socialist welfare public administration model and the market oriented welfare state model, the key approach was that public policy is within the internal affair of the government largely run by civil service or bureaucratic elites. The assumption was 'state' knows what are the needs of the people- and the state respond to the needs and challenges within the society. In both welfare state models, there was also a politics of patronizing involved. Often this politics of patronizing was driven by a nexus of political administrators and bureaucratic elites with in both capitalist and socialists countries, though their modes of operation were different. Due to this public policies were also seen as the exclusive domain of those who were involved in public administration within the government. Within the state-centric model of government and public administration, bureaucracy became the drivers and primary custodians of public policy - and often became the soft -ware of a 'command- and control' modes of power to 'administer' the society through "Law- and order'.
Any government is run on two important things : Law and Money( budget- public finance)- and it is the public policy that became the bridge that link law, money and order. Without money, there can not be law or order. Hence, economic and finance policies are imperative to collect taxes and spent taxes. And Law- and order often get implemented through systems and institutions - and both requires public policy to manage them in an effective manner.
Crisis of the state-centric model of public policy
This state-centric welfare state model faced a crisis in the 1970s and 1980s. This was also a crisis of the policy paradigm that legitimased the welfare state model : either market oriented welfare state ,or socialist state driven welfare state model. The first one was largely driven by social liberalism and the second model was driven by socialist centralized planing paradigm . Both these models faced two different kinds of crisis. The first crisis was that state in effect operated as a structured and layered bureaucracy . It is a top down management led by political executive and bureaucracy. From the relatively less number of bureaucracy and structures in the 1950s, the bureaucracy became too big that in effect swallowed the very welfare state that created it. The big bulging welfare bureaucracy became all powerful and too big to manage with the resources available. The shift in technology of automobiles changed the paradigm first in the 1970s. Bureaucracy became too big to manage itself or the government or society. And a huge chunk of budget were sucked and managed by the bureaucracy . And public policies were basically seen as maintenance operation of a public administration system of a self-perpetuating bureaucratic power. The state-centric welfare model faced the twin crisis of too big a bureaucracy to manage effectively and a crisis of public finance due to increasing expense to maintain bureaucracy as well as increasing of public debt.
Saturation of bureaucracy and welfare state
This is what led to what I call the saturation bureaucracy and saturation of state-centric welfare model. The very welfare state model , with investment in education and health created a new aspiring middle class which expected new decent professional jobs, and living wages. The oil crisis in the 1970s led to the huge oil price hike creating a crisis of public finance and balance of payment (primarily due to the huge growth in automobile technology). This saturation of state due to the a big self- perpetuating bureaucracy and the lack of budget to manage the system, created a political and moral crisis in the late seventies. This led to the first wave of paradigm shift in public policy between the years 1977- to 1982. All over the world there was this big shift. This shit was due to the saturation of welfare state bureaucracy where the quality of public services decreased tremendously. While in many societies, government was the major source of employment, by the 1980s , governments were too full of the existing bureaucracy simply did not have the money of space to provide new employment or jobs. And in many countries market was too slow largely driven by traditional manufacturing - line- management model, also could not provide jobs. The very welfare state-model that provided education and health to create the aware middle class also raised the expectations that could not be handled by an increasingly ineffective bureaucratic state.
Emergence of educated aspiring new middle class of the 1980s
At the root of political protests and demands of the 1980s were these aspiring and politically assertive middle class in different parts of the world- and they questioned the logic of state-centric models and the challenged ineffective bureaucracy led by political executive bureaucrats This is actually that led to the implosion of the soviet union. Chinese political leadership understood it too fast- and changed the policy paradigm from a state-centric socialist model to a market oriented welfare model focusing on creating new jobs for the aspiring educated middle class that emerged in the 1970s and 1980s. This is precisely that Chinese model survived. On the other hand in USSR. a self perpetuating single party and governmental bureaucracy became ineffective in delivering quality services and completely failed to meet the aspirations of the new aspring middle class. This lead to the eventual fall of the state-driven socialist model. Because, stat-driven model socialism ended up as top-down command and control bureaucracy that absorbed most of the money, leaving the people deprived and angry.
Saturation of the European markets
It is not only the state-centric socialist model that faced the crisis. Many of the liberal market oriented welfare-state model in capitalist societies too faced a crisis. Here the crisis was due to the saturation of the market itself. In Europe, apart from the government sector and bureaucracy, the growth of manufacturing sector generated employment for the baby -boom generation in the aftermath of the Second world war. However, the problem was that market became saturated in the 1980s, as the market in Europe could no longer absorb the products of European countrie- and many poor countries also could not afford to buy them. This saturation and crisis of the markets in Europe and to certain extent the US also created impetuous for change in the 1980s

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