1. Policy-Making Process Wilson 17A

2. Who Governs? To What Ends? Why are Social Security payments popular but welfare payments to unwed mothers unpopular? Why were government regulations on certain industries repealed over the objection of those industries? • Does some political elite dominate American politics? • Do powerful interest groups decide what policies our government should adopt? Objective Questions

3. Policies not made the same way • Many issues • Political agenda – issues that people believe require government action • Four types • Majoritarian: distributed benefits, distributed costs • Interest Groups: concentrated benefits, concentrated costs • Client Politics: concentrated benefits, distributed costs • Entrepreneurial: distributed benefits, concentrated costs Theory of policy-making

4. Until 1930 the national political agenda small • Determining what is legitimate • Shared political values • Custom and tradition • Impact of events • Political elites • Big Government • Nonpartisan examples Growth of Agenda

5. Impact of events • Public demand grows with event • War • Depression • Disaster • New issues without public demand • Behavior of groups • Workings of institutions • Opinions of elites • Action of state governments Legitimacy

6. Relative deprivation – when people start to become better off and realize that they are worse off than they ought to be • Institutions – use courts, bureaucracy, and the Senate to influence political agenda • Professionalism of reform – government went from reacting to becoming the source • Media – must decide what proposals get reported, not easy to decide cause and effect Setting Agenda

7. Starting in the states • Pioneering legislation • Working through the courts • Which groups will be active? • Cost – burden that people believe they must pay • Benefit – satisfaction they believe they will enjoy • Influenced by perception and legitimacy • Who will benefit or pay? • Who ought to benefit or pay? • Form political coalitions Making Decisions