POLB50Y3 Lecture Notes - Green Paper, Canadian Content, Royal Assent
22 Nov 2012
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Public policy: a course of action or inaction chosen by public authorities to address a given problem or interrelated set of problems. Public policy can be defined as a course of action or inaction chosen by public authorities to address a given problem or interrelated set of problems. Leslie pal adds that every policy has three key elements: the definition of the problem, the goals to be achieved, instruments or means chosen to address the problem and to achieve the goals. The actual policymaking process can be divided into six phases: initiation, priority-setting, policy formulation, legitimation, implementation, interpretation. Not all policies or decisions involve such an elaborate process including all the institutions of government; indeed, many can be made unilaterally by the prime minister, the cabinet, a minister, the bureaucracy, or the courts. The authorities are bombarded daily with hundreds of demands.
