Suchergebnisse

The examination of public policy in Poland should refer to the terms, analytical categories as well as theories, which have already been postulated in this research field. The article aims to present an overview of the development of public policy theories in the long run. To begin with, the typological and stages approaches were presented. The theories of public policy were presented as two broader classes based on the differentiation into rational and interpretative paradigms. The application of the first one was examined in greater detail in the area of defining the choices of the ways to address public issues. The interpretative paradigm was presented mainly in connection with the argumentative approach as well as an attempt to combine the rational and interpretative approaches in the context of a rational discussion. The overview ends with the presentation of a few ways of organising the public policy research field through the research questions, the research areas, the theoretical-methodological framework as well as the archetypes of the public policy analysts' activity.

In contemporary states the aims of public policy are more often met through the implementation of regulatory instruments. It appears vital then to analyse their theoretical background as well as to contextually specify the conditions of their effective implementation. The following paper aims to conduct an analysis of the regulatory instruments such as standards, soft law along with self-regulation. There are three types of regulatory standards pointed out (goal-oriented, resultative, specific). The choice of a given standard often depends on context-specific factors, and additionally it involves an important dilemma, i.e. whether they should be unified for all the subordinate entities or differentiated in terms of the given features of the regulated entities. The author analyses the so-called 'soft law' as a regulatory instrument, which is implemented both in national and international regulatory systems. The term is used within the framework of regulatory policy and holds that the aims of public policy can be met through the application of soft, and sometimes 'informal' tools, that in certain circumstances might turn out to be equally effective as typical hard regulatory tools that are subject to sanction. The article additionally aims to address the issue of self-regulation that encompasses a set of rules that economic entities have created in a voluntary way (informally) and reciprocally claim as legally binding. These can also entail formal rules (e.g. the codes of conduct) that are fully executed in courts. In the summary section it is claimed that the choice of regulatory instruments is the one that should be dependent on the level of maturity of the institutional structures functioning within an economy as well as the capacity of entities to adequately react to informative market signals.

Purpose: The following syllabus is designed to introduce students to public policymaking at the national level of government. As designed, this course has the following goals associated with the process, issues, and institutions of national policymaking:1.Acquaint students with the political dynamics of the policy process— with particular focus on policy networks: those persons from the departments or agencies, members of Congress and their staff, and interest groups who interact on specific policy issues.2.Introduce the complexities of the specific policy issues that form the national agenda (e.g., trade, agriculture, welfare, taxes).3.Emphasize the importance of political institutions and their formal procedures—with particular stress on the budget process and presidential agenda setting.

We are pleased to present the sixth edition of the Public Policy Yearbook. Each year, dating back to its launch in 2009, we have used the content of the Yearbook to develop indicators for tracking developments in public policy scholarship. While we recognize that trends we can identify are only representative of the sample of Yearbook scholars, the patterns of scholarly focus have remained quite stable despite a more than doubling of our membership over the 2009-2014 period. In this introductory article, following a brief description of the Yearbook, we take a comparative look at how research trends in the Yearbook have evolved over the last six years. Adapted from the source document.