An optimistic reflection upon the state of government policy-making
in contemporary America. Kelman (public policy/Harvard) takes off
from the seeming malaise in popular views of government operations
and challenges the prevalent conception of a government functioning
primarily on self-interest. He offers a road map of public policy
in the making, which he says operates in roughly five stages:
proposals, choices, production, actions, and real-world outcomes.
In effect, Kelman insists, this system works fairly well. Why,
then, does public dissatisfaction grow apace? There are a lot of
reasons, among them: 1/ As in business, most new product
introductions fail (approximately one in 58 succeed). But while
business is shrouded in secrecy, government operations are in full
view. 2/ Since successful policy-making involves, On average, 15
steps, the failure of only one step jeopardizes the entire policy.
Mathemathical probability, thus, militates against success. 3/
Since most people tend to feel self-righteous about their cause,
failure tends to direct blame toward the process itself. 4/
Government is highly visible, causing the failure of a particular
program to appear as the failure of government in its entirety. 5/
The founders made the decision to sacrifice governability for
liberty. Consequently, the system itself promotes frustration.
Another major reason for the continual decline in public
confidence, says Kelman, is that government has simply become so
much more prominent in everyone's life. Public frustrations and
resentments grow as a consequence. Kelman's advice? Since
real-world outcomes are sometimes not visible until years after
implementation, he recommends that participants in the process map
out real-world outcomes desired and then work backwards to the sort
of policies most likely to produce them. How this differs from the
way participants now think is not clear. He also advises mutual
respect between the various participants. Easier said than done,
though, given human nature. In the end, despite a few points
well-taken, Kelman is killed by his own kindness. (Kirkus Reviews)
A political scientist at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government
analyzes how public policy is made in this country,and why the
system works so much better than most observers believe.
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