Public Policy Process

Content Structure

Over the last decade, the public sector in Canada has undergone a process of deep and fundamental change. The policy-making process has been under pressure to respond to increased demands for openness, transparency, and citizen engagement.

As policy becomes more responsive to stakeholders, there are additional pressures to make it more coherent. Governments are being asked to publish policy in advance, and they are being held accountable for meeting their commitments.

At the same time, the world has become increasingly uncertain, and Canadian policy is being influenced by factors outside domestic control. In many situations, governments find themselves “doing policy in real time.”

The conflict between the requirement for consultation in a rapidly changing environment and the constraints of efficiency has placed almost impossible demands on Canadian policy makers.

Queen’s Public Executive Program focuses on public policy issues in the modern Canadian context of rebalanced responsibilities, horizontality, and improved customer service. The Program offers a comprehensive overview of the public policy agenda, along with a strategic approach to managing, implementing, and evaluating policy.

Global Forces

• The changing nature of the nation-state as a result of globalization and new international agreements on trade, currency, and security
• The impact of global capital flows
• The growth of new international sovereignties
• The dynamics of the Canadian Social Union
• The emerging new trade agenda
• The new international economic and security context

Domestic Forces

• The increasing diversity of Canadian society and rapidly changing values
• The “politics of difference” and sharpening disputes and divisions in Canadian society
• The changing role of governments in an environment of increasing demands for accountability, efficiency, and effectiveness
• Increased demands for citizen engagement in the policy process
• Addressing the balance between management and policy in efficient and capable government

• Developing a framework for strategic policy analysis, advice, and development
• Developing analytical frameworks and environmental scans to asses policy problems
• Identifying the key elements of a public policy statement: problem definition, statement of goals, and instruments
• Recognizing and defining policy problems and identifying causal linkages
• Incorporating strategic vision into the policy management process
• Developing policy consistency vertically, between policy and its implementation; and horizontally, across policy fields and a variety of jurisdictions
• Ensuring policy consistency internally, among the elements of the policy
• Developing a flexible and responsive policy plan
• Resolving cross-policy and cross-jurisdictional tensions
• Translating political objectives into public policy initiatives
• Determining the critical legal and political issues
• Crafting policy to meet changing political agendas

• Reviewing the key policy instruments: self-regulation, exhortation, expenditure, regulation (including taxation), and public ownership
• Choosing the appropriate mix of strategies and instruments to deal with each policy challenge
• Determining the essential characteristics of instruments and their appropriate application
• Reviewing the results of ten years of the application of business concepts in the public sector – has it gone too far? Do private- sector concepts apply in all domains of government, or should parts of government be insulated from their influence?
• Determining the limits of a client-focused orientation. Does a client focus individualize Canadians too much, and make broad public policy solutions impossible?
• Reviewing the risks and opportunities of operating in a post-deficit environment. How will the political process respond and change?
• Determining the proper scope and limits of government action
• Judging the appropriateness and legitimacy of various policy instruments

Implementation

• Increasing the probability of successful implementation
• Developing partnerships with clear standards
• Reviewing accountability issues, monitoring, and learning loops
• Building flexibility and responsiveness into implementation design
• Using “backward mapping” techniques to build implementation into policy design
• Increasing accountability by pre-committing to performance indicators

Performance

• Creating an organizational focus on quality standards and service commitments
• Working with “innovation networks” to exchange information about partnering, Alternative Service Delivery, and Special Operating Agencies

Evaluation

• Reviewing the core categories of program evaluation, including process evaluation, impact evaluation, and efficiency evaluation
• Measuring performance and evaluating programs using a modern project management approach
• Developing an evaluation framework