Title: Domestic Policy
Subject: American Government
Author: Ole J. Forsberg
Last saved by: jonnalabs

American Government
POL 101: Forsberg
Topic 9.2: Domestic Policy	Spring 2005

I.	What is Public Policy?
A.	Public policy is whatever government attempts to do about an issue or problem. 
B.	Areas of Public Policy
1.	Foreign Policy
2.	Domestic Policy
C.	Types of Policies
1.	Distributive
2.	Redistributive
3.	Regulatory
II.	The Policy-Making Process
A.	Public policy is produced through the long, complicated policy-making process. 
B.	To understand how any particular government policy emerges from the broad array of options available, one must understand both the rules of the game and the social, cultural, and economic conditions that shape the policy debate. 
III.	The Policy-Making Process
A.	The institutions, rules, and political actors involved in the policy-making process largely determine the shape of any particular policy, but the political environment plays a crucial role in determining what options are considered relevant for discussion. 
IV.	Policy and Political Culture
A.	The politics of the policy-making process do not occur in a vacuum: the prevailing values of the culture combine with events and the nature of an issue to either expand or contract the set of alternatives available to policy makers 
V.	Arenas of Policy-Making
A.	Legislative/Executive 
B.	Bureaucratic
C.	Judicial
VI.	 	The Traditional Model

VII.	The Involvement Model

VIII.	The National Policy Agenda
A.	The systemic agenda consists of all issues that are generally believed to deserve public attention and be legitimate concerns of government. 
B.	The institutional agenda is the set of issues that are being actively considered by some governmental authority. 
C.	The different levels and branches of government may have their own different institutional agendas. 
D.	Each state may have its own agenda, and each branch may be considering different issues.
IX.	Key Issue-Areas
A.	Crime and Criminal Justice
B.	Environmental Protection
C.	Health Care
D.	Education
E.	Welfare
F.	Immigration
X.	Key Crime Issues
A.	Federalization of Criminal Justice
B.	Sentencing policies
1.	Prison overcrowding
C.	Gun control
D.	The war on drugs
E.	Capital punishment
XI.	Key Education Policy Issues
A.	Federal, State and Local Control
B.	Accountability and Parental Involvement
C.	Religion and Public Schools
D.	School Violence and “Zero Tolerance”
E.	“School Choice” (vouchers)
XII.	Key Environmental Issues
A.	Air Pollution Control
B.	Water Pollution Control
C.	Protecting Forests and Wetlands
D.	Conserving Endangered Species
E.	Managing Waste Disposal
F.	Managing Toxic and Nuclear Waste Transportation and Storage
XIII.	Key Health Care Issues
A.	Medicare
1.	Prescription Drug Benefits
B.	Medicaid
C.	Health Care Reform
1.	Managed Care
2.	Managed Competition
3.	Socialized Medicine
XIV.	Key Welfare Policy Issues
A.	Social Security
B.	AFDC and Welfare Entitlements
C.	Welfare Reform
XV.	Key Immigration Issues
A.	National Quotas
B.	Visa requirements
C.	Terrorism and Terrorists
D.	Porous borders
E.	Illegal immigrants
XVI.	Questions
A.	The key questions remain, only the emphasis changes:
1.	Who should the stakeholders be?
2.	What is more important, normative issues or scientific issues?
3.	How should agencies handle NIMBY?
4.	At what steps should the stakeholders be involved in the process?
5.	Who should evaluate a program?