The phrase public problems are socially constructed means that what to be a public problem in a given society at any given time is as a result of long standing and every days constructions made by individuals and groups. In actual sense, there has been no agreement on what really the problem is or even if it makes public issue. An agreement has not been reached on values or tradeoffs that need to be made in areas of conflicts. Problems arise due to different groups being affected differently by any possible definition of the problem and or any solution that is potential. Groups of interest place issues where they have the most control over decision makers. Not all problems can lead to public or powerful groups that are equal, (Birkland, 2010).
Issues can get onto the agenda through the following ways. Through publications that are influential like the , mass demand, events that are dramatic. Through the perception that there is something that is wrong and the government can assist. Through formal points of entry, as well as these that are informal like official and non-official participants. Though conceptualization, naming and defining the problem; enthusiasm cycles of issues, which is followed by the realization of its costs, problem seriousness, and the low odds of problem solving, then followed by popularity decline.
The fact that both U.S Congress and the federal bureaucracy are centralized institutions that in many ways affect policymaking. Decentralization illustrates severe upward forces on expenditures, which appear in decentralized systems. Managing inflationary expenditures created by autarkic decisions and control of budgets is difficult in such systems. Apart from the potential side effects of decentralization on short-lived fiscal measures of stabilization, decentralized systems appear to be vital elements of changes needed in the public sector to enhance efficient and effective operations of market-determined systems of economics. The potential advantages of for the growth of the economy can be elaborated in the context of broader changes in the structure and role of the public sector (Birkland, 2010).
Impacts of sub governments and policy networks on the concept of majority rule are that the senate minority elects both the minority leader and whip. On the other hand, party leaders are elected from these who have the ability to command, high persuasion power and are most respected. The majority leaders usually serve in congress to enact majority party agendas, as compared to minority leaders that hold similar agenda but aim at resisting majority agendas. House and senate leaders, are heads of parties and closely schedule debates. The number of sub governments have reduced drastically in the U.S. this is due to public interests groups. There has been an increase in the number of these groups that could be considered active public interests. The sub governments of earlier years have given raise to networks of influence. This change is more pronounced in some areas than others, especially from a proliferation of interests that are politically active (Nownes & Grant, 1996).
Distributive policies extend services and goods to an organizational members as wee as distributing the costs among members of an organization. This has adversely affected the U.S democracy. It has led to the reinforcement of wealth benefits. Political campaigns have become more expensive, which has increased the reliance of elected officials on individuals who are able to afford to assist finance their election bids.
When the purpose of designing the policy is to encourage behaviors, deem desirable by these who are in power, normative compliance tools are used. This involves rewarding individuals for engaging in desirable behaviors. The examples could be tax credits for marrying. When discouraging undesired behaviors, coercive and then paternalistic tools are put into practice. For example, these using company houses lose them.
Policies fail because they have large accountability gap. The policy might not have defined everybody hence lack of providers. Policies that are poorly written for instance lengthy and written painfully are never read, hence never followed. Policies might be missing critical elements, as in some situations, policies might be+ written without completing prerequisites. Another factor is that, there might be no or little staff education, as these results to employees not knowing the existence of the policy, or even, might not be having ideas on how to implement the policy, (Birkland, 2010).