Transcript Policy and Governance - Yeshiva of Greater Washington

Policy and Governance
Getting down to business
Public Policy
• The officially expressed intention, backed up
with legal power (either reward or
punishment) of the government
• Can take the form of laws, rules, statutes,
edicts, regulations or orders
Steps in the policy making process
1. Agenda Building: Congress has to be made
aware of an issue before they can rule on it.
This can involve a crisis, mass media
campaign, or effective lobbying
2. Agenda Formulation: How to go about
forming the policy. Can be done through
public discussion in the media, Congressional
committee or Presidential task-force
Steps in the Policy Making Process
3. Agenda Adoption: Officially setting out a
course of action (in a bill proposal for instance)
4. Agenda Implementation: Allowing
bureaucrats to begin implementing policy
5. Agenda Evaluation, judging and revisiting the
effectiveness of a given policy. Can be done
through public hearings, budget decisions,
public pressure, or even the courts
Social policies and poverty
Dealing with Poverty
• Defining Poverty
– Poverty is defined using the Consumer Price Index
(CPI). This is based on the average prices of basic
staples and goods needed to survive
– It is based on pre-tax income that includes cash
(but not government aid like food stamps)
– Current poverty level is around 24,000 for a family
of four.
Wages vs. Cost of Living
Ways of dealing with Poverty
• Entitlements: Benefits provided by the
government to eligible citizens
– Entitlements cover everything from welfare to
disaster relief
– Poverty programs fall under the term meanstested entitlements
• Will be provided if person falls under certain income
averages
Major Assistance Programs
• Temporary Assistance to Needy Families
(TANF): Block grants given by the Federal
Government to the states for welfare
programs
– Welfare system developed during Great
Depression
– Welfare Reform Act of 1996 puts caps on the
amount of time and amount of money a recipient
can receive (currently 2 years at one go, 5 years
total for a lifetime)
Issues with Welfare Reform
• Reform has drastically reduced the cost of
welfare to the states and federal government
• Resulted in an increase in homelessness
• Extreme poverty among young children is
currently 9%
– Reform disproportionately hurts single mothers
• Currently 20% of the total American
population lives below the poverty line
Major Assistance Programs
• Supplemental Security Income (SSI)
– Established in 1974
– Designed to provide a minimum cost of living
wage for the elderly (above and beyond Social
Security)
– Available only to those who do not already qualify
for food stamps
Major Assistance Programs
• Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program
(SNAP) also known as Food Stamps
– Coupons given to poor families to purchase food
for free or at vastly discounted rates
– Additional legislation guarantees food stamps can
only be used for staples. Cigarettes, for instance,
can not be purchased with food stamps.
– Only available to those who come in under a bare
minimum income
Major Assistance Programs
• Medicare: National health insurance policy for
the elderly and disabled. Designed to provide
both preventative and emergency medicine
• Medicaid: Federal program designed to provide
basic medical care to low income families.
• Both count as mandatory spending, as people
who meet requirements can automatically get
benefits
Major Assistance Programs
• Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC):
– Created in 1975
– Allows people living in poverty to earn back some
of the taxes they give to the Social Security
Administration, results in a larger tax return.
Environmental Policy
• Initially the government’s only concern
regarding land was to get it quickly and
efficiently into private hands for improvement
• Serious concerns about the environment grew
as cities began to expand, flooding waterways
and landscapes with pollution and sewage
• Initially control of the environment was
spread over several agencies both state and
federal
Environmental Policies
• Federal Water Pollution Control Act of 1948:
Designed to study the effects of water
pollution, and allow the government to sue
states to stop egregious pollution
• Had very little effect other than creating the
idea of a “pollution standard”
Environmental Policies
• Federal Air Pollution Act of 1955: Granted assistance
to states and cities to fight air pollution. States faced
serious limits on how it could spend money
– Could not deal with “cross-medium pollution” pollution in
both water, and air for instance
• National Environmental Policy Act, 1969: Requires all
government agencies to judge the impact of their
activities in the form of an Environmental Impact
Statement.
– Allows newly formed Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) to regulate state, local and federal activity.
– Immediately removed lead from paint and gasoline
Environmental Policies
• The Clean Air and Clean Water Acts: Allows
regulatory agencies to study and regulate
pollution.
– Required coal burning plants to cut emissions by
40%
– Required car companies to install catalytic
converters in all automobiles
– Ended the production of chlorofluorocarbons
(CFCs) which were damaging the ozone layer
The Politics of Economic Decision
Making
• Things to know
– All government action has opportunity cost, known as
a policy trade-off
• Any action will have trade-offs and consequences beyond
those stated in the bill
• New programs will require raised taxes, or spending cuts in
other areas
– Every action the government takes will result in a
reaction from the public
– Depending on public reaction, the government may
be forced to take more action, often rushed and
unnecessary. Known as action-reaction syndrome
How the government ensures a free
market
• Defining Rules of Property: How property can be
used, the limits of property, trespassing laws.
• Enforcing contracts
• Setting the rules of exchange: Printing money,
setting conditions for how and when people can
sell property
• Setting market standards: establishing and
enforcing weights and measures, rules for
exchange, protection through courts against
fraud
How the government ensures a free
market
• Providing Public goods: Includes water,
transportation and electricity
• Creating a labor force: Government regulates
labor force by creating compulsory education,
licensing, and welfare
• Halting extremities: Using taxes and
regulation to discourage abuse, pollution, etc.
Helping curb the public cost of private
industry known as externalities
How the government ensures a free
market
• Promoting Competition: The government is
the last recourse against collusion and
monopolies. By breaking up trusts, the
government can promote competition
Taxation
• Types of Taxation
– Tariffs: A tax on imported goods, designed to promote
native business (known as protectionism)
– Progressive taxes: Taxes that hits higher income
brackets harder than lower. (modern income tax)
– Regressive Taxes: Taxes that hit lower income
brackets harder (sales tax)
– Flat Tax: A tax in which every bracket pays the same
percentage of income (de facto regressive tax)
Taxation
• The primary purpose of taxation is the
generate revenue for the government
– Other purposes include redistribution (using
taxation to reduce disparity between rich and
poor)
– Punishing or rewarding behavior
Tax Laws: Why so complicated?
• Why doesn’t the government just send you a bill?
• Why doesn’t the IRS do your tax prep for you?
• Why are there so many exemptions and
loopholes?
• The Answer
– Lobbying! Corporations, donors and tax preparation
companies all lobby to keep the code full of holes,
exemptions and out of government hands.
Tax loopholes
• Corporations and individuals lobby
government for loopholes in order to
encourage good behavior or economic growth
– Example: Corporations will lobby states for tax
breaks to build new factories
– Corporations will evade taxes by incorporating
outside the United States
– Governments and states lobby to provide
discretion in how to apply taxes
– Ensures we will never have a simple tax code
Fiscal and Monetary Policy
• Fiscal Policy: The use of government policy
such as changes in spending or taxes to affect
market factors. (example: stimulus programs
to help unemployment)
• Monetary Policy: Changing the amount of
money in circulation to affect economic
change
– Controlled by the Federal Reserve (answers to
Congress and the President)
Economic Theories
• Keynesian Economics: Founded by English Economist
John Maynard Keynes
– Argued that in times of economic recession, government
should stimulate the economy with more spending
– (DNW) Dominant theory of government, “We are all
Keynesians now” –Richard Nixon
• Laissez-Faire Economics:
– Argues that the market should self regulate, and that
government’s only job should be to develop infrastructure
to allow market to grow
– Austrian School argues government spending increases
inflation, leading to new recessions.
Economic Policy Abroad
• Federal government works to promote American goods
abroad with its trade policy
• Most Favored Nation Status: U.S. offers the same tariff
rates it gives to its most favored allies. (now called normal
trade relations after MFNS was given to China)
• World Trade Organization: started in 1995. International
Agency designed to promote free trade abroad. U.S. is a
permanent member. Sets general agreements on tariffs
– Replaced the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT)
which had been in existence since 1947
– Sets rules that all member countries must abide by
Economic Policy Abroad
• U.S. generally seeks free trade agreements which end
protectionism against U.S. goods and open more
markets
• Pursued regionally with two trade treaties NAFTA and
CAFTA
• NAFTA: North American Free Trade Agreement: U.S.,
Mexico and Canada eliminated tariffs and restrictions
in trading over their borders, passed under Bush I.
• CAFTA: Central American Free Trade Agreement:
recently passed by Obama, same thing for Central
American countries
Foreign Policy
• How governments deal with foreign nations and
encourage their policy goals on an international
stage
• Goals of foreign policy
– Security: Insuring against threats both from states
and non-state actors (i.e. terrorists)
– Economic Prosperity: Ensuring profitable trade with
other countries, or protecting goods and markets
from foreign imports
– Humanitarianism: Insuring other countries provide
for the basic rights of their people, or providing relief
from disasters
Who makes foreign Policy?
• The President: President writes treaties,
President makes Executive Agreements
• President, as controller of the military also
sets U.S. policy agendas
• Examples:
– SDI: Strategic Defense Initiative, a proposed
system of satellites designed to shoot down
incoming ICBMs. Put forward by Reagan. Created
a major arms race as Soviets attempted to match
nonexistent technology
Other Examples
• The Bush Doctrine: President Bush set a major
precedent with his invasion of Iraq. Declared that
the United States may unilaterally invade a
country if it suspects it poses a threat to its
safety.
– A form of preemption: willingness to strike before an
attack is made. Doctrine established throughout Cold
War but only applied to nation-states, not terrorist
groups
• Gunboat Diplomacy: Often used by Roosevelt.
Ordering the Navy to countries involved in
negotiations to force a favorable outcome
The President: a comparison
• Compared to other heads of state the
President is relatively weak in foreign affairs
– Congress can often hamper the President’s ability
to act
– President is answerable to a 4-year election cycle,
unlike Prime Ministers
– Example: Congress’s blockage of Wilson from
entering U.S. into the League of Nations
The Bureaucracy and Foreign Policy
• Secretary of State: Chief diplomat
• Secretary of Defense: Acting head of armed
forces below the President
• National Security Advisor: Independent of
Cabinet, advises Prez directly
• Joint Chiefs of Staff: Heads of all of the armed
forces. Operate out of the Pentagon, advise
on military strategy through their Chairperson
Bureaucracy and Foreign Policy
• CIA: Central Intelligence Agency, provides
intelligence to help President make decisions
– Often bad intelligence can result in disastrous policy
– Throughout Cold War, CIA acted as an arm of foreign
policy in actively staging coups and assassinations in
the third world
– Defense Department and CIA are often rivals in intel
gathering
• In the wake of 9/11 law enforcement also plays a
big role thanks to Homeland Security
Congress
• Congress has only exercised power to declare
war on 5 occasions: War of 1812, MexicanAmerican War, Spanish-American War, WWI,
WWII.
• Authorizes Presidential action in war, approves
treaties and executive actions
• Confirms Prez’s nominees to key offices like
CIA
Interest Groups
• Interested parties will develop think tanks to
try and influence/write foreign policy.
• Groups like CPAC lobby for international policy
• “Think Tanks”- Private research interest
groups dedicated to promoting their political
philosophy will often write foreign policy
reports to promote specific thinking
– Example: Heritage Foundation (a right-wing think
tank, wrote extensively promoting the Iraq War)
The Media
• Press plays a significant role in developing
American opinion of war
• Reporters will try to get embedded with troops
(attached to a unit)
• Government hopes to use media to promote war
while minimizing access to damaging material
– Example: After U.S. media coverage of the Tet
Offensive in Vietnam, American public turned largely
against war
Diplomacy
• Diplomacy is the representation of a
government to other foreign governments
– American government traditionally avoids
diplomacy
– Prior to late 20th Century, official diplomatic policy
was Isolationism
• Advocated by Washington in his farewell address
• Pushed for open trade, but no treaties or alliances
Other political paradigms
• Appeasement: post-WWI reaction to Hitler.
Belief that meeting Hitler’s demands would
end his foreign aggression
– Ended by Pearl Harbor
Other political paradigms
• After World War II the U.S. switched to a
policy of containment and Deterrence
– Containment: Belief that threatening ideologies
need to be contained with military force. Allows
U.S. to intervene in foreign affairs to prevent rise
of hostile revolutionaries
– Deterrence: Use of military strength usually
nuclear to discourage attacks against United
States
Other political Paradigms
• Disengagement: Reaction to the failure in Vietnam.
Continuous draw-down of troops in foreign countries.
– Pushed by Neo-Isolationists
– Ended with the Reagan and Bush Administrations
• Realpolitik: From the German realistic politics.
Formally introduced by Henry Kissinger. Involves
dealing with powerful nations on a purely practical
matter, gaining the best for the country in the long run
while disregarding unrealistic ideological battles.
– During Cold War, U.S. often supported regimes that
violated human rights because they were anti-communist
Treaty Organizations
• U.S. now pursues multi-lateral action as part
of the Cold War and post-Cold War world
– Actions sanctioned and carried out by multiple
nations
– Adds legitimacy to actions
• U.S. founding member of NATO: North Atlantic
Treaty Organization, Western countries
opposed to Soviet Expansion.
Treaty Organizations
• U.S. helped found United Nations after World
War II
• Serves in two parts of the organization
– General Assembly: Group of all nations in the U.N.
votes on humanitarian and non-binding resolutions.
– Security Council: Able to make decisions regarding
sanctions, embargoes or military action
• Made up of 5 Permanent Members (U.S., Russia, China,
France, U.K) and a rotating membership of 10 other nations
• Any vote on Security council must be unanimous, any nation
can veto resolutions
Helping with Money
• The International Monetary Fund (IMF): Set
up to provide a short-term flow of money to
troubled areas. Facilitates loans and
international money exchange.
– Has tens of billions in reserve contributed by its
members
– Also loans money for major international works
projects like gas pipelines
Economic Aid and Economic Sanction
• The United States provides nearly $30 billion in
economic aid (less than 1% of the budget) every
year for health care, shelter and famine relief.
U.S. also provides military assistance to allies
• Sanctions are the stick to aid’s carrot.
– Take the forms of bans on investment or embargoes of
products
– Used to weaken hostile regimes
– Must be multilateral to have any success (unilateral
sanctions usually don’t harm the enemy economy
enough)
U.S. as peace-broker
• From the 1950s onward, the United States
positioned itself as a key peace-broker in the
Middle East
– Camp David Accords: Designed to negotiate an end to
the intifada against Israel by the PLO
– Oslo Accords: negotiated withdrawal of Israeli forces
from the West Bank, Gaza and an eventual pull-out of
the Golan Heights
– End of the 6 Day’s War
• All negotiated with U.S. as a mediator
• Made U.S. a key player in Middle East
• Excluded Soviet Union from Middle Eastern politics
Bi-Lateral Treaties
• Bi-lateral Treaties are agreements between
two nations, typically in regards to nonaggression pacts
• Example: The Strategic Arms Limitation Talks
(SALT):
– Two rounds of bi-lateral talks in 1969 and 1979
between the Soviet Union and the United States
with the goal of lowering tensions (détente) and
reducing nuclear arms.
Unilateral Action
• Actions where the United States, under the direction of the
President acts alone against a perceived foreign threat.
– Examples (Do Not Write):
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1801 Jefferson uses Navy to attack Barbary Pirates
1845 Polk sends troops into Mexico
1950 Truman sends troops into Korea
1960s Kennedy sends troops into Vietnam
1983 Reagan sends an invasion force into Grenada
1989 Bush orders troops into Panama
1990 Bush sends forces into Kuwait
1999 Clinton orders the bombing of Serbia
2000 Bush sends troops into Afghanistan
2001 Bush invades Iraq
2011 Obama sends forces to bomb Libya
The Defense Budget
• Remained low until 1950s, when U.S.
permanently rearmed.
– Currently the vast majority of discretionary
spending
– Liberals proposed sharp cuts in military spending
after the fall of USSR
– Desert Storm and the Serbian Conflict proved
strong military still necessary
What do we get for our money
• Military needs to adapt to changing circumstances
– Example: Moving from a military that fights big land
battles to fighting small insurgencies
– New necessity of joint operations
• Big Ticket Hardware: Items like new aircraft carriers.
These often involve cost overruns (spending beyond
predicted costs). Military wants best weapons money
can buy, often sources them with no-bid contracts
• Small Ticket Items: Items that include logistics of
feeding, clothing and training troops
– Can run into overruns due to the gold plating
phenomenon of sourcing out no-bid contracts
The structure of defense decision
making
• 1947 National Security Act:
– Laid out separate uniformed services answering to
joint chiefs, answering to Secretary of Defense
– Affirms Constitutional principle of civilian
leadership of military
– Intentionally created inter-service rivalries
designed to give Congress and the President the
most information about what is going on.
Conclusion
• Policy decisions, like bureaucracy, create
inertia that becomes extremely difficult to
change after the process begins.
• The basic structure of foreign policy has
changed significantly in the 20th Century,
creating a permanent military readiness and
an apparatus that allows fast response by the
President.