What is public policy?
Public policy refers to the programs and policies of a government concerning the various issues under their jurisdiction. Public policy consists not only in the adopted government policy itself, but also the method of determining this policy, and its concrete outcomes. The direction of public policy can be shaped by a large set of actors and forces outside of the elected government, including lobby and interest groups, NGOs, and public outcry. These groups can play a role in not only bringing particular problems to the government’s attention, but also in advocating or pressuring for the government to choose solutions to these problems that are in their self-interest. This process can be seen in the development of a policy on the environment, for example, which would begin by identifying the problem, often through the efforts of nongovernmental actors, developing a solution and a means for implementing it, and then putting the determined plan into practice.
Public policy can also describe the field of academic study of government policy. In the study of public policy, scholars attempt to understand the organizational structures that governments and other actors in the public sphere can and have used to put efficacious policy into place, as well as concretely analyze potential policy outcomes. Public policy as a field is similar to political science, however, its emphasis is on practical outcomes, rather than theory, and thus, it is more closely related to everyday governance.
