Pub Ad Optional Daily Brief – 14 – September – 2026

Thinker of the Day | Harold D. Lasswell

Harold D. Lasswell is widely regarded as the father of policy sciences because he developed an interdisciplinary and problem-oriented approach to public policy.

Works – The Policy Orientation (1951)

Views

• Lasswell viewed politics as the process through which society distributes Values, Resources, Privileges Opportunities

This helps explain why public policy is not merely technical but also deeply political.

• Policy sciences should be
  Problem-oriented
  Context-sensitive
  Interdisciplinary
  Value-conscious
  Action-oriented

He advocated combining political science, economics, sociology, psychology and law to improve policymaking.

Knowledge of policy – Understanding how policies are formulated and implemented. Knowledge in policy – Using expert knowledge to improve actual policy decisions.

Lasswell identified policy functions such as Intelligence → Promotion → Prescription → Invocation → Application → Appraisal → Termination

These stages represent information gathering, policy formulation, implementation, evaluation and possible termination.

Lasswell transformed policy analysis from the study of government decisions into an interdisciplinary science of problem-solving and value allocation.

Keyword of the Day | Quasi-Market

It is a system in which public services are delivered through market-like competition and choice, but the government continues to finance, regulate or oversee the service. It is not a completely free market and not a traditional government monopoly.

Julian Le Grand – Quasi-markets can combine public objectives with competition and consumer choice.

Pub Ad PYQ Vault | Day 44 | PYQ (2020)

“Markets, hierarchies and networks represent modern governing structures in government.” Explain.