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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.
