AA027004 (Sem 2, 2024/2025)

What is the decision agenda in the policy process?

• All policy ideas ever considered in history

• Issues actively being considered by any institution

• Items that are about to be acted upon by a government body

• Proposals debated by civil society only

According to Kingdon’s stream metaphor, what are the three streams that must converge for policy change to occur?

• Politics, policy, and media

• Government, institutions, and advocacy

• Problem, policy, and politics

• Crisis, campaign, and cost

What role do focusing events play in agenda setting?

• They typically reduce attention to issues

• They often trigger sudden attention to certain issues

• They ensure long-term policy stability

• They restrict media coverage

Which theory claims that policymaking is dominated by the best educated and wealthiest elites?

• Rational theory

• Pluralism

• Elite theory

• Public choice theory

According to Deborah Stone, what are the four types of causal stories used in policy problem definitions?

• Legal, economic, moral, and political

• Technical, human, accidental, and divine

• Mechanical, accidental, intentional, and inadvertent

• Public, private, systemic, and structural

What distinguishes official policy actors from unofficial ones?

• Their role in enforcing policy

• Their access to confidential information

• They have formal authority granted by law or constitution

• They are selected by the media

What is a defining characteristic of a bureaucracy in policy implementation?

• Frequent political campaigning

• Informal and personal communication

• Division of labour and impersonal rules

• Privately funded operations

What is the purpose of the committee system in the legislative process?

• To promote judicial independence

• To centralize executive decisions

• To divide and specialize tasks for lawmaking

• To allocate national budget independently

What is the concept of an iron triangle in policymaking?

• A single group influencing all government decisions

• A rigid set of rules for drafting policies

• A stable policy subsystem involving bureaucracy, legislature, and interest groups

• The overlap of judicial, legislative, and executive powers

What does the term policy stalemate refer to?

• A stage of complete public consensus

• A temporary freeze in election cycles

• A situation where actors cannot reach agreement, blocking policy action

• A stable state of ongoing policy revision