POWER KNOWLEDGE AND POLITICSPolicy Analysis in the States

Reviewed by Trever PearsonPA 715 Policymaking and Implementation

August 3, 2011

John A. Hird

OVERVIEW

• “Two Communities Theory”• Critiques of Policy Analysis• Various Definitions of the term “Use”• Findings• Conclusion

“TWO COMMUNITIES THEORY”

Social Scientists

• Esoteric• Written for academic

audience• Pedantic• Emphasis on

scientific values

Legislators

• Seeking information to support pre-existing policy choices, increase status or deflect criticism

• Emphasis on values of the constituent

CRITIQUES OF POLICY ANALYSIS

• Fear of technocracy

• Bureaucratic obstacles prevent the use of policy analysis

• Policy analysis is always political, and can never be truly nonpartisan

DEFINITIONS OF THE TERM: “USE”Carol Weiss (1979)

We actually USE policy analysis to inform decision making

We use policy analysis to solve problems, or we commission research to understand it better

We use everything to inform our decisions… Not just policy analysis

We use it as ammunition to support our pre-conceived notions and to justify our decisions/mistakes

We use it to delay decisions we don’t want to make, to convince you we’re not as wrong as you thought, and to show you just how good we are

Everyone knows what the data suggests, it’s just that no one has a clue who said it or where it came from

We use it simply to make ourselves smarter. Wait, which policy were we talking about?

• Knowledge Driven Model

• Problem Solving Model

• Interactive Model

• Political Model

• Tactical Model

• Enlightenment Model

• Intellectual Enterprise Model

POLITICAL CULTURE DANIEL ELAZAR (Zoellick, 2000)

MORALISTIC

Commitment to public good/welfare

Communal power

Citizen participation

Greater government intervention

TRADITIONALIST

Elitist construct to maintain social order

Established hierarchy

Public participation is limited

INDIVIDUALIST• Focus on private concerns• Limit community involvement• Control government• Democracy as a marketplace where politicians rely on public demand

FINDINGS Nonpartisan valued more highly than

partisan However – legislative term limits increase the

partisan nature of debate (short-term vs. long-term analysis)

Most NPROs conduct short term, descriptive analysis In 66 of the 82 NPROs, only 16% self-initiated

policy analysis and only 5 NPROs self-initiate 40% of the time or more.

Factors Affecting NPRO Size and Type

NPRO Size NPRO Analytical Capacity

Professional LegislatureStrong Party Strong Party

Policy LiberalismThink Tank Presence Think Tank PresenceLegislators with more staff Legislators with more staffLarge Economies (aggregate)Party CompetitionInterest Group StrengthUnified Government Unified GovernmentMoralistic Political Culture Moralistic Political Culture

Legislative Professionalism

The more professional the legislature, the more capacity its NPRO is likely to have

EXCEPT

Kentucky and Massachusetts

The Importance of Policy Analysis

The Influence of Policy Analysis

Political Ideology – The Use and Perception of Analysis

REPUBLICAN/CONSERVATIVE

Greater emphasis on Governor and Constituents

Believe NPRO staff support sufficient

Little time spent developing policy expertise

Believe that NPROs are not truly nonpartisan

DEMOCRAT/LIBERAL

Greater emphasis on wide range of sources

Believe NPRO staff support insufficient

Much time spent developing policy expertise

Believe that NPROs are truly nonpartisan

Political Ideology – The Use and Perception of Analysis

NO POLICY ANALYSIS

Republicans/Conservatives

Older Legislators Less Formal Education Men

POLICY ANALYSIS

Democrats/Liberals Professional Legislators More Formal Education Younger Legislators Women

District vs. State – Delegate vs. Trustee Legislators who promote their own district rather

than the state as a whole are more likely to view their NPROs as influential than legislators who promote the state as a whole over their own district.

Legislators who view their roles as delegates (constituent viewpoint more important than their own) are more likely to view their NPROs as influential than legislators who view their roles as trustees.

CALIFORNIA The Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO), the Senate

Office of Research and the California Research Bureau conducts long-term, analytical research throughout the legislative session in addition to short-term, descriptive work.

California legislators rate the importance of their NPRO with a higher mean score than any other state.

IMPLICATIONS

NPROs must continuously adapt to the changing political environments in which they work. Although short-term information provision is important, providing basic information is a necessary but not sufficient role for NPROs. Females, liberals, Democrats, young, and well-educated legislators are more likely to support greater use of policy analysis. In contrast, older legislators, those with less formal education, Republicans, economic conservatives, and males are more likely to believe that the legislature has all the information and analysis it needs to make decisions. Therefore, states considering expansion of the NPRO staff should be attentive both to the costs of expansion and to the types of legislators that would be likely to support or oppose the change. (p. 201).

IMPLICATIONS Most NPRO directors echoed the scholarly supported

sentiment suggesting the increase in partisanship among the federal and state levels. These developments, coupled with and possibly exacerbated by term limits, have potentially important implications for NPROs as strong parties are associated with smaller and more descriptive analysis. Therefore, the more politicized and partisan legislatures become, the less likely are they to support NPROs, especially ones that go beyond simple information gathering and analysis. (p. 202).

CONCLUSION NPROs do not have substantial influence over the

policy making process, although larger and more analytical ones are more likely to.

NPROs are widely valued by legislatures, although those with higher capacity are valued more.

Highly politicized legislatures value short-term, descriptive analysis, indicating that non-partisan research cannot survive in highly political environments

As influential policy analysis may or may not be, the extent to which politics influences analysis is not clearly known.

QUESTIONS/COMMENTS