Public value approach to policy making
A 3000-word essay will form Part II of the assessment for this unit and will comprise 80% of the overall assessment. In answering the question students will be required to evaluate and analyse a range of sources in order to develop an argument. The essay should offer a considered argument or point of view supported with evidence, data, case studies (where relevant) and other examples and information from a variety of sources.
Critically examine how a ‘public value’ approach to policy making can overcome a lack of accountability and transparency in policy networks.
Sample Solution
Policy design and public management should be tightly connected, so implemented public policies achieve intended outcomes. Yet policy designers often pursue their activities with limited awareness of how citizens and service managers experience current public programs. Public values are those providing normative consensus about: the rights, benefits, and prerogatives to which citizens should (and should not) be entitled; the obligations of citizens to society, the state and one another; and the principles on which governments and policies should be based. A focus on creating public value offers a way to tighten the connection between policy design and public management. Pursuit of public value calls for policy designers to listen closely to stakeholders, engage them in creative conversations, and draw on their situated expertise to guide policy development.
