Policy Legitimation by Government

Policy legitimation is the function of government decision makers—Congress, the president, and the courts. These are the "proximate policymakers." Their activities occur in the final phases of top-down policymaking, well after the agenda for policymaking has been established, policy directions have been formu­lated, leaders have been selected, interest groups have been activated, and the mass media have brought the issues to their attention.

Proximate policymaking is the open, public phase of the process. It attracts the attention of most scholars, commentators, and political scientists. And because this phase of the policymaking process involves bargaining and persuasion and compromise, competition among interest groups, career enhance­ment and political credit-taking among elected officeholders, many scholars conclude that these activities characterize the whole of the policymaking process. It is true, of course, that conflict, competition, bargaining, and compromise take place between Congress and the president, between Democrats and Republi­cans, and between liberals and conservatives. And it is true that the details of the policies that emerge from the governmental process are decided in congressional committees; in the offices and hallways of the Capitol; in discussions among interest group leaders, members of Congress, and their staffs; in executive depart­ments and agencies; and in the White House itself. Finally, it is true that the proximate policymakers are ultimately accountable to the electorate, although these officials have very little confidence in the judgment of their constituents.

But the agenda for policy consideration has been set before the proximate policymakers become actively involved in the process, the major directions of policy change have been determined, and the mass media have prepared the public and its representatives for policy action. The decisions which emerge from the formal lawmaking process are not unimportant: who gets the political credit, what agencies get control of the program, exactly how much money will be spent. But these decisions of the proximate policymakers center on the means rather than the ends of public policy.

Policy Implementation by Bureaucracies

The policy process does not end with the passage of a law by Congress and its signing by the president. Rather, policymaking moves on to the implementation phase—to the departments and agencies of the executive branch of government charged with carrying out policy. Bureaucrats shape policy themselves (see chapter 8). Much of the policymaking process takes place within the Office of Management and Budget, the Federal Reserve Board, the Environmental Protec­tion Agency, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the Internal Revenue Service, and hundreds of other bureaucratic centers of power.

The bureaucracy is not constitutionally empowered to make policy, but it does so nonetheless in the policy implementation process. Indeed, as society has grown in size and complexity, the bureaucracy has gained power. It is no longer possible, if it ever was, for Congress or the president to actually govern society. The bureaucracy must assign responsibilities to existing organizations or create new ones, translate laws into operational rules and regulations, hire personnel, draw up contracts, and perform the tasks of governance. All of these activities involve decisions by bureaucrats—decisions that determine policy.

But the bureaucracy is continually monitored by organized interest groups seeking to ensure that policies of the national elite are not significantly altered in the implementation process. And Congress itself spends a great deal of time in bureaucratic "oversight"—trying to ensure that the intent of its laws is reflected in the activities of the bureaucrats.