POLICY MAKERS - OFFICIAL POLICY MAKERS


Those referred to as official policy-makers are those who possess the legal authority to engage in the formulation of public policy. These include the legislators, executives, administrators, and judges.

Legislators
 The legislature is an important democratic institution with the primary responsibility of performing the political task of law-making and policy formulation in the political system. In democratic systems, every major government policy and programme must receive the stamp of approval of the legislature. Private and executive policy proposals come to the legislature as bills.

When these are debated in line with legislative procedures and are approved, they are enacted as
public policies. Thus, the legislature gives legal backing or legal authorization to all major policies and programmes of the government.

The legislature can facilitate the implementation of public policies by setting up monitoring committees to carry out legislative oversight of the implementation process.

The budget and plan documents which embody major policies of government remain policy proposals until approved and enacted by the legislature. To do this, the legislators will usually follow the laid down procedures of debating a legislative bill before passing such a bill. In debating a bill, legislators, as representatives of the people, can modify aspects of the bill they deem necessary. When they are doing all these, they are engaged in policy-making.

The Executive
The executive plays important roles in public policy-making, because the success or failure of any government depends to a great extent on the executive leadership, both in policy formulation and policy implementation. Policy proposals for legislation or what is otherwise known as executive bills emanate from the executive.

Policy-making in developing countries is largely an executive affair. In these countries, interest groups have little impact on policy-making because of their limited independence from existing political institutions. Major policies are initiated by the executive in order that the aspirations of the members of the public who voted them into power will be fulfilled.

Administrators/ Administrative Agencies
Administrators and administrative agencies were seen in the past as those whose traditional duties are to implement directives or policies of government. But this view of administrators has changed today. Political scientists have come to discover that politics and administration are blended, and that administrative agencies are often significantly involved in the development of public policies. When ministries send memos to the executive on subjects relating to their areas of technical competence, they are contributing to policy-making process through these technical inputs. Many policy proposals are developed by career bureaucrats in the administrative departments and agencies. These are forwarded to the executive and the legislature for their consideration.

Furthermore, legislators lack the time for detailed examination of policy issues. They equally do not have the time to source for data and information regarding policy subjects. As a result of all these, it becomes necessary to delegate much discretionary authority, often formally recognized as rule-making power, to administrative agencies.  Consequently, agencies make many decisions that have far-reaching political and policy consequences.   Indeed, it has been argued that public policy-making is at the mercy of administrators. 

The Courts
The courts interpret legislations, laws and policies. As they play this role, unknown to many, they partake in the policy-making process. They have often greatly affected the nature and contents of public policies through the exercise of the powers of judicial review and statutory interpretation in cases brought before them.

The power of judicial review which the courts have, authorizes them to determine the constitutionality of executive and legislative actions and to nullify such actions if found to be unconstitutional.
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