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.
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
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.