Policy Setting

Policy setting or policy formulation is the most critical phase in crisis management because it applies to all kinds of efforts of all stakeholders, including local, regional, national, and even [Page 727]international public and private entities. Policy setting includes not only planning and designing rules and roles of those entities but also implementing and sustaining the crisis management system effectively. Therefore, technical competency of crisis management policies is as important as their political approval.

The eightfold path of E. Bardach's policy analysis presents must-have steps in policy setting. The technical part of policy formulation involves creating efficient and implementable solutions to certainly and clearly addressed problems. Policy analysis steps should be fulfilled to complete these technical details. Identifying and analyzing the problem is the first step of policy setting. Crisis management policies can face a wide perspective of problems, from administration to fiscal issues. Hence, evaluating them carefully requires a range of various professions. Multi-stakeholder participation in the problem definition phase will help in understanding assorted issues and suggesting solutions at the same time. Public–public and public–private partnerships involving federal government agencies are the best application of modern public administration systems addressing the controversial topic of grassroots participation.

After defining problems, alternative solutions should be produced to offer policy makers different policy options. These options may include the status quo and other policy suggestions. Each suggestion must clearly define the players and their roles in policy. Having alternatives will help decision makers to explain new policy to the public, since the best alternative will be picked in the end. Therefore, alternatives should be as realistic as possible.

The most technical part of policy analysis is the criteria selection phase. A criterion is a scientific tool that reveals the quantified cost and benefit of a policy alternative. Although cost-benefit analysis is the most used criteria selection method, newer policies also utilize cost-effectiveness analysis. Effective costs mean weighted value analysis, which assumes that some criteria are more or less important than others. It makes sense since public policy issues are too complex to put in simple figures. However, policy makers should note that a criterion selected as the most cost-beneficial one in cost-benefit analysis could be a worse/better selection in cost-effectiveness analysis based on the statistical weights used.

Evaluating all alternatives with selected criteria, the most logical alternative is picked and explained to decision makers and society. Decision may be a scientific exercise for policy analysts; however, the public consequences of the suggested policy could create an unexpected resistance that could end with a political failure. Policy analysts should prepare the final submission of suggested policy for stakeholders, for politicians, and for the public. Technical terms may not create expected political support, although they can be very convincing statistically and scientifically. Telling, therefore, is an important phase because the open face of the policy is viewed from the angle of tellers. This does not mean that the tellers of the suggested policy should tell lies or hide facts from the society. The policy makers should clearly demonstrate all aspects of the new policy in a way understandable to all policy actors and to the public. Technology has made it easier for policy makers to promote and explain suggested policies. Internet and the media are policy makers’ best friends against political failures if they are used carefully.

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