For many centuries, any state has had its own political course of action. Gradually, he underwent very noticeable changes, an increasing number of people began to gradually pour into this area. As soon as journalists, experts, sociologists, publicists and a number of other figures began to penetrate into public policy, it became possible to talk about the phenomenon of the emergence of "public policy".
The concept
At the moment, there is no clearly defined decrypted term Public Policy, and in Russia it is not yet widespread for use. Quite often, scientists give a definition to the concept of public policy in the form of activities aimed at satisfying the interests of society, but under state control. Thus, this has made this type of policy a completely new institution. We can say that in a broad sense, public policy is the organizing, orderly activity of the state itself, which operates on the basis of state regulation of various public relations by all spheres of government - executive, legislative, judicial, media and many others.
Now political parties, like the media, are approved civil society institutions that operate among themselves on the basis of horizontal ties, that is, they are considered equal allies. Although the term itself still has a very limited image, which in many respects acts exclusively in a theoretical sense, we can already say that this phenomenon is not at all minute. The gradual development of public policy has its own strategy - over time, closely introduce an active "democratic community" in political governance. Thus, a gradual modification of legitimacy occurs, a new direction for solving problems arises - a general consensus on a number of problems. This is the direction of public policy that sociologists are currently proposing, wanting to merge into the same hierarchy the rival institutions familiar in the old days - social sciences, politics and journalism.
Stages of formation
In order to understand exactly how the phenomenon of public policy began to develop, one should plunge a little into the history of its formation. It began to develop only in the 80-90s of the last century due to the strong economic crisis, which became a strong nuisance for a number of European countries. Western Europe at that moment simply had to review its social policy, since the old institutions of civil society working on solving public administration problems were no longer able to cope with the problems that arose. It was during this period that the neoliberalists started talking about a new way of governing, as well as the creation of the science of the state in action.
The Russian Federation will be considered as an example of public policy, as well as its gradual formation. In total, there are 3 main stages that led this institution to a modern result.
Democratization
It was the democratization of public policy that took place from 1993 to 2000 that became the first stage of formation. Gradually, a special design of an institutional democratic state began to take shape in the country. The institutions of the presidency began to develop, a multi-party system developed . The market economy took its rightful place, as did parliamentarism. Earlier, a tough state in control with a totalitarian system gradually became proto-democracy. The media began to aggressively cover the political situation in the country, as well as directly participate in the socio-political life of the Russian Federation.
Crisis stage
From 2000 to 2007 The country experienced an institutional crisis. With Putin coming to power, vertical power began to strengthen, business gradually began to move away, and the state itself strengthened its role in the socio-economic sphere. The institutions of democracy, which were previously formal, have lost their dominant position and have given some of their functions to informal ones. Also during this period, one can notice sharp changes in the regional policy of the country and the gradual reform of the state apparatus and the judicial system in attempts to create their models that are effective in practice.
The sharp dominance of the institution of presidency subjugated the executive branch, and the legislature, like public parties, lost all leverage. The media in those years suppressed the oligarchs, who, with the permission of the authorities, used information to manipulate the opinion of the population.
Imitation of publicity
After the crisis, and to the present moment, we can say that public policy in the country is in many ways just an imitation, and not a reality. This is characterized by several trends at once, which really contradict each other.
- Media and media technology continue to be used as a voice for modern politics. On any channel, one can find programs where the political leadership of the country promises to solve all the problems of the population in the near future, any opposition forces or protest actions are also vilified.
- The economic crisis has led to a sharp exacerbation of all the problems existing in the country, which led to the need for modernization. Medvedev called this policy "four I". It directly affects institutions, infrastructure, innovation and investment, which directly affects the scope of public policy.
- The formation of "underground publicity" in the Internet space. Such formation of shadow mechanisms is becoming more common in the country.
The role of public policy in the country
In order for an active, communicative policy between various social groups to be formed in the state, acting on the basis of democratic discussion, the necessary conditions are mandatory:
- Power in the country should be transparent. The first thing that is being done at this moment is the free admission of a person to government information as necessary (with the exception of data classified as state secrets), as well as the ability of ordinary citizens to influence decision-making by the government apparatus.
- The country's authorities should be focused specifically on solving problems in the country, and not on meeting their own needs. The government should put the local community at the center of its focus.
- The state apparatus must comply with modern, highly effective management requirements. This implies the fight against bureaucracy and corruption, the constant retraining of staff and increasing their level of work.
Functions
Full confidence of the population in their power structures and the decisions they make can arise only when they see the transparency of the whole structure.
It is precisely to make the government in the country the most transparent, as well as to ensure communication between different sections of the population in the country, that is the main function of public policy.