MD. Shakhawoat Hossain
Department of Peace and Conflict Studies
University of Dhaka.
Introduction:
Public policy has an essential link between establishing
good governance and attaining durable peace. These all three parts always
reflect positively or negatively in internal and external environment of any
country, because when we think about a state, first of all we want to observe
well presents of these three issues, then we can decide whether is good or bad.
So it is true that, when a state policy process will be characterized with
accountability and transparency then it can be able to manage legitimate
election to establish an active parliamentarian government who will work for
creating strong public administrative body, operate state institution honestly,
take effective strategies for strengthening democracy, settling structural
violence and any kinds of political disputes, enhancing good governance and
rule of law, protecting minority people, human rights and fundamental freedoms
and show their creativity and talent in the process of agenda setting (problem
recognition), policy formulation ( proposal of solution), decision making
(choice of solution), policy
implementation ( putting solution into effect) and policy evaluation (
monitoring result) to preserve peace and security. In the following I would
like to discuss about public policy, governance and peace and try to show a
triangle relationship among them.
Public policy:
Public policy has many competing definitions. Some are very
complex, while others are quite simple. Despite their variations, they all
agree on certain key aspects. They agree that public policies result from
decisions made by governments and those decisions by governments to retain the
status quo are just as much policy as are decisions to alter it. Some famous scholar
definition of public policy are given below -
·
Thomas Dye offers a particularly succinct
formulation, describing public policy as "Anything
a government chooses to do or not to do". From this Dye specifies two
important issues-First, Dye
specifies clearly that the agent of public policy-making is a government. This
means that private business decisions, decisions by charitable organizations,
interest groups, other social groups, or individuals are not in themselves
public policies. Second, Dye
highlights the fact that public policies involve a fundamental choice on the
part of governments to do something or do nothing and that this decision is
made by individuals staffing the state and its agencies.
·
William Jenkins's conceptualization of public policy
is bit more precise than the one offered by Dye illustrates many of the same
themes. He defines public policy as ' a
set of interrelated decisions taken by a political actor or group of actors
concerning the selection of goals and the means of achieving them within the
specified situation where those decisions should, in principle, be within the
power of those actors to achieve(Jenkins 1978).
·
A
middle-range definition is also provided by James Anderson. He describes a policy as ' a purposive course of action followed by an actor or set of actors in
dealing with a problem or matter of concern '(Anderson, 1998:3)
(2002).
·
According to
Adger et al. (2002). “Public policy
is the outcome of a series of decisions on what constitute a problem, what possible
solutions are and how to implement the preferred solution”.
Features of public policy:
Public policy has some basic features. These include -
·
Public
policy is characterized by its publicness that is public policies are meant to
protect the interest of the public in general.
·
Public
policy must be in line with the constitutional law.
·
Reflection
of the political commitment of the party in power.
·
It
is compulsory to all. That is no one above the implication of public policy.
For that matter public policy could be treated as the utilitarian law of the
land.
·
Public policies are goal oriented and
purposive as against random governmental action.
·
Reactive
as well as proactive by nature.
Governance:
The term governance
is refers to a broader range of processes which contribute to the aggregation
of interests and demands and to the coordination of social activities (Mayntz
1993). Beside this governance has also
different meaning, but here we will use the term governance as good governance.
According to the World Bank (1992)
Governance is ' the exercise of political power to manage a nation's affairs'
and ' Good governance involves- “an
efficient public service, an independent judicial system and legal framework to
enforce contracts; the accountable administration of public funds; an
independent public auditor, responsible to a representative legislature;
respect for the law and human rights at all level of government; a pluralistic
institutional structure, and free press”.
Features
of good governance:
Some important features of good governance are given below -
·
Participation: All men and women should have a
voice of decision making, either directly or through legitimate intermediate
institutions that represent their interests. Such broad participation in built
on freedom of association and speech, as well as capacities to participate
constructively.
·
Rule of law: Legal framework should be fair and
enforced impartiality, particularly the laws of human rights.
·
Transparency: Transparency is built on the free
flow of information, processes, institutions and information are directly
accessible to those concerned with them and enough information is provided to
understand and monitor them.
·
Responsiveness: Institutions and processes try to
serve all stakeholders.
·
Consensus orientation: Good governance mediates differing
interests to reach a broad consensus on what is the best interests of the group
and where possible, on policies and procedures.
·
Equity: All men and women have
opportunities to improve or maintain their well-being.
·
Effectiveness and efficiency: Processes and institutions produce
results that meet needs while making the best use of resources.
·
Accountability: Decision-makers in government, the
private sector and civil society organizations are accountable to the public,
as well as to institutional stakeholders.
This accountability differs depending on the organization and whether
the decision is internal or external to an organization.
·
Strategic vision: Leaders and the public have a broad
and long-term perspective on good governance and human development along with a
sense of what is needed for such development.
Peace:
Peace is absence of absence of war. It is always emphasis
the establishment of positive, life-enhancing values and social structure. It
is a most preferable thing all over the world. However, peace, like many
theoretical terms, is difficult to define. Like Happiness, harmony, justice and
freedom.
·
Johan Gatling, a founder of peace studies and
peace research, has proposed the important distinction between "positive “and
"negative “peace. “Positive peace “denotes the simultaneous presence of many
desirable States of mind and society. Such as harmony, justice, equity and so
on."Negative peace “has historically denoted the “absence of
war" and other forms of large-scale violent human conflict.
·
The Webster's Third new international dictionary define peace in many
ways -
a. Peace is “a state of security and
order within a community provided for by law, customs or public opinion"
b. Mental or spiritual condition marked
by freedom from disquieting or oppressive thoughts or emotion”
c. “Astate of mutual concord between governments;
absence of hostilities and war.
Key
features of peace:
a. Presence of cooperation.
b. Freedom from fear.
c. Freedom from want.
d. Economic growth and development.
e. Absence of exploration.
f. Equality.
g. Justice.
h. Freedom of action.
i.
Pluralism.
j.
Dynamism.
Triangle
relationships among public policy, governance and Peace:
For proving the triangle relationships among public policy,
governance and peace, we need be clear about some important issues.
·
Firstly, “who is actually influence in the processes of public policy”?
We know that public policy is whatever government chooses to do or not
to do. So every single activities of government is related with public policy
and definitely government influence as the very important actor for problem
identification, decision making, policy formulation and policy evaluation.
·
Secondly, we also need to be clear that “what
types of government is preferable for promoting effective public policies”? It is true that only good governing
system can take important part for making policies according to the state need
and people interest. Such as they can contribute for establishing and enforcing
"rule of law", arranging fair election for establishing democratic
government, taking steps for protecting violence against women, minority people
and civil security, creating enabling
policies for participation in the global economy, improving government services
to citizens through public innovation, strengthening public institutions for
economic development, enhancing public administration capacity, empowering
citizens through organization of civil society, extending services through
public -private partnership etc.
·
Thirdly, we have to find out “what
functions of good governance are related in public policy”? It is true
that, good governance always related with acting according to the public
interest. So they often maintain some important functions in public policy
which are given below -
a. Strong commitment to integrity,
ethical values and rule of law.
b. Openness and comprehensive stakeholder
engagement.
c. Defining outcomes in terms of
sustainable economic, social and environmental benefits.
d. Determining the intervention
necessary to optimize the achievement of intended outcomes.
e. Developing the capacity on entity,
including the capability of its leadership and the individuals within it.
f. Managing risks and performance
through robust internal control and strong public financial management.
g. Implementing good practice in
transparency and reporting to deliver effective accountability.
We need take care about the
relationships between functions of good governance in public policy, because if
the functions of good governance do not work in policy, it will create
difficulties in policy implementation process. For example - In the women policy of Bangladesh it is clearly
indicated that government is responsible for taking effective steps for women
empowerment economically, socially and politically, this policy is good and must appreciate it
for our sustainable development and
governance also good (as they claim), but what are the outcomes of this policy.
We often saw that women those who come out for work or attending in social or
political events are facing harassment, discrimination, sexual assault and so
on. So it's clear that government fails to create proper accommodation and
security for women, that's it can't make peace in our society. So only good
governance and good policy is not enough, good governance functions also need
to relate with it.
·
Fourthly, “what types of strategies government should take for post conflict
reconstruction and peace building”? Because this is very important and it requires active governmental
participation in policy making which interact with public interest. Some
important strategies government should take for achieving durable peace which
are given below-
a. Building
inclusive social contracts:
Building inclusive social contract is an important mechanism for peaceable co-existence
of various groups in a society. It requires attention to the relationship
between state institutions in all group in society including the most
vulnerable ones and those previously discriminated against. A solid inclusive
social contract underpinned by democratic governance can help maintain equilibrium
between competing interests and reduce fragility and likelihood of organized
violence and can be helpful for achieving durable peace.
b. Promoting
Rule of law, justice, security and human rights: For ensuring durable peace
government should aware about promoting rule of law, concern about the
principles of human rights and ensure everyone has access to justice and
provides a secure and predictable development environment.
c. Make
inclusive political process: Government should improve inclusive political process,
because it can ensure citizen participation, voice and accountability through
electoral process, parliamentary development, constitutional process and civic
engagement.
d. Responsive and accountable institution: It helps to enhance trust in the
legitimacy and capacity of state.
e. Conflict
prevention:
To build local leadership capacities and mechanism to help prevent and manage
conflict.
·
Lastly, we have to finalize which
theory of public policy we need to use to implement these triangle
relationships among public policy, governance and peace?
a. Public
choice theory:
We can't use public choice theory in this model, it just work for minimizing
personal interest. So it will be difficult for government to take decisions
based on the individual interests, because everyone can have specific choice or
demands. Example- The government of
Bangladesh takes policy for providing free and compulsory primary education for
every child, but we can see that many private primary schools in our country
which have good reputation for excellent academic opportunity compare to the
government run primary school. So parents those have good economic condition,
they are sending their children in good schools instead of government primary
schools. So its create little bit classification in our society which not able
to ensure proper implement of this policy which can bring peace.
b. Elite
theory: We also
can't use elite theory for this model, because in elite theory public policy
making always influence by elite groups and their interests. So it can't able
to ensure mass people interest. Example- Association of South Asian Nations (ASEAN) State
decision making process always influence by elite concept. So we its decisions
making process always characterized with conservative attitudes.
c. Game
Theory: We know
that game theory mainly focuses on the others do in terms of competition. So competition can make policy process very
competitive for bring peace.
d. Group
theory: If we use
group theory in this model, we have possibility to get good outcome from it,
because in group theory individuals and common interests group has rights to
interact together in central facts of politics according to their demands and
needs. So when every citizens and institutions can get equal opportunity to
take part in decision making or can share their attitude and views about the
problem in their society, It will make state authority more accountable in the
process of policy making based on the specific claims and demands and solve any
kinds of problem or disputes very easily for achieving sustainable development
and peace. Example- In pluralistic
society like USA, Every single citizen and interest group has rights to freedom
of speech and they can contribute in state public policy making and they have
also rights to criticize the policy. So it helps state government to make
policy according to the people interest.
Conclusion:
To sum up, it can be said that public policy, governance and peace
are closely link with one another where key strategies are come from the
government. If the government of the state can able to take effective steps for
promoting public policies focusing on the people interests and demands and
emphasize on the establishing good governing system, it will be easer gain
sustainable development and durable peace.
Reference
A.
"Public policy making in Bangladesh:
an overview" by Dr. Salahuddin Aminuzzaman, University of Dhaka.
B.
"Understanding Governance"
by R.A.W Rhodes.
C.
Building inclusive societies and
sustaining peace through democratic governance by UNDP.
D.
Peace a world history by Antony
Adolf 2009, UK.
E.
Webster's Third International
dictionary, 1993.
F.
Irfan Islamy, principles of state
policy formulation, 2002, Jakarta.
G.
Thomas Dye, 1976, policy analysis:
what governments do, why they do it and difference it maake, University of
Albama Press.
H.
Relationship between governance
crisis and public policy: Beyond the policy window by Hin Yeung Chan, Lignan
University.
I.
Public policy and Governance by
Sudir Kumar (2012). Department of Political Science, BBAU.
J.
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by Saeed Parto, 2005.
K.
Good governance in the public sector
-consultation Draft for an International framework, June 2013, by IFAC(
International Federation of Accountants)
L.
Theories of Peace: A synthetic
Approach to Peace thinking, by Johan Gultung, International Peace Research
Institute, Oslo, 1967.
