Policy vs. Politics: The Unknown Battle in Government

In our ever changing world, the idea of policy and politics tends to have a powerful and often times contentious meaning.  People see politics as a necessary evil in their day to day lives and for the most part completely forget the policy behind the politics.  In some cases, and more than most of us would like to think, we combine the world of politics and policy and blur the lines of what they truly are and represent.

Politics, as many of us know, is the part of our governmental system where men and women vie for the acceptance and votes of the nation or the constituents in their respective districts.  Policy on the other hand is what the elected politicians, analysts, and administrators are supposed to accomplish on a day to day basis as part of their jobs.  The world of politics and political science diverges at this point but most people do not and will not see this divergence.  The world of policy is a complex world of research, writing, arguing, and hopefully reaching some kind of consensus on a given issue.  In the most general of terms, the policy world helps to create and write the legislation that parliaments, congresses, and other elected bodies vote on during the course of their elected terms.  Politics, is the part that muddles through the policy and they help decide what is appropriate for the people and they are a form of check and balance to the policy created daily.

Political scientists study the governmental systems created by man and the processes that work towards the creation of the policy that will one day become law.  Political scientists do not study politics or politicians as a whole because these people and situations are transitory while governmental bodies or systems last a significantly longer period of time.  As a trade, I am a policy analyst that works in the political world.  I help write and create policy that could one day become a piece of legislation and then a law.

If you ask the average person about the difference between politics and political science/policy most will not be able to offer a difference between the two.  As a citizen, I am shown through the news and the daily actions of my government that there is not much of a difference between policy and politics.  It is not until you actually study what political science is or are present in the world of political science or policy that you gain a better understanding of what actually goes on in our governmental world.  The average citizen understands that they vote for and elect an official that will represent them in some form or fashion in their given government.  What this citizen does not understand is that there is a staff that supports this elected official in capacities far above and beyond what is normally associated with “politics.”  These staff members work to research, craft, and write pieces of legislation in hopes that they will become law.  Policy professionals spend their days either writing new policy or reviewing and editing the current policy on the books.  These legislative aides provide the backbone of the government while the politicians provide the face to the government.  In essence, the aides are the policy while the politicians are the politics.  Both are essential but both are situated in different worlds and do not pretend to enter into each others worlds until necessary.
As a further example, in the executive branch of government, policy analysts, public administrators, and political scientists craft new policy, implement current policy, and study the effects of pat policy.  This branch’s job is to work towards an efficient and productive system of implementation and enforcement of laws passed by the legislature.  Without the policy analysts, this branch would never understand the reasoning behind the success or failure of a given piece of legislation.  Implementation and enforcement are only one step in the governmental process for the executive branch.

Understanding the outcomes of a given policy allows for the feed back and enhancement of the current and future policies on a given issue.  Thus, political science at its core is a science that allows an individual to see the possible outcomes or actual outcomes based on theory or working concepts.  A political scientist studies the results of these tests and based on these results can give basing for new policy for themselves or others to use when crafting new pieces of legislation.  This process is in some cases a long and complicated dance of mathematics, theory, and life experience that either occurred somewhere in the past, is occurring now in the present, or could possibly occur in the future.  This process can show a person possible outcomes or why things occurred the way they did when a piece of policy or legislation failed to achieve its perceived goals.  As an ordinary citizen, we see only the results of this research and we only hear about the conclusions made by these political scientists.  The face of this information is the politician who stands before a group of people either in person, on television, or in print media and exclaims the information as they see fit.  So, it is not a stretch to understand why people do not understand the difference because they do not perceive the differences.  Politicians do not want the citizenry to see these differences because they would lose face  because they would look less competent in their job. The political scientist’s main focus is on the outcome of their research and how it will affect the people, not how the people will react to the legislation.  In the end, they have no stake in the constituency as a whole but how it will affect the individual on a pragmatic basis.

What people need and should understand is that the world of government and politics is an intense game of who can sell a product better and more efficiently.  This product is not created by the politician but by the policy analyst or political scientist who has spent a large amount of time and effort researching and writing on one given issue.  So as an example, say the President’s advisors are telling him/her that there should be tax cuts across the board because it could stimulate the economy and stifle a possible recession.  What his advisors are telling him is that the policy that political scientists and policy analysts have researched and written about is essential to the nation.  This policy is an idea that they think should be made into legislative law so that the policy has the power to affect change.  Now when the President addresses the people of a given nation, he never makes mention of this policy idea because he knows that the there is no way that he could get it through the politicians in office in the legislative body.  Thus the policy and political world meet eye to eye and come into combat.  What the people see is that politics once again either aided or hindered their day to day life.  Thus they think that the policy and political world are one in the same because they only see the legislative body unwilling to give them the tax cuts and the President unable to persuade the legislative body to do what he would like.  The “man behind the curtain” is once again thwarted by politics not because of policy.  This dance happens on a daily basis on a myriad of issues from the mundane to the sensational.  People need to understand that the best way to get the policy they need and/or want is to demand their legislative body work to create or allow the passage of the policy when it reaches their desks.

So far we have discussed how governmental individuals affect the politics and policy that shape the day to day lives of individual citizens.  However, one must not forget that there are private organizations that do play the political and policy game as well.  They also help to blur the lines because even for institutions that there sole purpose is the promotion of effective and pertinent policy, sometimes forget the differences.

Think tanks have their own strategy on how to play the politics vs. policy game.  Think tanks are designed to be research work horses ran by policy analysts and political scientists.  As discussed in previous sections, these are supposed to work in conjunction with but never in the same boat as politics.  They are supposed to push the conversation of policy along for the individual and government officials and aid them in the promotion of beneficial policy that can become legislation.  Sometimes however, these organizations become politically motivated in a way that transforms their purpose from aiding the citizen to becoming a hinderance for them.  They tend to work towards their own agendas, which in essence makes them similar to the politician that does not practice policy but politics.  Why does this happen to an organization that was built specifically for policy purposes?  The best answer is that power plays a key part just like power plays a part with what influences most politicians.  Think tanks, like politicians need to understand that they have a purpose.  Their purpose is to give prudence and reason to subjects in a manner that the citizenry might not have the expertise to provide for themselves on policy issues.  Think tanks should push the conversation forward and make a substantive contribution to the issue not enter the political game and muddy up the conversation with selfish ideas and longings.  These organizations should be apolitical and support the agenda or policy of choice not the politics that drives most policies and choices.  Think tanks are an essential part of the policy process but more times than not, the policy process is lost to the political process.  At that point the think tank loses its purpose and only hinders the promotion of beneficial and effective policy for the citizens of a given country.

In conclusion, the policy world could benefit from the public at large having a better understanding of what their function is in government and how a politician can aid or hinder their job.  Once people understand the differences in the roles that each of the actors plays in their lives they can become better equipped to affect change in the government, policy, and the direction in which it is tending.  This makes the populous stronger because they have a substantive stake or investment in their government and what actions their government is undertaking.  People should always remember that they are the government and that the government would no exist without the people giving it the power to exist.  This is the key to a working, effective, and sustaining democracy in the world.

By:  Jonathan Hessling