The policy process is an incredibly complex and at times frustrating endeavor. Government policies take a variety of forms from laws and regulations to budgets and subsidy programs. They are shaped by the political ideologies of those who shape them, the economic structures required to implement them and, ultimately, the social outcomes produced by them.
Policymakers make policy through a process of agenda setting, which involves identifying which public problems require attention and what form solutions should take. This is often done through the reflection of dominant values, customs and moralities. As a result, the nature of problems which are seen as worthy of policy intervention will shift over time, as newer issues emerge and older ones fade from the spotlight.
Once policymakers have identified a problem, they must decide whether to directly address the issue or to outsource its resolution to private actors. The former entails using direct government action which can either be in the form of levying taxes (Make) or offering subsidies (Buy). The latter entails the use of regulatory instruments, which aim to indirectly affect behaviour through imposing a cost or making a certain behaviour illegal.
The policymaking process is a complex and time-consuming endeavour, where numerous individuals, companies, non-profit organisations and interest groups compete to influence and push policymakers to act in specific ways. Until recently, the power to do this lay almost entirely within the core of the state with some level of permeation into the policymaking arena from external big business interests and international donors, as well as from well-organized professional interest groups.