Public policy course

A public policy is a plan of coordinated actions that makes it possible to guide the decisions and actions of a plurality of actors, and to obtain rational outcomes. The term "politics" can be applied to governments and public administrations, but also to private sector organizations. Presidential executive orders, local transportation policies, personnel policies, are all examples of public policy. The characteristics of public policy have been well described by sociologists Y. Meny and J.-C. Thoenig. It must necessarily have a specific content, not therefore be based on general statements. The individual provisions relating to it are also based on more general schemes and find their natural integration in these. Public policy must be easily understood through specific guidelines (normative guidelines) of the actors with certain interests. These normative guidelines, translated into mandatory norms, necessarily entail a constraint of coercion as they are made binding by the governmental power. According to Birkland, while the study of politics has a rather long history, the systematic study of public policy is a creation of the 20th century.