The Role of the Cabinet System in the Policy-Making Process - Assignment Example

Critical Evaluation the Role of the Cabinet System in the Policy Making Process Introduction Politics in the continent of Europe represent one of the most evolving and dynamic form of politics in the whole world. It entails a very detailed history due to its long history and the modernity in the trend in which politics is taking in the continent. It is also one of the regions that are known to exhibit unique form of politics due to the unity that exists among the European countries (Fox & Graham 90). Other factors that have greatly influenced the current politics of the continent include the culture, economy and the geographical orientation of the continent. The politics in the modern days in the content are greatly dominated by European Union whereby there is a union between the socialist and the communist countries in the continent. This brought about a great deal of improvement in terms of the relations existing between Western Europe and Russia. The development of European Union, which has been joined by most of the states in the continent, has contributed to the smooth and peaceful politics. A government is the governing body of any state or country. It is established by the act of constitution and is made up of three main branches namely the executive, judiciary and the legislation. Each of the three branches is also divided further. The legislative involves the mini. The executive is made up of the president and his vice. Finally, the judiciary is made up of the supreme courts. Each of the three braches has a very important role in as far as the running of a state is concerned. It is hard to determine which of the three branches is more powerful than the others because their functions are related and intertwined such that they work together at some point (Harmilton 24). One branch cannot function without the help of the other branch or even both of the branches. In the United Kingdom, it is her majesty that who represents the central government. The ministers who are also the cabinet are responsible of performing all the national duties. It should be noted that the prime minister is the overall government leader and is responsible for appointing members who will make up the government. It is his responsibility together with the ministers to make supreme decisions since they make up the cabinet. The cabinet also gives advices to the supreme monarch (Simon 48). The government cabinet is made up of the ministers who are all members of parliament. This explains why this is the body that is largely involved in policy formulation, implementation and execution. They are also the people who control all the leaders of all government departments. The cabinet in United Kingdom is made up of the governor in the UK and 22 members of the cabinet. The roles of the three branches of government in America The executive: the president has the following roles; meeting and receiving leaders from other states and countries, development of policies of federal, national budget preparation, approving the actions of the congress and finally being the commander of the military of the state. The judicial branch: This is a branch made up of law-trained professional, appointed by president himself and then approved through the senate (Harmilton 35). The duties are further divided in to two groups namely the senate and the representative of the house. The senate is responsible of handling all the trials involving governmental officials involved in crimes, approves the officials who are appointed by the president, it approves the treats that are done by president and finally sharing responsibilities by representatives of the house in lawmaking. The representative of the house are expected to share the responsibility of making laws with the senate, writing tax involving laws and finally they are expected to start off the impeachment procedures of the officials of government involved in crimes (Harmilton 67). This also contains the Supreme Court, which has the following duties interpretation of the constitution, laws application, decides the constitution of the executive branch as well as constitutionality of the laws made the congress. The legislative: it is made up of the representatives and the senators or the cabinet members (Harmilton 70). The role of cabinet system in policymaking process The process of making policies in the United Kingdom as well as other parts of the whole refers to the process through which the political visions of the government are actually translated into programmes as well as some actions, which can be able to deliver positive outcomes. It is through the policies of the country that problems in nations are solved, developments are initiated and progress is made. It is through the policy making that the concern and dedication of the government towards giving the citizens a better life is reflected through the policies, which contains strategies to be used to bring about services improvement in the public sector (Cortner & Margaret 180). This explains why the government through the cabinet system promotes the practice of good process of policy making to ensure the outcome is of very good quality as far as the citizens are concerns in the process of realization of reforms in public sectors. It is the role of the minister to ensure the policy formulators are very knowledgeable people who are well equipped with skills, knowledge and latest information with reference to the best practice and research so that any decision that has to be made is based on the deep knowledge attained from the research. Most of the policies in the United Kingdom are passed during a parliament session. This is whereby a minister in charge of raising the motion presents the facts and figure in the form of a bill to the rest of the members or parliament for debate. During that session, the minister is questioned by the other members and in return offers explanations in terms of evidence needed as well as explanations. The members scrutinized the work or the bill and then votes for or against it. The ministers are expected to give a mention of the different policies that are under development in their relevant ministries (Lindblom 120). The process of policymaking is referred to as one of the cabinet’s collective as well as individual responsibilities. The individual responsibility is because each of the ministers is individually involved in the formulation of the policies governing the issues of relevant ministries and then in the meeting, as a collective responsibility they ensure the policy is good enough to be used passed ready for implementation. It is during the times of their collective responsibility that all major decisions pertaining to the government that are made. It is the reason as to why any minister is not a position to speak against the government since he is part of its decision-making. Any cabinet minister who is in disagreement with the government or with its actions is expected to resign. In the level of individual responsibilities, a minister is expected to oversee the activities of the departments in his or her ministry. He or she is directly responsible to all the actions of the ministry. This means that in case the decision fails in the ministry of any department within his or her ministry then he or she is expected to resign immediately. In the United Kingdom year 2000, some very severe problems or complications occurred because the policy that was formulated for the A level marking was incompetent the minister Estelle Morris in charge of education was forced to resign. It should be noted that a minister in the cabinet should be able to defend his policies which are governing issues in his ministry without failure until the cabinet together with the members of the government are completely satisfied (Fox & Graham 200). The cabinet is not only involved in the formulation of the policies but also in the process of policy evaluation. It is the social research unit of the government that is part of the cabinet. The role of the department is provision of strategic leadership. The leadership is to the social researchers in the government involved in policy formulation (Lindquist & James 211). Their main role of the department is to ensure there is a great level of excellence involved in the process of policymaking, research and evaluation. The following are the key area the department is involved in giving information on; The evaluation and research evidence as well as the ways in which it contributes to the policy making process Giving information on the guidance needed on the methods of evaluation Opportunity of professional development in the area of analytical skill as well as evidence based policies Information on the design of the policies, evaluation and piloting as well as the employment of projects in policy demonstration and reviews of the government pilots. The cabinet is expected to be in a position to view the current situation of the country so that the policy that is being formulated can be able to cater for the needs of the future. This explains why the process of monitoring and evaluation is the role of the cabinet since it is them who have the responsibility of ensuring the actions taken by the application of the policy are toward obtaining the desired results aimed at the betterment of the future conditions of the country. It the public servants and politicians who are accountable and responsible to the public and these politicians are also members of the cabinet (Axworthy 100). They are however not in a position or even allowed to pursue their self-interest hence their process of decision-making is purely transparent, open and accessible to all of the public concern. This is because the government is expected to be very responsible with the usage of the resources to ensure its social s well as economic objectives aimed at by the policy are met (Bakvis 119). The cabinet system is acknowledged with the responsibility of securing the agreements arrived at on the steps for passing the government policies and programs in the parliament. It is also the role of the cabinet system especially in Canada to provide forums for the people to express diverse interests depending on the region they come from. The cabinet system also provides the forum for the ministerial debate concerning issues that are of concern generally. The system also gives the cabinet a chance to agree on the government priorities with reference to the different ministries in the country. The cabinet policy committee sits down and reviews the policy that has been suggested form the ministries then if need be discussions with the full cabinet members is called in but especially when the matter at hand is very strategic and of great importance as far as the issue of broad political arena is concerned. It should be noted that this is the committee that decides which matters needs the attention of the relevant minister and which matter requires the full attention of the entire cabinet. This decision is arrives at by the presentation of a proposal to the committee in the form of a memorandum to the cabinet (Bakvis, 59). The committee is also responsible for setting and deciding which matters required immediate attention by arranging them in terms of their need for priority. The cabinet committee involved in policy is divided into two groups. The first one deals with the economic issue while the second one deals with the social issues. The committee to be involved therefore depends on the kind of issue at hand for which a policy is under formulation. There are some issues, which are only deliberated by the full cabinet since they are neither social nor economic. Some of these issues include policies related to the home affairs of a country, which are not social or economic. The ministry of finance is another very important component of the cabinet involved in the process of policymaking. This is because it is the ministry that handles the matters of treasury or finances meaning the deliberations of the financial needs for the implementation of a policy must be dome by the cabinet (Aucoin 199). The board of treasury in conjunction with the prime minister advices the cabinet on the issues of financial usage and availability. It should be noted that this board of treasury is made up of a few members of the cabinet made up of an independent minister and is supported by its own bureaucracy. It is the role of the board to come up with the budget involving a certain policy formulation and implementation process. Conclusion It is not always that a process will require to be approved by the cabinet. A proposal for policy approval will only be presented to the cabinet when; It is a very new government policy It is a representative of a change made as a result of being previously reviewed by the cabinet Contains a very significant implication financially to the government Contains significance implications related to other ministers Is in need of new laws and regulations It is a report involved in a standing parliamentary committee It is an issue that ahs been catered for by the international agreements It is said to be a very sensitive political matter If the prime minister has directed it to be presented to the cabinet The deputy or assistance ministers are the ones mainly involved ion the process of policy implementation. This is because he is the link between the policy and the process of implementation. He is the one that also provides a link between the minister or the cabinet and the people on the ground doing the actual work of implementation within relevant ministries. He takes the role of a general manger in the government department he or she is in charge. Reference Atkinson, M., ed. Governing Canada: Institutions and Public Policy. Toronto: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. 1993. Aucoin, Peter. “Prime Minister and Cabinet,” in Bickerton and Gagnon, Oxford university press: Oxford, 1998. Axworthy, Thomas “The Essentials of Strategic Policy Making,” in Fox and White, eds. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1995. Bakvis, Herman. Rebuilding Policy Capacity in an Era of Virtual Government. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 1998. Cortner, Hanna and Margaret, Moote. The Politics of Ecosystem Management. Washington, D.C.: Island Press, 1999. Fox, Paul, and Graham White. Politics: Toronto: McGraw-Hill Ryerson, 1995. Harmilton, John. Branches of government. Denver: Rowman & Littlefield, 2005. Lindblom, Charles. The Policy Making Process. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1968. Lindquist, Evert and James Desveaux. Recruitment and Policy Capacity in Government. Ottawa: Public Policy Forum, 1998. Simon, Herbert. Administrative Behaviour: A Study of Decision Processes in Administrative Organization, 2nd Ed. New York: Free Press, 1965. Read More