Shifting Power to Make Government Programs More Effective

• In Event: Privatization, Policy Instability, and the Pursuit of Effective Public Service

Abstract

Creating, sustaining, and administering social policies in ways that make people’s lives better is a central purpose of government. Though efficiency has often taken center stage in public discourse around social programs, scholars have not adequately attended to effectiveness. We define effective policy as that which: (1) meets the material needs of the people it is meant to help (2) enhances the democratic capacities of those who benefit from it (3) accomplishes these goals while imposing minimal burdens. Using this definition as a springboard, we examine an important but often overlooked mechanism for effectively administering social policy: power. Per the existing status quo, those with the most at stake are rarely the critical drivers of decision-making within government programs. People who rely on programs like Medicaid, SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program), and WIC (Special Supplemental Program for Women, Infant, and Children), are resource poor, widely stigmatized, and presumed ill equipped to be active participants in governance. Drawing on in-depth research interviews with more than 250 users of such programs, we cull the insights of program participants to make the case that incorporating their voices into governance processes can contribute to the effectiveness of social programs. Our qualitative evidence highlights the loss of information and missed opportunities produced by a top-down approach to governance. Most broadly, we argue that cultivating effective social programs requires systematic shifts in the balance of power between the users of such programs, the bureaucrats who administer them, and the policymakers who design them.

Authors

• Jamila D Michener, Cornell University
  Presenting Author

• Carolyn Barnes, The University of Chicago
  Non-Presenting Co-Author