Year: 1980
Type: article
Abstract: Insights into formulation and implementation of public policies may lead to improved decision-making and developmental results.Presumably, the leading goal of researchers in and out of government would be to describe and explain public policy along specific fronts.A goal of government in practice should be the utilization of existing or borrowed resources efficiently and effectively and the translation of policy statements into organizational objectives.One could then expect the public policy and administrative literature of a society in the process of development to deal with the following issues: (1) organizational structures and the coordination of policies among various agencies to achieve planned results; (2) the relative influence of agencies in specific policy areas within the context of a highly skewed distribution of power; and (3) budget formulation, execution, and auditing practices.The available literature in Costa Rica focuses largely on descriptive analyses of the first and second issues.The above works represent the major efforts in these areas as of 1977.It is unfortunate for both local policymakers, citizens, and foreign researchers that the bulk of critical analysis is performed by external agencies such as the World Bank and USAID.Such works are usually in English and unavailable to the public.As in the U.S., it is more accurate in Costa Rica to speak of nonprofit organizations than the "public sector" or "public bureaucracy."Despite the variation in levels of corporate input into public policymaking, the organizational purpose of the Costa Rican bureaucracy is to render services.The level of public service is related to the coordination of expenditures of autonomous and semiautonomous agencies by the president (Casa Presidencial) and the Planning Department (OFIPLAN).But, the public administration literature in Costa Rica focuses on nonprofit organizational performance largely incident to the question of explaining persistent underdevelopment.That is, the thrust of the literature is less on critical analysis and diagnosis of organizational behavior than on the general functioning of the total system of interests, institutions, and classes.Micro-analyses are produced mostly by the agencies themselves for internal consumption.Institutional coordination is a common problem with any set of structures
Source: Latin American Research Review
Author: George M. Guess
Institution: University of New Mexico
Language: English
Topic: Public Policy and Governance
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W4312927133