PAD 510 Week 10 Discussion 1 & 2 Underwear Bomber

PAD 510

Week 10 Discussion 1

The “Underwear Bomber”. Please respond to the following:

In the textbook, Birkland argues that the “underwear bomber” case tipped the balance in favor of using screening machines that showed a clearer image of a screened passenger’s body under his or her own clothes. Take a position on the following question and provide support for your position: Do you agree that public sentiment supports the use of such machines.

In reading the case of the “underwear bomber”, I am in favor of using the screening machines that shows a clear image of passenger’s body parts. If a body scanner can save countless of lives and prevent terrorism then I am all for it. I believe it is necessary, for them to ensure that citizen are not embarrassed if so they should have a private area where they will have the citizen walk through. I believe the other benefit of these machines will also stop drug mules from smuggling illegal drugs in our country. Or any other illegal items that are brought in our country daily. Even though it is an invasion of privacy, they are there to protect us from the unknown. I feel these scanners should not just be at the airport but be implemented, boat, train, bus any where the public goes. We have to stop being so ignorant and realize that there are people who wish to do harm to us. They are willing to take the time and risk their lives just to do harm to us. We have people who are trying their best to keep us safe. Instead of us complaining, we must join them in the fight of terrorist attacks on the United States.

Take a position on the following question and provide support for your position: Does the failed attempt to bomb Northwest Airlines flight 253 in 2009 (“underwear bomber”) reflect policy failure or policy success?

References:

  • I feel the failed attempt to bomb Northwest Airlines flight 253 in 2009 reflects a policy success.  The purpose of the policy was to prevent terrorist attacks on the United States. The terrorist still manage to find a way to create terror for the United States. His actions could have been preventing in the beginning but the policy failed on his first try. According to Wikipedia, the terrorist, Abdulmutallab traveled from Ghana to Amsterdam, where he boarded Northwest Airlines Flight 253 to Detroit. The ticket agent refused to allow Abdulmutallab on the plane because he did not have his own passport. These circumstances underlie some of the passengers’ speculations that the U.S. government supplied a defective device to the perpetrator and a man in a tan suit with an American accent intervened, the matter was referred to a manager, and Abdulmutallab was then able to board the plane, presumably still without a passport. Abdulmutallab spent about 20 minutes in the bathroom as the flight approached Detroit, and then covered himself with a blanket after returning to his seat. Other passengers then heard popping noises, smelled a foul odor, and some saw Abdulmutallab’s trouser leg and the wall of the plane on fire. We as citizens of the United States must take ever attack serious, and we must keep our minds searching for new ways to protect our country. Because just when we get comfortable in our state of mind, someone else is thinking of ways to harm us. This will be a never ending battle.

Birkland, T. A. (2011). An Introduction to the Policy Process: Theories, Concepts, and Models of Public Policy Making 3rd Edition. Armonk, New York and London, England: M.E. Sharpe, Inc.

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab. (2012, September 7). Retrieved September 9, 2012, from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umar_Farouk_Abdulmutallab

Top-Down vs. Bottom-Up. Please respond to the following:

  • Week 10 Discussion 2

Evaluate and then suggest the most important problem with top down models of policy implementation by citing at least two problems associated with this model.

Top-down approach is a way of studying policy design and implementation that considers the goals of the highest-level policy designers, and traces the design and implementation of the policy through the lowest level implementers.

The most problematic feature of top-down is the emphasis on clear objectives or goals. Without a consensus on what program goals are, it is hard to set a benchmark for program success and failure .

Another problem with top-down models is the assumption that there is a single national government that can successfully structure policy implementation and provide for direct delivery of services .

Top-down approaches assume that policy is contained in a single statute or other authoritative statement. The fragmented and in some ways incrementalist nature of policy making in the United states means that, when one talks about “environmental policy” or “educational policy” or “health policy,” one is discussing a wide collection of separate and sometimes contradictory policies.

Evaluate and then discuss whether bottom up approaches address these problems.

Bottom-up approach is a way of studying policy design and implementation that considers the abilities and motivations of the lowest-level implementers, and tracks policy design from that level to the highest levels of government . Called backward mapping, in which the implementation process and the relevant relationships are mapped backward, from the ultimate implementer to the topmost policy designers. This approach is built on a set of assumptions that stand in marked contrast to the implicit assumptions of “forward mapping” or top-down approaches .

First, the bottom up approach recognizes that goals are ambiguous rather than explicit and may conflict not only with other goals in the same policy area, but also with the norms and motivations of the street-level bureaucrats .

Second, the bottom-up approach does not require that there be a single defined “policy” in the form of statute or other form. Rather, policy can be thought of as a set of laws, rules, practices, and norms, such as “energy policy” or “criminal procedure,” that shape the ways in which government and interest groups address these problems.

Analyze the bottom-up shortcomings.

On balance, evaluate which model you think would best aid someone who is attempting to design a policy and support your reasons.

    • Bottom-up approach overemphasizes the ability of the street-level bureaucrats to frustrate the goals of the top policy makers .
    • Bottom-up models of implementation also assume that groups are active participants in the implementation process .

The top-down approach is much more useful when there is a single, dominant program that is being studied. Top-down approaches are appropriate when one has limited resources to “backward map” the implementation of a particular issues .

On the other hand, bottom-up modeling makes sense when there is no single dominant program and when one is more interested in the local dynamics of implementation than in the broad sweep of design .

I feel that both models will aid someone in the implementation of designing a policy. The person must decide which is most important. For me, bottom-up is the most important.

References:

Birkland, T. A. (2011). An Introduction to the Policy Process: Theories, Concepts, and Models of Public Policy Making 3rd Edition. Armonk, New York and London, England: M.E. Sharpe, Inc.

Top-down and bottom-up design. (2012, Semptember 4). Retrieved September 9, 2012, from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Top-down_and_bottom-up_design

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