A policy is defined as a reletively stable, purposive course of action, followed by an actor or actors, in dealing with a problem or matter of concern. A public policy may be veiwed as a political systems response to demands arising from it's environment. These policies as developed over time, following a series of procedures before they are enacted into law.
The first step in policy formation begins with the policy problem. This is a condition or situation that produces needs or dissatisfaction amoung people for which releif or redress by government action is sought.A public problem must effect substantial amounts of people and have broad effects, and also offer abtainable solutions to be appropriate for government action.
The policymakers decide whether the problem should have positive action, meaning they will put it on the policy agenda, or negative action, meaning they will ignore the problem, put it off for another time, or decide no action should be taken. If this problem is of a public concern, it will be placed apon the systematic agenda for further review, or if it is of an govt,legislative matter, it go go to the institutional agenda.
Agenda setting goes through three basic streams of activity: The problem stream consists of the players, either inside or outside govt, trying to secure action. The policy proposal stream comprises possible solutions for problems, and the third course of action is the polotics stream, where as the propsal advocates wait for the right time to push their agendas, such as election times.
The formation of a policy involves developing pertinet courses of action and alternatives. Legislators should ask themselves, should we do something, and if so the laws should be written skillfull to avoid loopholes. A policy decision involves action by some official to adopt, modify, or reject. There are severl different models of theories in decision making.