Revista Tinerilor Economiºti (The Young Economists Journal)

Revista Tinerilor Economişti (The Young Economists Journal)
PUBLIC POLICIES-FROM THE DILEMMA OF RESOURCES ALLOCATION TO THE ETHICAL
DECISION MAKING
Assoc. Prof. Dorina Ţicu 40 Ph. D
Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, Iaşi
Faculty of Philosophy and Social-Polictical Sciences
Iaşi, România
Abstract: Public politicies are institutionalized activities, which develop in
the public space and which have to aim at a resource allocation (in a
material sense or not) to the members of a community. Public politics aim
at the common good of a society or a community, implying the insurance
of the best government. Article aims to assess the relationship between
public policy and ethics from a theoretical perspective based on three
guidelines: public policy-as actions to secure the general welfare (in terms
of ethical and political theories), as actions that tend towards an ideal
hierarchy of interests (in terms of utilitarianism, contractualism and
ironism) and as actions seeking a fair allocation of resources (in terms of
public choice theory). Such analysis becomes a challenge as long as, in
practice, ethical principles can not be replaced or chosen at random.
JEL classification: H10, H11, H40, H41
Key words: public policy, etics, ironism, hierarchy of interests, allocation of
resources
1. Introduction: from public policy at the universe of discourse
Public policies are part of the triad known in the literature as politics, political,
public policy, being the most applied part of policy and of politics.
The public policies are defined by Peters as the „sum of the governmental
activities accomplished directly or indirectly, by means of certain agents, in the light of
the influence those activities have on the citizens” (Profiroiu, 2006).
Dye succinctly affirms that the public policies represent „what the governments
decide to do or not to do” (Bondar, 2006).
Leslie Pal defines a public policy „as that course of action or lack of action
chosen by the public authorities in response to a certain problem or to a set of
interconnected problems” (Mungiu-Pippidi, Ioniţă, 2002).
Lasswell and Kaplan talked about „a designed program of certain purposes,
values and practices” (Profiroiu, 2006). „A public policy is, in Adrian Miroiu’s opinion,
a network of interconnected decisions concerning the choice of objectives, means and
resources allotted in order to reach them in specific situations” (Miroiu, 2001). Jean-
Claude Thoenig thought that the „public policies define better and offer a broader
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40 This work was supported by the the European Social Fund in Romania, under the
responsibility of the Managing Authority for the Sectoral Operational Programme for Human
Resources Development 2007-2013 [grant POSDRU/CPP 107/DMI 1.5/S/78342].