The concept of federalism is one, which member groups are bound in togetherness by a covenant. There has to be a representative from the government who acts as their head.
Federalism can also take a form of government where there is some division between the central government and various political units for example states or provinces that operate autonomously. In any federal government, there has to be well formulated democratic rules with the power and authority to govern. The member states must thus share this power constituting what is referred to as a federation.
In federation, the constituent governments must be in favor of the federal government which has distributed powers across the national, supranational and regional level (Eugene, 2007). The most political influential movement since the early 1790s has been federalism. This is why a lot of emphasis should be put when it comes to formulating its policies and rules that will be operational over a long period of time.
Considerations in developing Emergency Response Policies
For effective development of emergency response policies there should be special considerations to issues that affect the federal government and federalism in general (Dye, 2010). This should be made with regard to views of the stakeholders since every federal government’s view must be represented in formulating the policies. The following are the considerations:
Involve stakeholders: members who form part of the federal government must be made aware and their views sorted in the process of formulating policies. This is done so as to represent each one’s view in the policies to be made.
Prediction system in place; there should be a well laid down prediction system which tries to preempt and foresee the occurrences of the emergencies and how each can be evaded. There should also be a very strong connection between the prediction system and the emergency response policies made. This will ensure anything that occurs do not take the government with a surprise.
Mechanisms and Procedures of response: there should be an appropriate differentiated procedure aimed at slowing down emergencies. Policies should thus be made alongside this consideration.
Financial consideration: there should be a flexible financial base to deal with any form of emergencies. In developing emergency policies, there should also be adequate finances to finance the whole process. There should also be good reinforcement plans to ensure the policies are operational, all these depends on finances so financial analysis is a basic consideration in emergency policy formulation.
Public Policy Lifecycle
Public policy lifecycle has a number of stages; starting from creation to the final stage which is repealed (Page, 2010). In general, the whole policy lifecycle consists of five stages. Discussion and debate; this is where policy proposals are presented to the members and each one gives his view or criticism before it moves to the second stage.
Political action; here politicians vote for or against the proposed policy, if majority vote for the policy it moves to the next step. Legislative proposal; here policy makers discuss possible solutions regarding whether to adopt the new policy or amend the existing one. The next step is law and regulation; here critical decisions are made, the public are excluded from this stage.
Here there are issues like, litigation, issue advocacy before the policy becomes effective. The final step is compliance; this is where the policy’s effectiveness is evaluated whether or not it meets its intents. If it is realized that the policy had not met its objective at any of the life cycle stages, there is repeal and the whole process begins afresh.
Importance of Developing a viable Policy
Viable policies will support growth and development; this is because they assist in directing resources towards viable cause which contributes to economic development.
Viable policies also create harmony and peace among the stakeholders, this is because federal government constituents will feel part of the policy and therefore contribute towards its effective implementation. Finally, viable policies assist in development of various administrative systems and institutions which fight bribery, fraudulent activities and corruption in public resources.
References
Dye, T. R. (2010). Understanding Public Policy, (13th Ed.). New York, NY: Longman Pearson Publishers.
Eugene, W. H. (2007). Why States? The Challenge of Federalism. Oxford: Heritage Books Publishers.
Page, S. (2010). 7 Steps to Better Written Policies and Procedures, (5th Ed.). Process Boston: Improvement Publishing.