A Classification of Public Policies and Their Impact

Types of Public Policy

There have been various classifications of public policies, some based on their social and economic impact, including:

• Distributive
• Redistributive
• Anticipatory
• Reactive

The Nature of Innovation in Policy

New governments often seek to introduce initiatives that differ from those of the previous administration. Similarly, a returning government starting a new term may aim to produce a new program. When new governmental structures are configured, such as federal or autonomous systems, innovative public policies also tend to appear.

Innovation, however, is not synonymous with originality. A policy can be innovative by imitating the politics of a neighboring country or a higher-level organization, even if it is not entirely original.

Classification by Content

Idealistic Public Policies

These occur when the necessary means for execution are lacking. For example, a decision might be made by Parliament, but without the necessary provisions or laws to enable its execution, the initiative is forgotten. For a policy to be considered a real public policy, there must be at least a minimal study of its decision-making and application procedures. Otherwise, it would be considered merely a political promise or a policy statement.

Symbolic Public Policies

The decision has symbolic content with little material impact but holds great significance for community life. Examples include changing a national flag, anthem, or coat of arms. A language change also has a symbolic character, but in this case, it is typically accompanied by significant administrative measures in education and all public services, which must then be conducted in the new language.

Prescriptive and Operational Public Policies

The former, prescriptive policies, involve a regulatory mandate to be fulfilled by the general citizenry and establish administrative and/or judicial proceedings. Operational public policies, on the other hand, involve a mandate for public authorities to provide a service or produce a public good.

The key issue here is not the innovative nature of the policy but the character of the decision itself. In practice, we often only consider public policies to be those decisions that significantly impact and change the social relations within a community. However, the method for creating and implementing these initiatives is similar to that of other public policies.