Choose a public policy in Hong Kong and then discuss the most appropriate model for explaining the way in which the policy was made. Give reasons for your choice.

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Q: Choose a public policy in Hong Kong and then discuss the most appropriate model for explaining the way in which the policy was made. Give reasons for your choice.

Introduction

Incremental decision making model has contributed much to our understanding of how policies are made and implemented. The purpose of this paper is to address the decision making model applied in Hong Kong by illustrating the environmental policies that have been made in the last two decades. Environmental policy was chosen in this paper because it has again become a popular point of discussion in Hong Kong due to the massive concern by the Chief Executive in his policy address. Besides, there are few controversial issues in recent years that aroused public concern and discussion too, such as the building of Disneyland, the development of Sha Lo Tung and the Western Railway Project by the Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation (KCRC).

This essay mainly comprised of three parts. First, I will mention the main features and characteristics of the incremental decision making model. Secondly, I will briefly discuss the environmental policies in Hong Kong in the last two decades, especially the Ordinances imposed by the Environmental Protection Department (EPD). Finally, I will analyze how the environmental policies have been made in the period and if they can be explained by the incremental decision making model. The main argument of this paper is that the incremental model is the most appropriate one in explaining the Hong Kong government in making environmental policies.

Incrementalism

Levine (1990, p. 82) suggests, "incrementalism is the prevailing mode of describing and explaining decision-making in some government. Their public decision making seems as muddling through rather than as a comprehensive search for the best policy possible". So incrementalism basically refers to the decision makers take what they are currently doing as given, and make small, incremental, marginal adjustments in their current behaviors. Lindblom (Levine, 1990, p. 83) argued that public decisions are best made in small steps, as Human intelligence and decision making capacity are limited; the world and its policy problems are complex.

Collins (1995, p.79) added, instead of specifying objectives and specifying what policies would fulfill these objectives, the decision maker reaches decisions by comparing specific policies and the extent to which these policies will help in achieving the aims. The alternative strategy of small steps away from the status quo is called 'disjointed incrementalism', which involves examining policies which differ slightly from each other. There is a general consensus that disjointed incrementalism is a good description of how decisions are actually made in organisations. Incrementalism is a good description of how policies are actually made and a good example of how policies should be made.

In fact, the central features of incrementalism can be outlined in four points. First, there is limited number of alternatives are considered, only marginally different from the status quo and from each other. Second, policy problems can never be solved once and for all, but through a series of trial-and-error modifications. Third, it is characterized by consensual which all policy makers agree upon after negotiation and compromise. Fourth, most policies are remedial in nature. Policy makers are reactive in only responding to problems already occurred, not to pursue any desirable societal value. In short, incremental policy-making "is a process of mutual adjustment among a multiplicity of actors having different self-interests and divergent conceptions of the public interest" (Hayes 1992, 13). According to the model, decision-making produces policies that depart ever so slightly from previous ones (Lindblom 1979, 517). Hence, this type of decision-making is "incremental" in nature.
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Therefore, it can be predicted that better policy will be resulted if decision makers launch only small departures from existing policies, assess how well those small departures work, and then make any additional adjustments that are necessary or desirable. According to Levine (1990, p. 83), "decision making is by successive limited comparisons rather than by large leaps into the unknown and perhaps unknowable". The approach helps to avoid major expensive errors and permits erroneous decisions to be revised.

Moreover, Levine (1990, p. 83) further suggested that incremental decisions aimed to minimize costs rather than maximize benefits. ...

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