Government policy is the set of strategies and actions that governmental bodies use to respond to societal problems. Government policies can be both reactive, responding to the demands of social movements, or proactive, aiming to prevent future issues. They can be both formal, involving the creation of laws and regulations, and informal, comprising unwritten practices, customs, and beliefs that influence the decision-making process.
Government policies can have both local and global effects, ranging from the creation of teacher training programs to address educational inequality, to enacting minimum wage policies to ensure that workers are paid a living wage. Policymaking is a complex and sometimes opaque process, influenced by many factors including political ideology, economic conditions, and public opinion data.
Despite this complexity, there are a few key steps in the policymaking process. Agenda setting involves identifying which problems require attention by governmental bodies and determining the urgency of each issue. Policymakers then make judgements about whether the problem constitutes a worthy goal and is worthy of the resources needed to solve it.
The process of policymaking also includes defining objectives, assessing the cost and impact of potential solutions, and gathering support for these policies through consultation or referendums. The final step is implementation, converting a policy into concrete action. In the United States, this is done through the executive branch, where the president plays a key role in advocating for certain policies and has a veto power over any bill that fails to pass Congress.