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Abstract
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The translation of official policy into social action is one of the public bureaucracy’s most important tasks in the policy-making process.
How effectively it accomplishes this task may well play an important part in how well political stability is maintained Because ordinarily it is assumed that the policy-making process is undertaken in the good faith that official policy will be realized, when that policy is only ineffectively realized then the danger is present that parts of the population will become antagonistic and alienated - besides meaning that the condition meant to be improved or changed by the policy may stay the same or deteriorate.
Antagonism and alienation eventually lead to loss of support for the government as well as possible resort to violence to achieve ends. When sizeable numbers of people, either through their own experiences or through learning of the experiences of others, perceive that authoritatively determined policies are not being applied effectively, they may question the good faith of those charged with the application, or they may question the ability of democratic mechanisms to produce results. In either case, the resulting suspicion and disaffection lend themselves first to sporadic, then to organized violence and protest. Such situations also, of course, open the way for demagogues to mislead the hopeful by tainting their perceptions, and precipitating irrational protest and violence. Indeed, the fact that such possibilities exist is used by those charged with putting down protest to suggest that the protestors have been misled by people with personal or hidden motives, rather than being motivated by an objective situation. At what point antagonism and alienation arise probably varies with individuals’ expectations, which are in turn based upon their psychological tolerance, previous experiences, knowledge of the situation, and their faith in public officials’ willingness to act in good faith - as well as their own willingness to wait through a period of trial and error. |