Research

Policy decision making process in Latvia


Year:
2001
Organization:
Department of Policy Planning, State Chancellery


ABSTRACTThe goal of the research is to improve the process of policymaking, thereby contributing to a stable and sustainable development of the state and society. The authors used World Bank methodology to analyse the processes of decision making, implementation and actualisation in the Cabinet and Saeima (the Parliament) and drew a closer focus on four case studies of state policy.

The authors conclude that the improvement of government activity planning and policy making processes requires a better reconciliation of state development planning and government priority pinpointing on various levels, connecting these processes to state budget planning. Moreover, it would be advisable to increase the understanding of the concept of policy by incorporating the basic principles of policy-making processes in the working regulations of the Cabinet. To optimise the processes of policy implementation and monitoring, the authors recommend the undertaking of a more careful assessment of various financial, social and political consequences of the policies, preparing of detailed implementation plans, specifying the functions of the ministries and various institutions in dealing with cross-sector issues, and providing continuous financial and political support to policy implementation.

Among the successful policy implementation examples authors cite the policy on promotion of learning Latvian and crops intervention policy. From these cases the authors conclude that an important role in the decision making process is played by continuous policy evaluation and adjustment, adequate expertise of policy formulation, regular consultations with the non-governmental sector and policy beneficiaries, as well as sustained insistence on the goals of the policy. The following were mentioned as unsuccessful cases of policy implementation: retreat period from the planned pension system reform implementation and food market monitoring policy. The key drawbacks of the aforementioned cases were inappropriate consequence forecast, inefficient dialogue among the involved parties, and lack of clear goals and implementation coordination among the various institutions.

Policy decision making process in Latvia

((pdf Latvian, PDF, 425 KB)pdf)


Politika.lv raksts

Creative commons licence allows you to republish the content for free, with no change or improvement. Reference to the author and providus.Lv is required. Please support us with your donation!