How is the reintroduction of privatization impacting public policy decision making and the targeted social outcomes? For example, imagine a state determines that access to high-speed int

Destiny Nance

Southern New Hampshire University

PAD 630

January 8th, 2023

Introduction Public Administration In practice

The reappearance of privatization is affecting public policy and the consequences that were originally intended to benefit the general population. As defined by the Heritage Foundation, privatization "refers to efforts to reduce government involvement in either the design or conduct of a particular service" (Denhardt et al., 2018). When a service or asset is privatized, "we, the public," say the authors of "Privacy & Tools: Challenging Privatization" (2012), "lose the opportunity to have a voice in decisions impacting that service or asset." In theory, privatization sounds good, however The Partnership for Working Families "has documented countless examples that indicate that the stated benefits of privatization are largely misconceptions." (2012, "Privacy & Tools: Challenging Privatization").

Professionalism and political dualism were two of Woodrow Wilson's core beliefs; he is often regarded as the "founder of public administration" (Public Administration (Woodrow Wilson), 2021). After enrolling at Princeton University, Woodrow Wilson took a course in public administration, eventually publishing the widely read The Study of Administration. This article is considered seminal because it laid out the fundamentals of public administration and provided a road map for its implementation.

Public versus private administration is an argument that has remained contested for decades. Back in the 1980s, there was a widespread uptake of operations by governments, especially in the developed world’s such as Europe and America. Governments were deeply involved in establishing roads, bridges, and waterways. They were also involved in the service industry, such as health and installing hospital units. The services extended to the banking industry which the government played a major stakeholder. However, at the start of the 1990s, the shift changed so that privatization became the thing. The private industry's expected efficiency and self-sufficiency were vital factors driving the practice. Consequently, privatization has greatly affected the public policies of various governments (Wang et al., 2018). One such area is formulating policies that make high-speed Internet an essential tool in achieving long-term public health. It is essential for the state governments to form partnerships with the private industry to successfully deliver high-speed internet services to the general public for a healthy state.

Civil Service Implementation

Government agencies and departments adopted civil service in an effort to boost output, efficiency, and achievement. Considering this to have been the initial intention of the civil service, it is clear that the civil service has had a major impact on federal government service. Since the purpose of government is to ensure smooth operations, these checks ensure that the public sector is implementing the necessary reforms to realize its goals. They serve as counselors to those in public service, giving them advice on how they might enhance their performance.

High-speed internet services are quite a competitive business. It thus requires a capitalist-driven mind to keep one's business as a going concern. The need to make such a service available to all may be futile for any private business. However, incorporating the government brings some advantages that may make the process more efficient (Mendez et al, 2021). This includes applying the civil system mode of hiring based on patronage rather than patronage. The presence of civil government as an oversight board brings some sense of accountability of the firm to the general public and thus calls for more transparency in the conduction of daily business.

Local Government Operations

Privatization's prevalence is fast rising at national and local government levels. In the case of internet service delivery, the backbone of this essential service is being handed over to the private sector, with the local government leader taking less effect. The Domain Name System (DNS) and Internet Protocol (IP) address system have since been transferred from the governor's leadership (Tarnoff, 2022). The effect is that instead of the local governments having the mandate to provide a government-subsidized backbone to one where the private market is the one to provide such a service. The local government is now taking less role in the limelight and focusing on and easing operations of the private firms to make the service affordable to the citizens. Thus, this phenomenon can be equated to managers being more prevalent and less of the mayor.

Impact of Iron Triangle

The combination of ingredients in the Iron Triangle is fascinating. It's a mutually beneficial arrangement in which all three parties get something they want and contribute to the passage of policies. When lobbyists donate to a government body, it's because they hope the legislature will approve legislation that benefits their cause ( The Bureaucracy: The Real Government, n.d.). The special interest groups lobby the legislature by testifying positively about the bureaucracy in order to have the bureaucracy pass regulations that promote their interests.

Like many other policies, the privatization of high-speed internet services is subject to influence by partisans of the iron triangle. While the federal government is looking to extend its influence across the different states, the policy is unlikely to take effect if certain groups' needs are unmet. For instance, the service's subsidization level should be sufficient to attract private investors, who are often the special interest groups with the capacity to conduct such enormous projects. Nevertheless, the extent to which the special groups can hold a federal or local government at stake is usually counteracted by the presence of bureaucratic institutions that can offer such services. In the case of privatization of high-speed Internet, the bureaucratic institutions maintain unique roles, including maintenance and enforcement of the laws (Brownstein, 2020). Thus, where there is more bureaucratic power, special interests are at a disadvantage.

Organizational Differences

Although privatization has many drawbacks in the perspective of the public for many reasons, it also offers many benefits. Nonetheless, privatization might help the government address many of the problems it currently faces, including the enormous deficit it is experiencing and a lack of efficiency and discipline. Providing they hire the right non-governmental organizations (NGOs), the government can save money by privatizing additional services and put that money to better use elsewhere.

The powers of a government limit the extent of administration of high-speed Internet by the government. In the case of federal government involvement, the legislative laws in place only allow this form of government to play an oversight role rather than conduct the day-to-day activities left to the state government. The difference in state laws brings out systematic differences in service delivery and affordability (Brownstein, 2020). On the other hand, privatization eliminates border limitations and can traverse many states. Such private companies include Brightspeed and Spectrum. It is thus beneficial to operate as a private firm.

Legal Differences

Privatization-inducing mandates can be put in place to guarantee that the NGO delivering the service or good is up to snuff with what the government requires, or that the NGO is being treated and compensated properly. Furthermore, whether a service is provided by the government or a non-governmental organization, there may already be various mandates in place that will impact whoever is providing the service. The Federal Aviation Administration, which is part of the Department of Transportation, is charged with ensuring the security and reliability of the country's air travel system (Airport Privatization: Issues and Options for Congress, 2021).

Cultural Differences

Political appointments have the potential to harm both the public and private sectors. Something that has a bad effect on a private company's culture is likely to have an adverse effect on the company's bottom line. On the other hand, it might not have any effect on the culture at all than sparking some discussion among the staff. Evidence from the public sector showed that "after appointments were made in these agencies, enforcement actions saw a dramatic drop" (Political Appointments and Government Performance: What can be Done, 2017).

Branches of Government

The executive branch has some significant powers when it comes to enacting policies. Depending on how fit it considers the privatization of internet services, the policy can be passed and made into law or veto it altogether after congress has approved the process. On the other hand, the executive can also bypass congress through an executive order and make the policy formal even where there is congressional resistance (Laplane & Mazzucato, 2020). Even so, most of the time, decisions are reached in unison through affirmative action.

The executive branch is responsible for carrying out and enforcing legislation. As a result, it will be their responsibility to ensure that all legal requirements are met, both generally and with regard to the NGO, throughout the privatization of services. All laws and governmental budgets are crafted and managed by legislators. Therefore, it is possible that they would set the price tag for privatizing the service and decide how to tax the NGO's revenues.

Legislative Branch

The legislative branch of the government comprises the house and the senate. It is the arm that formulas the policies of internet privatization and the extent to which the government will be involved in service delivery (Laplane & Mazzucato, 2020). In addition, congress makes a budget to go with the policy such that upon its approval by the executive arm, the implementation process begins immediately.

Judiciary Branch

From time to time, the interests of the executive and legislative arms of the government conflict. Privatizing internet services may mean that major stakeholders in the iron triangle lose a significant amount of investment, which may limit the executive from enacting the law. Such conflicts require the incorporation of the judiciary to evaluate the interests of both parties as per the law and reach an agreement that serves as the final decision (Laplane & Mazzucato, 2020). It is thus essential that the judiciary acts independently.

Zero-Based Budgeting

New policy implementation comes with a designated budget. When privatizing the Internet and making it available to everyone, the government must subsidize private companies costs. In zero-based budgeting, such funds must be demonstrated to impact achieving the goal of improved public health positively (Menifield, 2020). Thus, it makes the managers more accountable while also working with a flexible budget if they can prove its usefulness. However, this budgeting is tedious and requires in-depth analysis for each financial year. Such intensity limits its proper adoption.

While zero-based budgeting has the potential to be incredibly useful, it is also notoriously challenging to put into practice. This is beneficial since it "forces them to justify all operating expenses" (Cheng, 2021). They will have to consider the value of every dollar spent by asking themselves where it's going and why. Starting a budget from scratch can be challenging and time-consuming. It might be less time- and labor-consuming to simply adjust an existing budget after analyzing it to discover which parts succeeded and which didn't in the past.

Performance-Based Budgeting

By focusing on actual results rather than estimates, performance-based budgeting can be a very useful tool. Instead of deciding where every dollar goes, a performance-based budget is focused on what has to be accomplished. The budget will allocate a certain amount of money to each objective, which can be spent in any way that best serves the objective. Creating a larger buffer inside the budget allows for more flexible spending.

Performance-based budgeting works well in such a scenario where public healthcare is the measure of the efficacy of subsidizing high-speed Internet. If the subsidy can improve healthcare-seeking behavior, for instance, it is justified to allocate more funds (Menifield, 2020). While this mode encourages transparency, it can also attract conflicting priorities.

Emerging Budget Strategies

One method of constructing a budget that uses historical data is called activity-based budgeting. They start with the end in mind and work backward to determine the best course of action and the associated costs. In order to accurately estimate the budget's needs and account for all costs, this method can be quite helpful; however, it requires careful attention to detail to guarantee that nothing is overlooked. If you don't account for every department that's essential for running things but might not have much of an effect on the end result, you might miss out on some funding ( Five types of budgets: Which one is right for you, 2021).

Impact of Social Media

Increasing access to high-speed Internet boosts not only public health access but also the number of social media users. Through such forums as Twitter, individuals are now able to air their views and agitate for change in government offices more (Hyland et al., 2021). The government operations are thus better and encourage more accountability.

For the state, social media has both positive and negative aspects. Compared to other methods, it can help the government get an urgent message out to a wide audience quickly. It can also reach people who may not be exposed to news on television or other similar media (Gramlich, 2020). Videos of meetings, campaigns, and so forth can also be uploaded there for the benefit of those who were unable to catch the original broadcast.

Impact of Other Media Types

Television news is a popular form of media. Many citizens rely on their local news channel as a source of government-issued information and updates. The problem with the public depending on the news for government updates is that many news outlets are biased. There are news outlets that present any and every information as if it were true (Gramlich, 2020).

Communication Strategies

The communication strategies of government leaders have been profoundly altered by the explosion of media outlets. They have to spend more time communicating because they have to use every available channel to maximize their impact. They have to make sure that their written notification is clear so that people get the message, and then they have to put it up in a lot of different locations.

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