By Citizen Initiative for the Promotion
of the Culture of Dialogue, AC

The Workshop Course took place on December 14, 2023, with the participation of Mr. Marco A. Zapata, advisor in the Chamber of Deputies; Mr. Alan E. Palomo Villegas, advisor in the Senate, and Mr. Joseph López Contreras, from the Criminal Investigation Agency of the Attorney General's Office (FGR), who presented the theoretical and practical elements of public policies.

The following are the main highlights of the experts' presentations:

Public Policies are generally understood to be programs that a government, whatever it may be, develops based on a specific problem or situation.

It has been decided to consider public policy as “everything that governments decide to do, or not to do.”

To establish the definition, 4 analysis situations are proposed:

Situations in which the State does not recognize a problem 
Situations in which the State recognizes a problem, prepares a diagnosis, establishes an objective and even a strategy, but decides not to go any further.
Situations in which the State, faced with a specific problem, executes a strategy or program of actions aimed at solving it through certain incentives.
The combination of several public decisions taken separately.
A very light but understandable definition of what Public Policies are can be understood as the privileged area of realization of the “pact” between State and society.

Main characteristics of a public policy:

They respond to specific public objectives or problems 
They can originate in participatory processes.
Citizen participation can influence the content, validity or modification of public policies.
Why are public policies important?

From a civil society perspective, Public Policies are relevant, since they constitute one of the socially available instruments to meet the needs of the population.
The vision that needs to be emphasized here is an instrumental one, emphasizing that they are “means to” the resolution of social problems.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Public Policies

Advantages: Public Policies have the potential to solve specific problems, to promote social integration: that is, to allow people to travel on the “same plane.” This last term also refers to the search for equity.

Disadvantages: In reality, Public Policies are not always so public, nor do they always respond to the needs of the people to whom they are supposedly directed.

What is a public problem?

A need becomes social when it ceases to be particular or individual, negatively affecting social and community well-being.

Likewise, the basic element for the construction of the subsystem of public problems is the process of socialization of human needs.

How is a public problem created?

A public problem is a decision to act to address it, but deciding not to act on a public problem is also a public policy.

The first definition of the problem is a crucial step. It gives the analyst: 

1. A reason to do all the work necessary to finish the project.

2. A sense of direction in obtaining evidence and information.

The idea of “a problem” usually means that people think something is wrong in the world. This can help us to prioritize or even organize our agenda. However, it does not have to be the only point of view that we should take into account, because sometimes we tend to exaggerate problems to the extreme due to the lack of information available.

Why, at some point, does an issue become problematic and force public authorities to intervene and do something? 

Political agendas are more the result of the mobilization of demands and pressures than of a rational process of evaluating needs, values and objectives. Here each actor sets his own agenda depending on his priorities and interests, which leads to an interaction between them and others who are involved.