Journal on Policy & Complex Systems Volume 3, Issue 1, Spring 2017 | Page 76

Policy and Complex Systems
democratic structure and decision processes . But , what this does not address is how democratized or not is a given policy system like the U . S . policy system and others . The next section addresses this issue .
Gaps in Conglomerated U . S . Policy Theory Model
Significant areas of the conglomerated model of U . S . policy making that are not focused upon incorporate a theory of democracy in policy making including the role of political and economic inequality , the capacity of a state to steer toward more democratic outcomes , as well as complex system behavior in policy making processes .
Democratic Policy
Currently , markers that describe types of policy outputs in the conglomerate U . S . policy model has been described in the U . S . policy theories that emphasize policy feedback and evaluation particularly as described by policy feedback theory and social construction theory ( Heikkila & Gerlak , 2013 ; Mettler & Sorelle , 2014 ; Schneider et al ., 2014 ). For Mettler and Sorelle , public policy outputs result in the meaning of citizenship , form and patterns of governance , and group power and advocacy including political agendas ( Heikkila & Gerlak , 2013 ; Mettler & Sorelle , 2014 ). In particular , citizenship means the rights and obligations of citizens including involvement in the political process allowed by a government system on its citizens .
The system of influence is one of group activity in the policy making process based on particular policy agendas of the groups ( Mettler & Sorelle , 2014 ). For social construction theory , the end result of a policy output or outcome is different types of policy designs for various public policies ( Schneider et al ., 2014 ). Each of these theories are oriented toward the process of how policy is made and all of the
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