Public policy and factors influencing public policy dr s b m marume ba hons ba ma madmin msoc sc phd senior lecturer and acting chairperson department of public administration abstract within the broader content of the political system public policy comprising several elements aiming. General objective this policy stream in politics and public policy offers an excellent preparation for further research work or for work in public sector policy analysis and consultancy european institutions non governmental organizations and the private sector. The separation of policy and politics weakens the public policy field arguments for best policy that ignore institutional constraints are often stillborn congress ignores them or the bureaucracy cannot implement them that for instance was the fate of the early proposals for welfare reform that economists drafted in the 1960s and 1970s. Paul pross 1995 offered an early definition as well as a diagrammatic portrait of policy communities policy communities are groupings of government agencies pressure groups media people and individuals including academics who for various reasons have an interest in a particular policy field and attempt to influence it p 265