Criticize the nature of public policy in authoritarian countries.Suggest mechanism to improve.

FARRAH WAHIDA BINTI ZULKIFLI (1720280) SECTION 2

Public policy in authoritarian states are accommodating to the needs of the politics.Hence we

can observe that the procedure in constructing the policy is done so to ensure the continuity of

the political party in hold of the office.The authoritarian rulers are abusing their power to retain

their authority.Therefore, they only prioritize what benefit them in order to secure their position

for a long term.Authoritarian leader are exercising their legitimate power to implement policy

only to suit their demands but they have abuse their absolute power by depriving the essential

needs of the citizen.

In authoritarian regime we can see that the leaders are incapable to provide a transparent and

efficient procedure as they are only busy striving to achieve their interests.Harshly, it could be

said that authoritative leaders are selfish in managing their country.There is no proper objective

to improve the national development and they fail to prepare an effective policy that can

convince the citizen that their condition could be improved.Most of authoritarian leaders are

less educated and this lead to a greater challenge to construct a good public policy.Hence, they

lack skills in governing.

Negative action such as rent-seeking has proven that leaders in authoritarian regimes do not

make any efforts to scale up their profits.Regrettably, they only focus on the limited natural

sources which lead to a stagnant economic growth.No initiatives are taken to boost economic

growth and this resulted in poverty,debt and unemployment.It is devastating to see that the

human development is declining and it affects the quality of life..Resource curse that is caused

by corruption and bribery reflect unproductive governance.Consequently, mutual distrust will

happen between the rulers and the people due to the absence of effective social

policy.Furthermore, the absence of interest group less interaction between the government and
its people had precluded the citizen from expressing their opinions and standing up for their

rights.

In order to improve the mechanism of public policy in authoritarian country, the leaders must

take an initiative to provide a medium for the citizen to engage with them to voice out their

needs.Furthermore, they must strictly impose prison sentences to the civil servants who are

involved in bribery,those who offer and take bribes.To reduce corruption, government official

must be given a substantial salary to prevent them from engaging corruption.Moreover, an

authoritarian leader of Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew has successfully practise the method of

giving incentive to the civil officers to stay honest.Remarkably, the incentive has encouraged

the civil officers to work honestly..Moreover, as authoritarian country hold strong control of

the internet development, they must take this opportunity to implement online government

service that can hinder dishonest official from demanding for bribes.

Publis policy is significant in ensuring that the welfare of the citizen is being taken care of and

that all citizen deserve equal opportunity.Good governance is derived from a good public

policy.Therefore, it is important for the government and the leaders to prepare a good

foundation of policy that can secure the needs of the people. (500 words)