The Politics of Physician Assisted Suicide by Nina Clark

Author:Nina Clark [Clark, Nina]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Social Science, Sociology, General
ISBN: 9781317777083
Google: 9aTrAgAAQBAJ
Barnesnoble:
Goodreads: 3696588
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 1997-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

IV

Policy-making By Default: The Initiative

This chapter addresses why the initiative is frequently the vehicle of last resort in attempting to legalize an issue. Why and how do certain subjects gain public acceptance? I suggest that when the Default Model encounters the right timing coupled with a lengthy gestation period, the result can be quite satisfactory. One of the main objectives of this section is to explore the politics of physician assisted suicide within the context of this framework. The history and mechanics of the initiative process is also included for the purpose of understanding the present and long-term implications of direct democracy.

A discussion of how certain topics become objects of direct democracy must begin with the question of how policy is usually made. While many different scholars posit their own “formulas” for policy-making, there are certain elements which all of these formulas share. Policy-making involves the interaction between legislatures (federal or state) and the general populace. So called “linkage institutions,” parties, elections, interest groups and the media function as the interactive forces between the people and policy-makers. This does not, however, guarantee that even though a concern has been voiced, in a public opinion poll for example, that the problem will be addressed by public officials. Therein lies the challenge inasmuch as articulating a perceived problem is rarely problematic. The difficulty lies in finding the means whereby it will be addressed.

Sometimes, the courts are called upon to “fix what's broken” in the same or similar way that the legislatures might be called upon. The fact that the courts are a passive institution, means that they must wait to be approached with an issue. Hoefler and Kamoie (1994) assert that [state] courts are in a “buck stops here” situation: they cannot go out of their way to make policy, but when something like the right-to-die falls into their lap, they are obliged to deal with it (p. 221). Having heard and decided such seminal cases as Quintan (1976) and Cruzan (1990), state courts are given the credit for recognizing and asserting a terminally ill individual's right to refuse medical treatment (Hoefler and Kamoie, 1991). This implies that they sometimes serve as “alternative” policy-makers, promulgating public policy when legislatures choose not to place an issue on their agenda. Hoefler and Kamoie (1994) suggest that “legislatures also enjoy the luxury of benign neglect… That is, when clear policy solutions to problems do not present themselves together with political impetus for policy making, legislatures defer to the courts.”

How is it that only certain issues garner the attention of policy-makers? Numerous elements are involved. Cobb and Elder (1983: 86) assert that three major components determine whether or not policy-makers will take notice of a subject:

1.

How serious is the problem/issue?

2.

Does the problem fall within the realm of government?

3.

Is this issue important enough to a particular decision-maker so that he or she will champion its cause?

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