ABSTRACT
This chapter explores one small but important portion of the policy landscape, namely, two questions: What is a public policy issue? What are some of the problems associated with bringing the intellectual resources of the nation to bear on our national issues? A public policy issue may be defined as a fundamental enduring conflict among or between objectives, goals, plans, activities or stakeholders, which is not likely to be resolved completely in favor of any polar position in that conflict. The legislator, regulator, or judge dealing with a public policy issue rarely finds a clear field, that is a situation in which much of the underbrush of conflict can be quickly set aside and definitive action taken. Most people operate in ordinary discourse under the general assumption that they understand the issues and that the people with public responsibility also understand the issues. Bureaucracies in dealing with public issues often tend to avoid issues or to convert them into problems.
