SOCIALSCI JOURNAL

A Proposed Styleto RationalizeDecision-Making in Public Policy Making in Gulf Cooperation Countries

Abstract

Ahmed Mustafa Elhussein Mansour

The approach of this paper is both normative and analytical. The normative aspect intends to present one possible rational approach, i.e.,Multigoal Analysis, to address the challenges posed bysome types of public policy problems in the Gulf Cooperation Countries and to help provide manageable information on public policy problems to address uncertainty surrounding them. Many important public policy issue areas present considerable challenges to policymakersin the Gulf Cooperation Countries. The traditional economic tools such as cost-benefit analysis (CBO) and cost-effectiveness (CE), emphasize the criteria of efficiency and admit only quantitatively monetized criteria. Therefore they are not suitable for some ill-structured types of public problems encountered by the Gulf Cooperation Countriespolicymakers because they involve many criteria. Unlike the economic tools, the Multigoal approach integrates economic, social, political, administrative as well as other types of criteria that are important to policymakers in the Gulf Cooperation Countries.Unfortunately, at present policy advisors in the GCC in different areas of ill-structuredproblems are drawn from economists and business administration specialists who, by their very training, do not consider any criteria beyond efficiency and effectiveness. The analytical side of the paper seeks to review critically in public policy analysis the literature and to analyze the particular political context in the Gulf Cooperation Countries and the types of public problems it produces.