Essay The Iron Triangle and Heclos Policy of Issue Networks

Heclo’s policy of issue networks is a new way of dealing with the connection between politics and its administration. Previously, the Iron Triangle was the way that the connection was dealt with. The Iron Triangle concept described the major players as congress, career bureaucrats and large interest groups. It was said that the groups had a give and take kind of relationship and eventually led to a reasonably easy way to create policy while somewhat satisfying each of the groups. Basically, the Congress passes laws, Bureaucrats implement the laws and the interest groups support the congress. However Heclo describes the new way of doing business in Washington. Heclo does not say the Iron Triangle theory is wrong he just says that†¦show more content†¦Heclo describes these groups as varied and operating on many different levels. We may have a small group that is very vocal and show up at meetings but do not reflect the majority of people. We may have a profe ssor or expert who is called by legislators for advice or to clarify some part of policy. Also, people are more involved and well read on issues and understand the issues more completely. There are a few problems with this way of doing things and we can look at the â€Å"Reinventing School Lunch† policy to see how this system can be effective and also cause some delays and problems. The original goal of the food lunch program was to feed malnourished school children and to help farmers by buying up some of their extra crops and commodities. This program worked well for 50 years and was a popular and accepted program. In the 1990’s the program was looked at and it was determined to look at and reinvent the school lunch program. There were many players in this reinvention and we have Helen Haas who is the head of the â€Å"food and nutrition services.† She is the lady who develops a feud with the School food service association. There are also other pla yers in the story including, school food workers, parent and teacher groups, the farmers, dietary advocacy groups, the dairy council, meat council, and various health groups. The