Dimitris Christodoulakis et al.
Figure 1 shows the causal structure between the SEL‐entities of the governance model we have discussed previously.
Figure 1: Governance as a causal structure
Apart from the SEL‐entities, the picture is enhanced with many more entities which are collected together in three entity groups: Group A represents the circumstances under which the state is governed. Group B represents the factors under which the people are called to comply with the legislation. Group C represent the social interest groups, lobbies etc. Each one of the factors that participate in the groups has its own role in the causal structure. They have been grouped together merely to increase the readability of the graph. The pathway from Public Opinion to Public Policy Issues represents the process of creating political awareness, which in turn entrains several factors of Groups A, B and C. At the end of the political awareness processes a perception of political issues is created that leads to new legislation. Legislation generates lows, agreements, procedures, conventions, policies etc. Consequently, each public policy issue corresponds to a set of legislation factors which in turn affect the public opinion building process. Finally, there is a pathway from public opinion to public policy issues, along which changes are transmitted from public opinion to public policy issues.
As mentioned earlier, part of the government game are: business, the institutions of civil society and the media. Government is also influenced by history, tradition, culture, the economic situation and the technology
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