Short answers, pulled from the story.
Law can compel or prohibit behaviors outright, such as requiring the payment of taxes on income. Policy guides actions toward outcomes the issuing organization considers desirable, without mandating them. The distinction means that policy operates through direction rather than enforcement.
Theodore J. Lowi, the American political scientist, proposed four types of public policy: distributive, redistributive, regulatory, and constituent. He outlined this framework in his articles "Four Systems of Policy, Politics and Choice" and "American Business, Public Policy, Case Studies and Political Theory". Each type differs in how it allocates or constrains resources and behavior.
James E. Anderson's model, published in Public Policy-Making in 1974, identifies five stages: agenda setting, policy formulation, decision-making, implementation, and evaluation. It is described as the most common and widely recognized version of the stages model. Evaluation often feeds back into problem identification, restarting the cycle.
Three conditions must be satisfied. The organization must hold comparative evidence on the policy versus at least one alternative. That evidence must support the policy according to the organization's own preferences. And the organization must be able to provide a sound explanation of the evidence and preferences underpinning the claim.
Horizontal policy involves joint work across governmental and departmental boundaries to address broad social issues such as poverty and social integration. Quebec's Act to Combat Poverty and Social Exclusion, passed in 2002, is a documented example. Gail Motsi's analysis for the Institute on Governance found that successful horizontal initiatives depend on effective coordination of what needs to be shared and when.
A policy document typically contains a purpose statement, an applicability and scope statement, an effective date, a responsibilities section, and policy statements. Some documents also include background sections explaining the history and intent behind the policy, and definitions sections to clarify key terms. The document usually carries the endorsement or signature of executive powers within the issuing organization.