This paper has as its main objective the critical analysis of role played by different organizations, social groups and people, in general, in the design, implementation and evaluation of the public policies. Our approach contradicts the traditional perspective on the role of the state in the public policies, seen as the only actor involved in this process, being neutral, beyond group interests and acting for the public good. We demonstrate the important role played by key social groups, starting with the birth of public policies, through the process of social and political mobilization. We are concerned especially with the role of the state in regulating of social competition between people and groups, in imposing rules within this competition and in the distribution and redistribution of social rewards (wealth, power, prestige, etc.). We demonstrate the role of the interaction between people, groups and organizations in the public policy fabric, through examples and mini-case studies taken from public policies, mostly in Romania. The present paper does not give definitive answers to these problems, but it is an invitation to polemics and it opens suggestions for future research.