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An Introduction to the Policy Process: Theories, Concepts, and Models of Public Policy Making, Third Edition
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Comments/Reviews
Description: Thoroughly revised, reorganized, updated, and expanded, this widely-used text sets the balance and fills the gap between theory and practice in public policy studies. In a clear, conversational style, the author conveys the best current thinking on the policy process with an emphasis on accessibility and synthesis rather than novelty or abstraction. A newly added chapter surveys the social, economic, and demographic trends that are transforming the policy environment.
The book makes generous use of visual aids and real-world examples that link theory to the concrete experience of practitioners. It includes chapter-at-a-glance outlines, definitions of key terms throughout, tabular and visual materials including cartoons, provocative review questions, annotated reading lists and a bibliography, as well as online materials for professor and students.
Selected Contents:
List of Tables and Figures
Preface to the Third Edition
1. Introducing the Policy Process
2. Elements of the Policy-Making System
3. The Historical and Structural Contexts of Public Policy Making of Public Policy Making ext
4. Official Actors and Their Roles in Public Policy
5. Unofficial Actors and Their Roles in Public Policy
6. Agenda Setting, Power, and Interest Groups
7.. Policies and Policy Types
8.. Policy Design, Policy Tools, and Decisions
9.. Policy Implementation, Failure, and Learning
10. Science and Theory in the Study of Public Policy
References
Index
About the Author
Comment(s): "Without a doubt the most readable, accessible and substantive introductory policy text on the market. Thomas Birkland's book provides students with all of the basic tools for understanding the practice and study of public policy."" -- Tom Hogen-Esch, California State University, Northridge (on the previous edition)
"Birkland does what no other author has done: he provides a theory- and concept-driven approach to the study of public policy. Most books in the field review one policy problem at a time, but Birkland's focus is on the processes, theories, and concepts that tie together the study of U.S. public policy in general. Students using this book, at no matter what level, get a clear sense of the conceptual and scientific issues that lie at the heart of the study of public policy. And they get an insight into the normative and philosophical issues that are key to understanding how policies are made--and upended--in a democracy." -- Frank R. Baumgartner, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
"In a concise, readable manner, Birkland's text conveys the essential who, what, when, where, why, and how of public policy-making. As both a policy practitioner and a teacher, I appreciate the book's discussion of real-world examples within the framework of important concepts from the policy literature. Even better, my students like it, too." -- John W. Hardin, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Chief Policy Analyst, North Carolina Board of Science and Technology (on the previous edition)
    
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