All too often, public policy textbooks offer a basic grounding in the policy process without the benefit of integrating the use of policy analysis. Kraft and Furlong, since their first edition, take a different tack. They want students to understand how and why policy analysis is used to assess policy alternatives--not only to question the assumptions of policy analysts, but to recognize how analysis is used in support of political arguments. To encourage critical and creative thinking on issues ranging from the financial bailout to rising gas prices to natural disasters, the authors introduce and fully integrate an evaluative approach to policy. Public Policy starts with a concise review of institutions, policy actors, and major theoretical models. The authors then discuss the nature of policy analysis and its practice, and show students how to employ evaluative criteria in six substantive policy areas. Public Policy arms students with analytic tools they need to understand the motivations of policy actors--both within and outside of government--influence a complex, yet comprehensible, policy agenda. Enhancements to the 4th edition: - All chapters have been comprehensively updated to include recent events, issues, and policy debates including the conduct of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the use of private contractors for military support and operations, the rising cost of gasoline and disputes over energy policy and climate change, the controversy over immigration policy, requirements for financial regulation, heightened concerns over economic and social inequality, and the clash over reforming taxes and entitlement programs, as well as dealing with the federal deficit and national debt. - New and updated "working with sources" and "steps to analysis" features help students investigate sources of information and apply evaluative criteria. - New and updated end-of chapter discussion questions, suggested readings, and web sites.

In Public Policy: Politics, Analysis, and Alternatives, students come to understand how and why policy analysis is used to assess policy alternatives. To encourage critical and creative thinking on issues ranging from the federal deficit to health care reform to climate change, authors Michael Kraft and Scott Furlong introduce and fully integrate an evaluative approach to policy. The Sixth Edition of Public Policy offers a fully revised, concise review of institutions, policy actors, and major theoretical models as well as a discussion of the nature of policy analysis and its practice. Both the exposition and data have been updated to reflect major policy controversies and developments through the end of 2016, including new priorities of the Donald Trump administration.

'Public Policy' starts with the basics and describes government institutions, identifies primary policy actors, and reviews major theoretical models. The authors then discuss the nature of policy analysis and its practice, and show students how to employ evaluative criteria in six substantive policy areas.

Updated in its 3rd edition, Basic Methods of Policy Analysis and Planning presents quickly applied methods for analyzing and resolving planning and policy issues at state, regional, and urban levels. Divided into two parts, Methods which presents quick methods in nine chapters and is organized around the steps in the policy analysis process, and Cases which presents seven policy cases, ranging in degree of complexity, the text provides readers with the resources they need for effective policy planning and analysis. Quantitative and qualitative methods are systematically combined to address policy dilemmas and urban planning problems. Readers and analysts utilizing this text gain comprehensive skills and background needed to impact public policy.

This edited volume discusses direct citizen participation and public policymaking in Turkey. Written by a diverse group of scholars and practitioners, this book advances the field of public policy by critically examining whether and how direct citizen participation may add value to government business. Structurally, the book focuses on the core topics of public administration, the generation of public services, the design and implementation of public policies, citizens and networks, new business models, and local perspectives. Using Turkey as a case study, this volume fills a gap in the literature and will appeal to researchers interested in public policy in the MENA context.

Covering global threats such as climate change, population growth, and loss of biodiversity, as well as national, state, and local problems of environmental pollution, energy use, and natural resource use and conservation, Environmental Policy and Politics provides a comprehensive overview of U.S. policy-making processes, the legislative and administrative settings for policy decisions, the role of interest groups and public opinion in environmental politics, and the public policies that result. It helps readers understand modern environmental policy and its implications, including the need for a comprehensive and integrated approach to problem solving.

In conjunction with the 50th anniversary of the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency, this book brings together leading scholars and EPA veterans to provide a comprehensive assessment of the agency’s key decisions and actions in the various areas of its responsibility. Themes across all chapters include the role of rulemaking, negotiation/compromise, partisan polarization, judicial impacts, relations with the White House and Congress, public opinion, interest group pressures, environmental enforcement, environmental justice, risk assessment, and interagency conflict. As no other book on the market currently discusses EPA with this focus or scope, the authors have set out to provide a comprehensive analysis of the agency’s rich 50-year history for academics, students, professional, and the environmental community.

The Handbook of Public Administration, Vol. 1 , Livre de Lyon

This is an open access book discusses readers to various methods of modeling plans and policies that address public sector issues and problems. Written for public policy and social sciences students at the upper undergraduate and graduate level, as well as public sector decision-makers, it demonstrates and compares the development and use of various deterministic and probabilistic optimization and simulation modeling methods for analyzing planning and management issues. These modeling tools offer a means of identifying and evaluating alternative plans and policies based on their physical, economic, environmental, and social impacts. Learning how to develop and use the mathematical modeling tools introduced in this book will give students useful skills when in positions of having to make informed public policy recommendations or decisions.

The ideal introductory textbook to the politics of the policymaking process This textbook uses modern political economy to introduce students of political science, government, economics, and public policy to the politics of the policymaking process. The book's distinct political economy approach has two virtues. By developing general principles for thinking about policymaking, it can be applied across a range of issue areas. It also unifies the policy curriculum, offering coherence to standard methods for teaching economics and statistics, and drawing connections between fields. The book begins by exploring the normative foundations of policymaking—political theory, social choice theory, and the Paretian and utilitarian underpinnings of policy analysis. It then introduces game theoretic models of social dilemmas—externalities, coordination problems, and commitment problems—that create opportunities for policy to improve social welfare. Finally, it shows how the political process creates technological and incentive constraints on government that shape policy outcomes. Throughout, concepts and models are illustrated and reinforced with discussions of empirical evidence and case studies. This textbook is essential for all students of public policy and for anyone interested in the most current methods influencing policymaking today. Comprehensive approach to politics and policy suitable for advanced undergraduates and graduate students Models unify policy curriculum through methodological coherence Exercises at the end of every chapter Self-contained appendices cover necessary game theory Extensive discussion of cases and applications