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The field of public policy is so broad, diffuse, and balkanized that imposing order on it from an instructor's perspective-let alone from a student's perspective-can be a difficult and frustrating undertaking.
The Public Policy Theory Primer, 4th Edition is designed to provide a firm grounding in public policy, while also offering an introduction to the research agendas that are rising fastest from its foundations. Authors Kevin B. Smith and Christopher W. Larimer utilize a unique approach: they define the key research questions in the field and then organize policy studies into coherent subfields that address those questions.
In delving into newly published research and rapidly developing literatures, the book continues to ask a fundamental question in the field of public policy studies: Does such a field really exist? This substantially revised new edition draws clear connections between theory and practice, examines whether policy process models can help illuminate program adoption and outcomes, explores the Narrative Policy Framework's commonalities with rationalist and post-positivist policy analysis camps, investigates the "deservingness heuristic" and the notion of the "public" in policy design, and makes a stronger case for the role that human psychology plays in policy choices. The authors do not simply report on these sorts of changes and updates, instead meticulously integrating them into their coherent framework of public policy studies. This novel structure, along with an appendix of sample discussion and exam questions, makes
The Public Policy Theory Primer, 4th Edition a clear, organized, and thought-provoking introduction to the field, indispensable for any public policy course.
List of contents
1. Public Policy as a Concept and a Field (or Fields) of Study 2. Does Politics Cause Policy? Does Policy Cause Politics? 3. Who Makes Decisions? How Do They Make Decisions? Actors and Institutions 4. Whose Values? Policy Design 5. Where Does Policy Come From? The Policy Process 6. What Should We Do? The Field of Policy Analysis 7. What Have We Done? Impact Analysis and Program Evaluation 8. How Does It Work? Policy Implementation 9. New Directions: Revisiting Models of Policy Change 10. Do the Policy Sciences Exist?
Appendix: Questions for Discussion or Comprehensive Exam Prep
About the author
Kevin B. Smith is the Leland J. and Dorothy H. Olson Chair of Political Science at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Christopher W. Larimer is Professor of Political Science at the University of Northern Iowa.
