Understanding Public Policy: Theories and Issues

Title Page
Copyright
Contents
List of Figures
List of Tables
List of Boxes
List of Abbreviations
Preface
1. Introduction to Policy and Policymaking
	Introduction: Why Should We Study Public Policy?
	The General Approach of This Book
	Simple Models Help Us Understand How Policy Is Not Made
		Policymaker Psychology
		Policymaking Complexity
	The Power of ‘the Centre’ Is Limited
	Policy Networks and Subsystems are Pervasive
	Complex Policymaking Environments Limit Policymaker Control
	Ideas Matter
	How to Analyse Policy and Policymaking
	The Structure of the Book
	Conclusion
2. What Is Policy and Policymaking?
	Introduction: The Need to Define Policy and Policymaking
	What Is Public Policy?
	Measuring Public Policy
	Narratives of Public Policy
	Frameworks, Theories, Models, and Heuristics
	What Is the Policy Cycle?
	Agenda Setting and Policy Formulation
	Implementation
		Top-down and Bottom-up Implementation
	Evaluation
	Policy Maintenance, Succession, and Termination
	Beyond the Policy Cycle
	Conclusion
3. Power and Public Policy
	Introduction: The Centrality of Power to Public Policy Studies
	Definitions of Power
	Three Dimensions of Power: Winning Key Decisions, Agenda Setting, and Thought Control
		The First Dimension: A Debate on Elitism and Pluralism
		The ‘Second Face’ of Power
		The Third Dimension of Power
		Observing the Unobservable
	All Assessments of Power are Empirical and Normative
	Beyond the Third Dimension: Foucault and Habermas
	Power and Critical Theory: The Emancipatory Role for Research
	Are Such Forms of Power ‘Structural’?
	Where Does the Role of Power Stop and Ideas Begin?
	Conclusion
4. Bounded Rationality and the Psychology of Policymaking
	Introduction: The Profound Importance of Bounded Rationality
	Comprehensive and Bounded Rationality
		Bounded Rationality Is More Important Than Ever
	Incrementalism
		Is Incrementalism ‘Universal’ and Inevitable?
	The Narrative Policy Framework
	Social Construction and Policy Design
		Is Social Construction and Policy Design ‘Universal’ and Inevitable?
	Conclusion
5. Institutions and New Institutionalism
	Introduction: Institutions Matter, but What are Institutions?
	Identifying Formal and Informal Institutions
	What Exactly Is an Institution? What Is Institutionalism?
	Key Variants of New Institutionalism
		Historical Institutionalism
		Rational Choice Institutionalism
		Normative and Sociological Institutionalism
		Discursive and Constructivist Institutionalism
		Feminist Institutionalism
		Empirical vs. Network Institutionalism? Diverging and Converging Policy Styles
	Conclusion
6. Structures, Environments, and Complex Systems
	Introduction: Structure and Agency in the Policy Process
	Do Structural Factors Determine Policy and Policymaking?
	The Economic Context: Marxism and Globalization
	Inheritance before Choice, and Policy Succession
	The Evolutionary Metaphor: Context as a Policymaking Environment
	The Policy Process as a Complex System
	Conclusion
7. Collective Action Problems in Public Policy
	Collective Action Problems in Rational Choice and Game Theory
		The Prisoner’s Dilemma, Logic of Collective Action, and Tragedy of the Commons
	Government as One Institutional Solution to Collective Action Problems
	Institutional Analysis and Development (IAD) Framework
	Key Approaches in the IAD’s Extended Family
		Managing Common Pool Resources (CPRs) and Avoiding Tragedies
		Social-Ecological Systems (SES) Framework
		Polycentric Governance and Institutional Collective Action
		Institutional Collective Action (ICA)
		Institutional Complexity and the Ecology of Games
	Conclusion
8. Multi-level Governance and Multi-centric Policymaking
	Introduction: From One to Many ‘Centres’ of Policymaking
	What Is Governance?
		Global Governance
		Governance as Systems Over Which the Central Government Has Limited Control
		Governance as the Proposed or Actual Reform of the State
	Governance as a Problem: The Westminster Model
	Multi-level Governance (MLG) and the European Union (EU)
	Empirical and Normative Visions: What MLG Is and Should Be
	MLG and International Comparisons
		Comparing Political Systems
		Comparing Approaches to the Study of Political Systems
	Comparing MLG and Policy Theories
	Conclusion
9. Punctuated Equilibrium Theory
	Introduction: The Profound Importance of Policymaker Attention
	Why ‘Punctuated Equilibrium’ Theory (PET)?
	PET’s Original Focus: Agendas and Instability
	Policy Subsystems, Monopolies, and Subsystems
	Issue Networks and Subsystems
	Agenda Setting and Attention
	Problem Definition
	Problem Definition, Policy Monopolies, and Venue Shopping
	Case Studies of Punctuated Equilibrium: ‘Some Issues Catch Fire’
	From Case Studies to the ‘General Punctuation Hypothesis’
	Government Budgets: Hyper-incremental and Dramatic Policy Change
	The Comparative Policy Agendas Project
	Conclusion
10. The Advocacy Coalition Framework
	Introduction: Coalitions, Policy-oriented Learning, and Policy Change
	A Picture of the Advocacy Coalition Framework (ACF)
	The Role of Beliefs to Address Bounded Rationality
	The Role of Beliefs to Boost Cooperation and Help Actors Exercise Power
	The Dynamics of ‘Policy-Oriented Learning’
	Policymaking Stability and Instability, Policy Continuity and Change
	The ACF Goes International: New Empirical Applications
	Conceptual Revisions and New Directions
	Conclusion
11. Ideas and Multiple Streams Analysis
	Introduction: The Role of Ideas in Policymaking
		Defining Ideas
	Ideas as the Primary Source of Explanation: Viruses and Norms
	Hall’s Policy Paradigms and Third-Order Change
	Multiple Streams Analysis (MSA)
		A Garbage Can Model of Organizational Choice
		The ‘Window of Opportunity’
		Why Are the Three Streams Separate and How Do They Come Together?
	The Impressive Generalizability of MSA
	Conclusion
12. Policy Learning and Transfer
	Introduction: The Politics of Policy Learning
	Policy Learning: What Does It Mean? What are the Main Types?
	Approaches to the Study of Policy Transfer
		Lesson-drawing
		Policy Diffusion
		Policy Convergence
	Policy Transfer: Who Does It?
	Why Transfer? Is It Voluntary?
		Coercive Transfer: How Is It Manifest and Demonstrated?
		What Is Transferred? What Makes Policy Transfer Distinctive?
	What Does ‘Successful’ Policy Transfer Mean?
	How to Encourage ‘Evidence-based’ Policy Learning and Transfer
	Conclusion
13. Conclusion: Policy Theory as Accumulated Wisdom
	Introduction: Combining Theoretical Insights Is Useful but Tricky
	Defining Policy and Telling a Story of Policy Change
	A Theory-based Story of Policymaking
	The Politics of Evidence-based Policymaking
	Using Multiple Theories: Three Cautionary Tales
	Policy Theory beyond the ‘West’ or Global North
	Conclusion
Bibliography
Index