Unlike most texts, which treat policy analysis and policy making as different enterprises, Policy Paradox demonstrates that "you can t take politic...
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reviews
Nov 17, 2009
Steven
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Deborah Stone's "Policy Paradox" is an important work in the field of policy analysis. The subtitle is illuminating: "The Art of Political Decision Making." Her takeoff point is the following statement (pages x-xi): "This new field of policy analysis supposedly devoted to improving governance, was based on a profound disgust for the ambiguities and paradoxes of politics. . . . In rational analysis, everything has one and only one meaning." In her own words, she (pag
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Sep 24, 2009
zerospinboson
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Machiavelli for the 21rst century. (It applies mostly/best to American politics.)
Although I sort of dislike some of the cheap relativist conclusions she draws, such as 'because numbers are political instruments meant to convince, they are just one way among many to do so, and not at all holy, and may even go out of fashion again at some later date,' which just seems silly. Potential for abuse because people don't notice that they're being misused/misled/shown an incomplete picture does not More...
Although I sort of dislike some of the cheap relativist conclusions she draws, such as 'because numbers are political instruments meant to convince, they are just one way among many to do so, and not at all holy, and may even go out of fashion again at some later date,' which just seems silly. Potential for abuse because people don't notice that they're being misused/misled/shown an incomplete picture does not More...
Nov 28, 2008
Hans
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I am not entirely sure how to rate a book like this. I personally found it illuminating since it was my first real taste for a public policy book. However, I suppose my judgment could differ if I had been exposed to many other books on the same subject. That being said, within the context with which I read this book I enjoyed it and learned a lot from it. I think one of the clearest points driven home for me is how contradictory it is to even attempt to call the study of human behavior a sci
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Feb 12, 2012
Brett
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A beautifully written text--full of humor and grappling with contradictions--that deftly reveals some of the major flaws in a traditional economics-based analysis of public policy. Stone doesn't so much propose an alternative model, however. Her critique is powerful, but it's hard to say where exactly to go from there.
Stone suggests that the economics-based model neglects several aspects of our "polis" that cannot be accounted for in traditional policy analysis. We are a More...
Stone suggests that the economics-based model neglects several aspects of our "polis" that cannot be accounted for in traditional policy analysis. We are a More...
Oct 11, 2007
CJ
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This book sets out to explain American politics through the model of the "polis" and contrast this analysis with the model of the "rational market" of politics. Broadly speaking, she feels that her polis theory better captures the "paradoxes" that occur in politics and political movements, and she feels that the market theory fails to explain these paradoxes or explains them incorrectly. To my reading, however, what she describes as paradoxes are really just effe
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Aug 15, 2011
Ike
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I especially like Stone's "Causal Stories and the Formation of Policy Agendas", which I think might be in a different volume. Its typology laying out the intentional/accidental & mechanical/inadvertent cause grid is a essential tool in seeing how differently situated actors frame particular issues in radically different ways.
Jun 30, 2010
Justin
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nice job explaining the often conflicting definitions/perspectives that are encountered at various stages of the policy process. it would be good reading for undergraduates in addition to graduate students.
Dec 20, 2010
Nick
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This was the main text for my Intro to Public Policy class at NYU. When I bought it, my plan was to sell it back to Amazon at the end of the semester, but now I am planning to keep it. I greatly enjoyed reading it and found myself taking down copious notes whenever reading it. Stone's writing style fits a great deal of meaningful content into every paragraph, without being at all dense. Her main goal is to critique the "market model" of policy, and detail the specific ways and reasons
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Jun 03, 2011
Garzaconsulting
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Interesting read on policy paradox in public management. This book was required reading for a public policy class in graduate school (MPA).
Sep 20, 2011
Kate
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Read four chapters of this for my State and Local Policy Analysis class. They were vital chapters to understanding how to analyze policy; I'm thinking about turning each concept into a blog post, a sort of "MPP in a Blog" series.
Oct 07, 2010
Missy
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great way to understand how problems become defined as such and how their definition is shaped and reshaped
Jun 29, 2010
Kameelah
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Policy Paradox helped me understand the complexities that involve policy creation.
Jan 19, 2011
Amanda J
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Read this text for a public policy class.
"Problematizing the basic concepts of policy analysis, this book details the role of struggle in defining ideas like equity, efficiency, liberty, and fairness. Likewise, the tools of policy making - incentives, rules, persuasion, legal protections, and the reorganization of authority - are recast as complex social processes." - Booknews
"Problematizing the basic concepts of policy analysis, this book details the role of struggle in defining ideas like equity, efficiency, liberty, and fairness. Likewise, the tools of policy making - incentives, rules, persuasion, legal protections, and the reorganization of authority - are recast as complex social processes." - Booknews
Jul 14, 2008
Katie_marie
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A text book borrowing from a friend in political science. This book forces anyone to see social problems and policy from not only the 'bigger picture' but upsidedown and backwards and the other problems that cling to it. The author uses analogies to explain her concepts that are so simple they are clever.
Jan 28, 2009
Bryan
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If you like politics and you want a general tool box of the policy making process, this is the book for you. This book does get a little long winded but I think the writing is very well rounded and is willing to look at all sides regardless of how boarding it gets.
Sep 23, 2007
Kara
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Perhaps this book was a bit over-emphatic in convincing me that the market model of analysis doesn't fit politics very well, but I still enjoyed it quite a bit and I think some good points are made.
Oct 29, 2008
Recommended by a Tufts nutrition public policy grad student whose goal is to change the US food policy. She promised me the book was insightful and a quick read.
Jun 21, 2009
Asta
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Great introductory text to public policy. I love the examples that Stone uses that really illustrate how the public debate is framed.
Jul 05, 2009
Glennon
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Reading for class... so far it's very interesting (actually something I might read for fun... yes, I'm a nerd!)
May 08, 2008
Erika
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Uh, yeah. Regrettable, right? That I have to work on this versus In Defense of Food. Three more months...
