Public Policy: An Evolutionary Approach

by Joseph Stewart Jr., James P. Lester

PUBLIC POLICY: AN EVOLUTIONARY APPROACH, 3e, examines how the substance and process of public policy and our understanding of that have evolved in America. After providing the reader with an analytic, historic and contextual framework for viewing public policy in the U.S., the authors offer a comprehensive look at the various elements of the governing process including agenda setting and problem definition, policy formation, implementation, program evaluation, and policy change and termination. In doing that the authors pay particular attention to the range of theories that have been offered to explain how, why, and with what effects governments act. The authors then look at three critical policy areas - environment, education, and welfare - to further illustrate how governing proceeds in the U.S.. Throughout the text the authors draw extensively on actual policy examples including recent efforts to reform education and welfare and the war in Iraq.

304 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 1996

Reviews

[Steven Peterson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have used this as a textbook in some graduate courses that (I have taught on public policy and policy analysis. It has been received well by students; in addition, outside of a few quirks, I also think highly of this volume as a textbook.

What is public policy? The authors note that it is government action aimed to remedy some public problem (whether real or imagined). The book is structured simply. The first part provides background, including chapters on the nature of public policy, the evolution of public policy and policy studies, approaches to policy analysis, and various models of policy. This segment of the book mainly provides context for what follows. Part two focuses on the so-called stages of the policy process--agenda setting (what gets defined as a problem; does the problem receive enough attention to begin to get discussed in government circles); policy formulation (once an issue gets on the agenda, what goes into development of a policy proposal?); policy implementation (once a law is passed or some other decision made, how does it get put into action); policy evaluation (does the policy answer the problem? What effects does the policy decision have?); [policy change and termination (what is the nature of policy change? Why and how do some policies get terminated?). There are some quirks here. Under policy change, there are some models that are simply unsatisfying (e.g., zigzag models).

Part 3 looks at specific policy areas--from education to welfare to crime to the environment. My reading is that the authors play it pretty straight. Under welfare policy, they note both liberal and conservative critiques (in fact, I wish they went beyond this simple two-dimensional analysis). The final part of the book looks at how policy knowledge does (or does not) get used in decision making. There is also a final examination of the evolution of policy studies over time.

All in all, a pretty good introduction to the policy process.

[Dcvf]

good