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