Public Policy: Politics, Analysis, and Alternatives, Edition 5

Michael E. Kraft · Scott R. Furlong

Oct 2014 · CQ Press

About this ebook

Since the first edition of Public Policy: Politics, Analysis, and Alternatives, Michael Kraft and Scott Furlong have taken a different tack. They want students to understand how and why policy analysis is used to assess policy alternatives—not only to question the assumptions of policy analysts, but also to recognize how analysis is used in support of political arguments. To encourage critical and creative thinking on issues ranging from the federal deficit to health care reform to climate change, the authors introduce and fully integrate an evaluative approach to policy.

The authors begin the fifth edition of Public Policy with a concise review of institutions, policy actors, and major theoretical models. Then, they discuss the nature of policy analysis and its practice and show students how to employ evaluative criteria in six substantive policy areas. The text arms students with the analytic tools they need to understand the motivations of policy actors—both within and outside of government—and to influence a complex, yet comprehensible, policy agenda.

About the author

Michael E. Kraft is professor emeritus of political science and public affairs at the University of Wisconsin–Green Bay. He is the author of, among other works, Environmental Policy and Politics, 6th ed. (2015) and coauthor of Coming Clean: Information Disclosure and Environmental Performance (2011), with Mark Stephan and Troy D. Abel. In addition, he is the coeditor of Environmental Policy: New Directions in the 21st Century, 9th ed. (2016), with Norman J. Vig; Toward Sustainable Communities: Transition and Transformations in Environmental Policy, 2nd ed. (2009), with Daniel A. Mazmanian; and Business and Environmental Policy: Corporate Interests in the American Political System (2007) and The Oxford Handbook of U.S. Environmental Policy (2013), with Sheldon Kamieniecki. He has long taught courses in environmental policy and politics, American government, Congress, and public policy analysis.

Scott R. Furlong is dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and professor of political science and public affairs at the University of Wisconsin–Green Bay. His areas of expertise are regulatory policy and interest group participation in the executive branch, and he has taught public policy for over twenty years. He is the author or coauthor of numerous book chapters and coauthor of Rulemaking: How Government Agencies Write Laws and Make Policy, 4th ed. (2011), with Cornelius M. Kerwin. His articles have appeared in such journals as Public Administration Review, Journal of Public Administration, Research and Theory, Administrative Studies Quarterly, Administration and Society, American Review of Public Administration, and Policy Studies Journal.