Category Books

Understanding Public Policy » (13rd Edition)

Book cover image of Understanding Public Policy by Thomas R. Dye

Authors: Thomas R. Dye
ISBN-13: 9780205757428, ISBN-10: 0205757421
Format: Hardcover
Publisher: Longman
Date Published: March 2010
Edition: 13rd Edition

Author Biography: Thomas R. Dye

Formerly Professor of Government at Florida State University, Thomas Dye is President of the Lincoln Center for Public Service. He was University Teacher of the Year in 1987. He holds B.A. and M.A. degrees from Pennsylvania State University, and a Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania. Dye is the author of numerous books and articles on American government and public policy. He has served as president of the Southern Political Science Association, president of the Policy Studies Organization, and secretary of the American Political Science Association. Additional information is available at www.thomasrdye.com.

Book Synopsis

Updated in a new 13th edition and the gold-standard for introductory public policy texts, Understanding Public Policy is designed to provide readers with concrete tools for not only understanding public policy in general, but for analyzing specific public policies.

This new edition focuses on the many policy changes initiated by President Barack Obama, with special attention given to the economic policies addressing the global financial crisis.

Booknews

Introduces the concepts and models used in political science to describe and analyze public policies, and applies them to such areas as civil rights, criminal justice, national defense, health and welfare, education, taxation, budgeting and spending, intergovernment relations and environmental protection. Updated from the 1992 edition; first published in 1972. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

	Preface	xi
1	Policy Analysis: What Governments Do, Why They Do It, and What Difference It Makes	1
	What Is Public Policy?	1
	Why Study Public Policy?	3
	What Can Be Learned from Policy Analysis?	4
	Policy Analysis and Policy Advocacy	6
	Policy Analysis and the Quest for Solutions to America's Problems	7
	Policy Analysis as Art and Craft	9
	Notes	9
	Bibliography	9
2	Models of Politics: Some Help in Thinking about Public Policy	11
	Models for Policy Analysis	11
	Institutionalism: Policy as Institutional Output	12
	Process: Policy as Political Activity	14
	Rationalism: Policy as Maximum Social Gain	16
	Incrementalism: Policy as Variations on the Past	19
	Group Theory: Policy as Group Equilibrium	21
	Elite Theory: Policy as Elite Preference	23
	Public Choice Theory: Policy as Collective Decision Making by Self-Interested Individuals	25
	Game Theory: Policy as Rational Choice in Competitive Situations	27
	Models: How to Tell if They Are Helping or Not	29
	Notes	30
	Bibliography	31
3	The Policymaking Process: Decision-Making Activities	32
	The Policy Process: How Policies Are Made	32
	Identifying Policy Issues: Public Opinion	33
	Identifying Policy Issues: Elite Opinion	36
	Agenda Setting and "Nondecisions"	36
	Agenda Setting and Mobilizing Opinion: The Mass Media	38
	Formulating Policy	40
	Policy Legitimation: The Proximate Policymakers	43
	Policy Implementation: The Bureaucracy	50
	Policy Evaluation: Impressionistic versus Systematic	54
	Summary	54
	Notes	56
	Bibliography	56
4	Criminal Justice: Rationality and Irrationality in Public Policy	58
	Crime in America	58
	Crime and Deterrence	61
	Does Crime Pay?	63
	Police and Law Enforcement	66
	Federalizing Crime Fighting	68
	Crime and Guns	69
	The Drug War	72
	Crime and the Courts	77
	RICO versus Liberty	80
	Prisons and Correctional Policies	81
	Capital Punishment	83
	Summary	86
	Notes	87
	Bibliography	88
5	Health and Welfare: The Search for Rational Strategies	89
	Rationality and Irrationality in the Welfare State	89
	Defining the Problem: Poverty in America	92
	Who Are the Poor?	93
	Why Are the Poor Poor?	96
	The Preventive Strategy: Social Security	99
	Evaluation: Intended and Unintended Consequences of Social Security	100
	Social Security Reform?	103
	The Alleviative Strategy: Public Assistance	104
	Welfare Reform	105
	Evaluation: Is Welfare Reform Working?	107
	Homelessness and Public Policy	108
	Health Care in America	110
	Evaluation: Health Care Access and Costs	112
	Health Care Reform Strategies	114
	Summary	117
	Notes	119
	Bibliography	119
6	Education: The Group Struggle	120
	Multiple Goals in Educational Policy	120
	Battling over the Basics	121
	The Educational Groups	124
	The Federal Government's Role in Education	128
	Educational Reform and Parental Choice	130
	Battles over School Finances	133
	Public Policy and Higher Education	134
	Groups in Higher Education	136
	Reading, Writing, and Religion	138
	Summary	142
	Notes	143
	Bibliography	144
7	Economic Policy: Incrementalism at Work	145
	Incrementalism in Fiscal and Monetary Policy	145
	Economic Theories as Policy Guides	146
	The Performance of the American Economy	149
	The Fed at Work	151
	Incrementalism and Government Spending	152
	"Entitlement" Spending	155
	Changing Budget Priorities: Challenging Incrementalism	156
	Government Debt, Deficits, and Surpluses	158
	The Formal Budgetary Process	160
	Summary	164
	Notes	166
	Bibliography	166
8	Tax Policy: Battling the Special Interests	167
	Interest Groups and Tax Policy	167
	The Federal Tax System	168
	Taxation, Fairness, and Growth	173
	Tax Policy and the Special Interests	176
	Compromising with the Special Interests	179
	Return of the Special Interests	180
	Replacing the Income Tax?	183
	Summary	185
	Notes	186
	Bibliography	189
9	International Trade and Immigration: Elite-Mass Conflict	188
	The Global Economy	188
	Changing Elite Preferences for World Trade	189
	Elite Gains from Trade	193
	Mass Losses from Trade	196
	Elite-Mass Differences over Immigration	198
	National Immigration Policy	201
	Summary	204
	Notes	205
	Bibliography	206
10	Environmental Policy: Externalities and Interests	207
	Public Choice and the Environment	207
	Environmental Externalities	210
	Interest Group Effects	216
	Environmentalism versus Public Choice Theory	218
	The Nuclear Industry Meltdown	220
	Politicians and Bureaucrats: Regulating the Environment	222
	Alternative Solutions	224
	Summary	227
	Notes	228
	Bibliography	229
11	Civil Rights: Elite and Mass Interaction	230
	Elite and Mass Opinions and Race	230
	The Development of Civil Rights Policy	233
	Mass Resistance to Desegragation	235
	Busing and Racial Balancing in Schools	238
	The Civil Rights Movement	240
	Public Policy and Affirmative Action	243
	The Supreme Court and Affirmative Action	244
	Mass Opinion and Affirmative Action	248
	Public Policy and Hispanic Americans	251
	The Constitution and Gender Equality	252
	Public Policy and Gender Equality	254
	Abortion and the Right to Life	258
	Public Policy and the Disabled	261
	Summary	262
	Notes	263
	Bibliography	264
12	American Federalism: Institutional Arrangements and Public Policy	265
	American Federalism	265
	Why Federalism?	266
	Politics and Institutional Arrangements	268
	American Federalism: Variations on the Theme	270
	Money and Power Flow to Washington	274
	Federalism Revived?	276
	Comparing Public Policies of the States	278
	Institutions and Public Policy	283
	Summary	286
	Notes	288
	Bibliography	288
13	Defense Policy: Strategies for Serious Games	290
	National Security as a Serious Game	290
	Confronting Nuclear Threats	291
	Arms Control Games	292
	Post-Cold War Nuclear Deterrence and Defense	294
	NATO and European Security	296
	Regional Threats to American Security	299
	Terrorism and Unanticipated Threats	301
	When to Use Military Force?	301
	Determining Military Force Levels	304
	The Use of Force: The Gulf War as a Case Study	305
	Summary	309
	Notes	310
	Bibliography	311
14	Policy Evaluation: Finding Out What Happens after a Law Is Passed	312
	Policy Evaluation: Assessing the Impact of Public Policy	312
	The Symbolic Impact of Policy	314
	Program Evaluation: What Governments Usually Do	315
	Program Evaluation: What Governments Can Do	317
	Federal Evaluation: The General Accounting Office	319
	Experimental Policy Research	320
	Program Evaluation: Why It Fails So Often	322
	How Bureaucrats Explain Negative Findings	323
	Why Government Programs Are Seldom Terminated	324
	Politics as a Substitute for Analysis	325
	The Limits of Public Policy	326
	Notes	328
	Bibliography	329
	Index	331