Public policy is a broad and interdisciplinary area of study and research in the field tends to reflect this. Yet for those teaching and studying public policy, the disjointed nature of the field can be confusing and cumbersome. This text provides a consistent and coherent framework for uniting the field of public policy. Authors Kevin B. Smith and Christopher W. Larimer offer an organized and comprehensive overview of the core questions and concepts, major theoretical frameworks, primary methodological approaches, and key controversies and debates in each subfield of policy studies from the policy process and policy analysis to program evaluation and policy implementation.　 The third edition has been updated throughout to include the latest scholarship and approaches in the field, including new and expanded coverage of behavioral economics, the narrative policy framework, Fourth Generation implementation studies, the policy regime approach, field experiments, and the debate of program versus policy implementation studies. Now with an appendix of sample comprehensive exam questions, The Public Policy Theory Primer remains an indispensable text for the systematic study of public policy.

The Public Policy Theory Primer, 3rd Edition

Politics & Social Sciences

Kevin B. Smith

Christopher Larimer

Politics & Government

Routledge (Distributed exclusively by Dev Publishers & Distributors)

The Public Policy Theory Primer

Taylor&Francis

In the past thirty years public administration has developed more systematic patterns of inquiry about the substance of public organization behavior, public management, and public policy implementation. This work has contributed to an increasing reliability in understanding public administration. The work of public organizations has been examined with improved conceptual methodological and theoretical forms of analysis. The forms of analysis seek to create knowledge that is retraceable, cumulative, and at least at some level, replicable. These forms of analysis aspire to be scientific, using scientific here to mean a kind of formal rationality by which the insights of the next generation. Knowledge, then, becomes collective and cumulative. This is not to suggest that the social world, of which public administration is a part, is as amenable to formal scientific applications as is the physical world. It is not. But it is to suggest that the art and science of public administration should be just that - both art and science. The science and art of policy administration is definable, describable, replicable, and cumulative.A further purpose of this book is to describe in some detail several theories and analytical approaches that contribute to what we know about policy administration. If we can accept that each approach to the subject of policy administration is guided. At least in some rudimentary way, by a theory or set of theories, the questions are: Which theories or approaches are the most promising, the most influential? Which are the most important now and likely to be the most important in the future? The purpose of this effort is to set out a detailed description of the author's selection of key theories in contemporary public administration in the hope that this will improve the reliability of our knowledge and our understanding of public administration.This primer is designed to fit into Public Administration Theory courses at the advanced undergraduate level, as well as for courses in the MPA curriculum.

The Public Administration Theory Primer

H. George Frederickson

Westview Press

Every year, CQ Press publishes its trusted collection of articles on a wide range of issues currently affecting state and local politics. Editor Kevin Smith samples from publications such as Governing, State Legislatures, State News, and Campaigns &amp; Elections to grab your students interest with highly readable and current articles that hit close to home. With over 40 new articles ranging from coverage of the 2006 elections to the states role as policy innovators in such diverse areas as homeland security and the environment, the 2007-2008 edition is a sure fit for your state and local government courses.

State And Local Government 2007-2008 (State & Local Government)

Cq Pr

Promise & Performance Study Gd

BOND

Richard Abernathy Watson

F E Peacock Publishers, Inc

Governing States and Localities

Alan Greenblatt

SAGE Publications, Inc. (US)

Predisposed: Liberals, Conservatives, and the Biology of Political Differences

John R. Hibbing

John R. Alford

Routledge

Alan H. Greenblatt

CQ Press

Despite reports of the recession nearing an end, states will have to struggle to make ends meet well into the foreseeable future. The choices are sometimes stark: trade-offs between roads and schools, public safety and health care. The new edition of Governing States and Localities responds to this reality with a new, sharper focus on economic and budget pressures. The chapter on finances comes earlier in the book, helping to frame each of the subsequent issues, and a new feature called "States under Stress" helps students see how fiscal and budgetary policy affects all areas of state and local governance. A brand-new chapter on the environment highlights the leadership role the states have taken in fighting climate change, creating green jobs, and combating pollution. Still a great blend of engaging journalistic writing, high-quality academic analysis, and the latest scholarship, the third edition has been thoroughly updated to account for such major developments as the recentralization of federalism under the Obama administration and the further politicization and rising costs of judicial elections. The authors have expanded coverage of referendums and direct democracy, as well as the increased role states play in homeland security. A series of well-designed features asks students to apply the comparative method ("A Difference that Makes a Difference"), to see how intergovernmental relations impact localities ("Local Focus"), and to see examples of how policies are actually implemented ("Policy in Practice"). An engaging full-color design, more than thirty maps, a vivid selection of photographs, updated tables and figures, and a marginal glossary all combine to keep your students focused and learning.

Governing States And Localities (CQ Press and Governing Magazine Present a New Introduction to State and Local Government)

John Buntin

CQ Press: A Division of Congressional Quarterly

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Books by Kevin B. Smith