Public Policy Praxis: A Case Approach for Understanding Policy and Analysis

Public administration and policy analysis education have long emphasized tidiness, stages, and rationality, but practitioners increasingly work in a world where objectivity is buffeted by, repressed by, and sometimes defeated by value conflict.Over five beautifully-written and accessible editions, Public Policy Praxis has demonstrated that politics and policy are “messy” and power explains much more about the policy process than does rationality.Using a case-based approach, authors Randy S. Clemons and Mark K. McBeth blend theory and practice to uniquely equip students to better grapple with ambiguity and complexity. Public Policy Praxis introduces students to the “how” of policy analysis alongside its limitations, practical political problems, and the ethical problems associated with different techniques and methodologies.By offering six different analytical models of policy analysis-rational, quantitative, political, pragmatic, postpositivist, and democratic-the reader explores multi