Critical Thinking in Public Policy and Management

Critical thinking is a crucial skillset for policy and management scholars and practitioners. This book outlines the ways in which this skillset is sometimes overlooked and how it can be enhanced. It defines constructive critical thinking, outlining some common applications before looking more specifically at how these occur within policy and management. It then moves to a deeper discussion on scholarship and the ways in which critical thinking gaps can lead to ahistorical narratives that become distorted into myths, concluding with a challenge to scholars and suggestions for practitioners to bolster their critical thinking skills and embed them more fully in their professional lives. Working as both a guide to using critical thinking, this short book will appeal to researchers, advanced students, and practitioners with an interest in the conceptualisation of policy, management and public administration.