Public Policy Praxis
A Case Approach for Understanding Policy and Analysis
3rd Edition
Published on 26. July 2016
Book
Hardback
332 pages
978-1-138-64167-9 (ISBN)
Description
Public administration and policy analysis education has long emphasized tidiness, stages, and rationality, but practitioners frequently must deal with a world where objectivity is buffeted by, repressed by, and sometimes defeated by, value conflict. Too often public administration education has failed individuals who must deal with the hustle and bustle and complexity of policymaking. Public Policy Praxis equips students to grapple with ambiguity and complexity. By emphasizing mixed methodologies and through the use of cases, students are encouraged to develop a workable and practical model of applied policy analysis.
Throughout the book, Clemons and McBeth argue that pragmatism demands that analysts learn to think politically and to understand that public problems are socially constructed. As such, in addition to analytical models, the authors examine specific tools of policy analysis, such as stakeholder mapping, content analysis, group facilitation, narrative analysis, cost-benefit analysis, futuring, and survey analysis. Students are given the opportunity to try out these analytical models and tools in varied case settings (county, city, federal, urban, and rural) facing wide-ranging topics (economic development, expansion of human services in an urban area, building a health care clinic in a small town, an inner-city drug program, and the bison controversy in Yellowstone National Park) that capture the diversity of public policy and the intergovernmental nature of politics.
With chapters written to the student and in a nearly conversational style, Public Policy Praxis is an ideal textbook for undergraduate and graduate courses in public policy analysis, community planning, leadership, social welfare policy, educational policy, family policy, and special seminars.
Throughout the book, Clemons and McBeth argue that pragmatism demands that analysts learn to think politically and to understand that public problems are socially constructed. As such, in addition to analytical models, the authors examine specific tools of policy analysis, such as stakeholder mapping, content analysis, group facilitation, narrative analysis, cost-benefit analysis, futuring, and survey analysis. Students are given the opportunity to try out these analytical models and tools in varied case settings (county, city, federal, urban, and rural) facing wide-ranging topics (economic development, expansion of human services in an urban area, building a health care clinic in a small town, an inner-city drug program, and the bison controversy in Yellowstone National Park) that capture the diversity of public policy and the intergovernmental nature of politics.
With chapters written to the student and in a nearly conversational style, Public Policy Praxis is an ideal textbook for undergraduate and graduate courses in public policy analysis, community planning, leadership, social welfare policy, educational policy, family policy, and special seminars.
Reviews / Votes
"This new edition is much improved in all important aspects, particularly in how the chapters have been organized to highlight the mixed methods approach to policy analysis. The authors' post-positivist perspective reflects current thinking within the discipline, and meshes perfectly with their case study approach. Public Policy Praxis remains accessible in tone as it challenges us to examine our most basic assumptions about the policy process." -Kenneth Kickham, University of Central Oklahoma, USA"Public Policy Praxis is a concise yet comprehensive guide to policy analysis combining the practical and theoretical in a balanced text. Both scholarly and conversational, it is a valuable resource offering a broad base of policy concepts and terminology, and providing the essential tools for meaningful policy dialogue and action on an evolving array of issues." -Bonnie Stabile, George Mason University, USA
"True to its name, Public Policy Praxis epitomizes the merger between diverse theories and meaningful practice. Now on their 3rd edition, Clemons and McBeth again deliver complex ideas and methods easily understood by policy students, yet substantive enough to belong on the scholar's bookshelf. The approach is practical, case driven, theoretically diverse, and yet simultaneously rigorous, covering complex tools of the trade-both quantitative and qualitative. For a non-dogmatic, practical, and theoretically versatile policy analysis text, this is your book." -Michael Jones, Oregon State University, USA
"Public Policy Praxis is one of the best books available for graduate programs in applied public policy and policy analysis. It is an extremely well written piece of scholarship that seamlessly weaves both the theoretically important concepts in the field of public policy with the applied "toolkit" approach of policy analysis. Clemons and McBeth continue to provide both the scholar and the practitioner with an invaluable resource." -Gregory C. Hill, Boise State University, USA
"Public Policy Praxis is a unique, case-based, and theory-rich approach for students to understand the politics of public policy and access tools of policy analysis. With an accessible writing style, Clemons and McBeth offer a refreshing approach to public policy that brings pragmatism and praxis to the fore in unpacking the complexities of real-world policy issues." -Elizabeth A. Shanahan, Montana State University, USA
More details
Edition
3rd New edition
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Target group
College/higher education
Edition type
New edition
Illustrations
7 s/w Zeichnungen, 23 s/w Tabellen, 7 s/w Abbildungen
7 Line drawings, black and white; 23 Tables, black and white; 7 Illustrations, black and white
Dimensions
Height: 254 mm
Width: 178 mm
Weight
812 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-138-64167-9 (9781138641679)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
New editions
Randy S. Clemons | Mark K. McBeth
Public Policy Praxis
A Case Approach for Understanding Policy and Analysis
Book
03/2020
4th Edition
Routledge
€241.81
Article exhausted; check for reprint
Additional editions
Randy Clemons | Mark K. McBeth
Public Policy Praxis
A Case Approach for Understanding Policy and Analysis
Book
08/2016
3rd Edition
Routledge
€89.43
Withdrawn from sale
Persons
Randy S. Clemons is Professor of Political Science and since 2009 has been the Dean of the School of Social Sciences at Mercyhurst University, USA.
Mark K. McBeth is Professor in the Department of Political Science and Associate Dean of the College of Arts & Letters at Idaho State University, USA.
Mark K. McBeth is Professor in the Department of Political Science and Associate Dean of the College of Arts & Letters at Idaho State University, USA.
Content
Part 1: Overview
1. Public Policy, Power, the People, Pluralism, and You
Part 2: Theory & Practice: Rationality, Nonrationality, Politics, and the Policy Process
2. The Rational Public Policy Method
3. The Positivist Toolbox
4. Critiques of the Rational Approach
5. The Nonrational (Political) Approach
Part 3: Practice and Theory: Problem Definition, Pragmatism, Policy Analysis, Methodologies and Democracy
6. A Pragmatic Public Policy Analysis Method
7. Problem Definition, Mixed Methodologies, and Praxis
8. Doing Democracy: A New (Six) Step Model
Part 4: Conclusion: Praxis/Practice
9. Letting You Show Off
1. Public Policy, Power, the People, Pluralism, and You
Part 2: Theory & Practice: Rationality, Nonrationality, Politics, and the Policy Process
2. The Rational Public Policy Method
3. The Positivist Toolbox
4. Critiques of the Rational Approach
5. The Nonrational (Political) Approach
Part 3: Practice and Theory: Problem Definition, Pragmatism, Policy Analysis, Methodologies and Democracy
6. A Pragmatic Public Policy Analysis Method
7. Problem Definition, Mixed Methodologies, and Praxis
8. Doing Democracy: A New (Six) Step Model
Part 4: Conclusion: Praxis/Practice
9. Letting You Show Off