Understanding Public Policy: Theories and Issues

Product Description This bookis a new introduction to theories of public policy. The author provides an accessible assessment of a wide range of theories and models from policy cycles, policy transfer, rational choice and socio-economic explanations to multi-level governance, advocacy coalitions and punctuated equilibrium and of their value to policy analysis. Review "This important and even-handed new text will be very useful not only in teaching students but also to advanced scholars. Rather than review individual policies, Cairney focuses his attention on the theoretical approaches that allow us to make sense of the confusing relations among citizens and elites that produce government action. The result is the best available synthesis and a strong argument for cross-fertilization and the use of multiple approaches." - Frank R. Baumgartner, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill About the Author Paul Cairney is Lecturer in Politics at theUniversity of Aberdeen.