Understanding Public Policy

by Dye, Thomas R.

ISBN13:

9780136391050

ISBN10:

0136391052

Format:

Hardcover

Pub. Date:

1/1/1998

Publisher(s):

Prentice Hall

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Summary

Designed to provide students with concrete tools for not only understanding public policy in general, but for analyzing specific public policies, this widely-adopted introduction to the field focuses on what policies governments pursue, why governments pursue the policies they do, and what the consequences of these policies are.

PREFACE

vii

1 POLICY ANALYSIS What Governments Do, Why They Do It, and What Difference It Makes

(12)

What Is Public Policy?

(2)

Why Study Public Policy?

(2)

What Can Be Learned from Policy Analysis?

(2)

Policy Analysis and Policy Advocacy

(1)

Policy Analysis and the Quest for Solutions to America's Problems

(2)

Policy Analysis as Art and Craft

(1)

Bibliography

(2)

2 MODELS OF POLITICS Some Help in Thinking about Public Policy

(26)

Models for Policy Analysis

(1)

Institutionalism: Policy as Institutional Output

(2)

Process: Policy as Political Activity

(2)

Group Theory: Policy as Group Equilibrium

(2)

Elite Theory: Policy as Elite Preference

(3)

Rationalism: Policy as Maximum Social Gain

(3)

Incrementalism: Policy as Variations on the Past

(2)

Game Theory: Policy as Rational Choice in Competitive Situations

(3)

Public Choice Theory: Policy as Collective Decision Making by Self-Interested Individuals

(3)

Systems Theory: Policy as System Output

(1)

Models: How to Tell If They Are Helping or Not

(2)

Bibliography

(1)

3 CIVIL RIGHTS Elite and Mass Interaction

(35)

Elite and Mass Attitudes and Race

(2)

The Development of Civil Rights Policy

(2)

Mass Resistance to Desegragation

(3)

Busing and Racial Balancing in Schools

(2)

The Civil Rights Movement

(4)

Public Policy and Affirmative Action

(2)

The Supreme Court and Affirmative Action

(4)

Mass Opinion and Affirmative Action

(2)

Gender Equality and the Constitution

(2)

Gender Equality and the Economy

(4)

Abortion and the Right to Life

(3)

Summary

(2)

Bibliography

(2)

4 CRIMINAL JUSTICE Rationality and Irrationality in Public Policy

(35)

Crime in America

(3)

Crime and Deterrence

(2)

Why Crime Pays

(3)

Police and Law Enforcement

(2)

Federalizing Crime Fighting

(2)

Crime and Guns

(3)

The Drug War

(5)

Crime and the Courts

(4)

RICO versus Liberty

(1)

Prisons and Correctional Policies

100

(3)

Capital Punishment

103

(3)

Summary

106

(2)

Bibliography

108

(1)

5 HEALTH AND WELFARE The Search for Rational Strategies

109

(36)

Rationality and Irrationality in the Welfare State

110

(2)

Poverty in America

112

(2)

Who Are the Poor?

114

(2)

Why Are the Poor Poor?

116

(4)

The Preventive Strategy: Social Security

120

(1)

Evaluation: Intended and Unintended Consequences of Social Security

121

(2)

Social Security Reform?

123

(1)

The Alleviative Strategy: Public Assistance

124

(2)

Evaluation: Conflicting Values and Strategies in Public Assistance

126

(2)

Welfare Reform

128

(2)

Homelessness and Public Policy

130

(2)

Health Care in America

132

(3)

Evaluation: Health Care Access and Costs

135

(4)

Health Care Reform Strategies

139

(3)

Summary

142

(2)

Bibliography

144

(1)

6 EDUCATION The Group Struggle

145

(24)

Multiple Goals in Educational Policy

146

(1)

Battling over the Basics

146

(4)

The Educational Groups

150

(2)

The Federal Government's Role in Education

152

(3)

Educational Reform and Parental Choice

155

(3)

Battles over School Finances

158

(1)

Public Policy and Higher Education

159

(3)

Groups in Higher Education

162

(1)

Reading, Writing, and Religion

163

(3)

Summary

166

(2)

Bibliography

168

(1)

7 ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY Externalities and Interests

169

(26)

Public Choice and the Environment

170

(3)

Environmental Externalities

173

(6)

Interest Group Effects

179

(3)

Science versus Environmentalism

182

(4)

The Nuclear Industry Meltdown

186

(1)

Politicians and Bureaucrats: Regulating the Environment

187

(3)

Alternative Solutions

190

(2)

Summary

192

(2)

Bibliography

194

(1)

8 DEFENSE POLICY Strategies for Serious Games

195

(23)

National Security as a Serious Game

196

(1)

Confronting Nuclear Threats

196

(2)

Arms Control Games

198

(2)

Post-Cold War Nuclear Deterrence and Defense

200

(2)

NATO and European Security

202

(3)

Post-Cold War Regional Threats

205

(2)

When to Use Military Force?

207

(2)

Determining Military Force Levels

209

(3)

The Use of Force: The Gulf War

212

(3)

Summary

215

(2)

Bibliography

217

(1)

9 ECONOMIC POLICY Incrementalism at Work

218

(22)

Incrementalism in Fiscal and Monetary Policy

219

(1)

Economic Theories as Policy Guides

219

(4)

Incrementalism and Government Spending

223

(2)

"Uncontrollable" Government Spending

225

(1)

Changing Budget Priorities: Challenging Incrementalism

226

(1)

The Burdens of Government Debt

227

(5)

The Formal Budgetary Process

232

(5)

Summary

237

(2)

Bibliography

239

(1)

10 TAX POLICY Battling the Special Interests

240

(22)

Interest Groups and Tax Policy

241

(1)

The Federal Tax System

242

(4)

Taxation, Fairness, and Growth

246

(4)

Tax Reform and the Special Interests

250

(2)

Compromising with the Special Interests

252

(1)

Return of the Special Interests

253

(2)

Clinton, Deficits, and Taxes

255

(2)

Tax Reform and the Flat Tax

257

(3)

Summary

260

(1)

Bibliography

261

(1)

11 INTERNATIONAL TRADE AND IMMIGRATION Elite-Mass Conflict

262

(21)

The Global Economy

264

(1)

Changing Elite Preferences for World Trade

265

(2)

Elite Gains from Trade

267

(4)

Mass Losses from Trade

271

(3)

Elite-Mass Differences over Immigration

274

(2)

National Immigration Policy

276

(5)

Summary

281

(1)

Bibliography

282

(1)

12 AMERICAN FEDERALISM Institutional Arrangements and Public Policy

283

(19)

American Federalism

284

(1)

Why Federalism?

284

(2)

Politics and Institutional Arrangements

286

(2)

American Federalism: Variations on the Theme

288

(5)

Money and Power Flow to Washington

293

(2)

A Devolution Revolution?

295

(1)

Institutions and Public Policy

296

(3)

Summary

299

(2)

Bibliography

301

(1)

13 INPUTS AND OUTPUTS A Systems Analysis of State Policies

302

(14)

Comparing Public Policies of the American States

303

(1)

Policy Responsiveness and the Median Voter

303

(3)

Economic Resources and Public Policy

306

(1)

Politics and Public Policy

306

(3)

Parties and Policy in the States

309

(4)

The Political System as a Conversion Mechanism

313

(1)

Summary

313

(2)

Bibliography

315

(1)

14 THE POLICYMAKING PROCESS Getting inside the System

316

(21)

The Policy Process: How Policies Are Made

317

(1)

Identifying Policy Issues: Public Opinion

317

(2)

Identifying Policy Issues: Elite Opinion

319

(2)

Agenda Setting and "Nondecisions"

321

(1)

Agenda Setting and Mobilizing Opinion: The Mass Media

322

(3)

Formulating Policy

325

(3)

Policy Legitimation: The Proximate Policymakers

328

(1)

Party Influence on Public Policy

328

(1)

Policy Implementation: The Bureaucracy

329

(4)

Policy Evaluation: Impressionistic versus Systematic

333

(1)

Summary

333

(2)

Bibliography

335

(2)

15 POLICY EVALUATION Finding Out What Happens after a Law Is Passed

337

(20)

Does the Government Know What It Is Doing?

338

(1)

Policy Evaluation: Assessing the Impact of Public Policy

338

(2)

The Symbolic Impact of Policy

340

(2)

Program Evaluation: What Governments Usually Do

342

(1)

Program Evaluation: What Governments Can Do

343

(2)

Federal Evaluation: The General Accounting Office

345

(1)

Experimental Policy Research

346

(2)

Program Evaluation: Why It Fails So Often

348

(1)

How Bureaucrats Explain Negative Findings

349

(1)

Why Government Programs Are Seldom Terminated

350

(2)

Politics as a Substitute for Analysis

352

(1)

The Limits of Public Policy

353

(2)

Bibliography

355

(2)

INDEX

357

Understanding Public Policy

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Table of Contents