Understanding Public Policy

by Dye, Thomas R.

• ISBN13: 9780136391050
• ISBN10: 0136391052
• Edition: 9th
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1998-01-01
• Publisher: Prentice Hall

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.

Table of Contents

PREFACE	vii
1 POLICY ANALYSIS What Governments Do, Why They Do It, and What Difference It Makes	1	(12)
What Is Public Policy?	2	(2)
Why Study Public Policy?	4	(2)
What Can Be Learned from Policy Analysis?	6	(2)
Policy Analysis and Policy Advocacy	8	(1)
Policy Analysis and the Quest for Solutions to America's Problems	9	(2)
Policy Analysis as Art and Craft	11	(1)
Bibliography	11	(2)
2 MODELS OF POLITICS Some Help in Thinking about Public Policy	13	(26)
Models for Policy Analysis	14	(1)
Institutionalism: Policy as Institutional Output	15	(2)
Process: Policy as Political Activity	17	(2)
Group Theory: Policy as Group Equilibrium	19	(2)
Elite Theory: Policy as Elite Preference	21	(3)
Rationalism: Policy as Maximum Social Gain	24	(3)
Incrementalism: Policy as Variations on the Past	27	(2)
Game Theory: Policy as Rational Choice in Competitive Situations	29	(3)
Public Choice Theory: Policy as Collective Decision Making by Self-Interested Individuals	32	(3)
Systems Theory: Policy as System Output	35	(1)
Models: How to Tell If They Are Helping or Not	36	(2)
Bibliography	38	(1)
3 CIVIL RIGHTS Elite and Mass Interaction	39	(35)
Elite and Mass Attitudes and Race	40	(2)
The Development of Civil Rights Policy	42	(2)
Mass Resistance to Desegragation	44	(3)
Busing and Racial Balancing in Schools	47	(2)
The Civil Rights Movement	49	(4)
Public Policy and Affirmative Action	53	(2)
The Supreme Court and Affirmative Action	55	(4)
Mass Opinion and Affirmative Action	59	(2)
Gender Equality and the Constitution	61	(2)
Gender Equality and the Economy	63	(4)
Abortion and the Right to Life	67	(3)
Summary	70	(2)
Bibliography	72	(2)
4 CRIMINAL JUSTICE Rationality and Irrationality in Public Policy	74	(35)
Crime in America	75	(3)
Crime and Deterrence	78	(2)
Why Crime Pays	80	(3)
Police and Law Enforcement	83	(2)
Federalizing Crime Fighting	85	(2)
Crime and Guns	87	(3)
The Drug War	90	(5)
Crime and the Courts	95	(4)
RICO versus Liberty	99	(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