[Tps] TPS/ECPR Policy Network - New book: Beyond the Policy Cycle]

[navdeep]

Beyond the Policy Cycle : The policy process in Australia Edited by H.K. 
Colebatch

Full Flyer for book information and table of contents see 
http://www.cddc.vt.edu/tps/Beyond_the_policy_cycle_flyer.pdf


It is common - and comforting - to see public policy as the result
of careful craft work by expert officials. They recognise a problem,
identify and evaluate possible responses, and choose the most
appropriate strategy - this is the ‘policy cycle’. The reality is more
complex and challenging. Many hands are involved in policy-making,
not all of them official; they are not all addressing the same problem,
they have different ideas about what would be a good answer, and
the process is rarely brought to a neat close by a clear decision. The
development of policy can resemble firefighting, with players rushing
to react to demands for action in areas that are already in crisis, or
it can be a less frenetic process of weaving, as they search for an
outcome which reflects the concerns of all the stakeholders. Effective
participation in the policy process calls for a clear understanding of
this complexity and ambiguity.
Beyond the Policy Cycle sets policy in this wider context. It
recognises that participants in the process are drawn from both
government and diverse areas outside government, and looks not at
a ‘model’ process but rather at how the game is played: how issues
rise to prominence, who is actually doing the work, and exactly what
it is that they are doing.
With detailed Australian case studies, and examining the implications
of recent trends in policy such as the outsourcing of service
provision, Beyond the Policy Cycle offers students and practitioners
a critical and engaged look at the activity of policy that reflects the
reality of the policy experience.

Hal K.Colebatch has taught and researched public policy and 
administration in Australia, Papua New
Guinea, East Africa and Southeast Asia, and is currently a Visiting 
Fellow at the Centre for Clinical
Management Development, University of Durham and a member of the School 
of Social Science and Policy at
the University of New South Wales. He is Vice-Chair of the International 
Political Science Association's
Research Committee on Public Policy and Administration, and is a leading 
author on policy, with his work
having been translated into several languages.

http://www.cddc.vt.edu/tps/Beyond_the_policy_cycle_flyer.pdf