This book presents an overview of why implementation research has contributed to a major reconsideration of the process of policy formation and offers conceptual frameworks that employ implementation research to develop a fuller understanding of the entire policy process. The contributors caution the error of assuming that implementation is the main factor in policy making and that once implementation is taken care of, policies will be effective. They attempt to place implementation in the broader policymaking process and show its relationship to the other parts of the policy cycle. Additionally, several of the contributors develop explanatory models that cut across the research dichotomies of the prevailing top-down and bottom-up approaches and establish an agenda for future research.

Bringing the major current insights in implementation research and theory together, Public Policy, Implementation and Governance reviews the literature on public policy implementation, relating it to contemporary developments in thinking about governance. The text stresses the continuing importance of a focus upon implementation processes and explores its central relevance to the practice of public administration. In light of the changing nature of governance, Hill and Hupe suggest strategies for both future research on and management of public policy implementation. Their basic approach is two-fold: firstly, to understand the process of implementation and secondly, to address how one might control and affect this process. Re-exploring the state of the art of the study of implementation as a sub-discipline of political science and public administration, this book will be essential reading for students and researchers in public policy, social policy, public management, public adminstration and governance. `This is an excellent and much needed book. Hill and Hupe have provided a well written and highly accessible account of the development of implementation studies which will be immensely valuable to everyone concerned with understanding implementation in modern policy making.' - Professor Wayne Parsons, University of London

In his eye-opening work, Dye explodes the myth that public policy represents the “demands of the people” and that the making of public policy flows upward from the masses. In reality, Dye argues, public policy in America, as in all nations, reflects the values, interests, and preferences of a governing elite. Top Down Policymaking is a close examination of the process by which the nation’s elite goes about the task of making public policy. Focusing on the behind-the-scenes activities of money foundations, policy planning organizations, think tanks, political campaign contributors, special-interest groups, lobbyists, law firms, influence-peddlers, and the national news media, Dye concludes that public policy is made from the top down.

The Public Policy Process is essential reading for anyone trying to understand the process by which public policy is made. Explaining clearly the importance of the relationship between theoretical and practical aspects of policy-making, the book gives a thorough overview of the people and organisations involved in the process. Fully revised and updated for a sixth edition, The Public Policy Process provides

Thoroughly revised, reorganized, updated, and expanded, this widely-used text sets the balance and fills the gap between theory and practice in public policy studies. In a clear, conversational style, the author conveys the best current thinking on the policy process with an emphasis on accessibility and synthesis rather than novelty or abstraction. A newly added chapter surveys the social, economic, and demographic trends that are transforming the policy environment.

This brief text identifies the issues, resources, actors, and institutions involved in public policy making and traces the dynamics of the policymaking process, including the triggering of issue awareness, the emergence of an issue on the public agenda, the formation of a policy commitment, and the implementation process that translates policy into practice. Throughout the text, which has been revised and updated, Gerston brings his analysis to life with abundant examples from the most recent and emblematic cases of public policy making. At the same time, with well-chosen references, he places policy analysis in the context of political science and deftly orients readers to the classics of public policy studies. Each chapter ends with discussion questions and suggestions for further reading.