This book explores the eventful but largely forgotten history of national planning efforts in the United States, first identifying and comparing five alternative approaches to contemporary national planning, then using these approaches to assess the events of 1973-1976, a period when crisis pressures brought a vigorous resurgence of national planning activity and debate. Dr. Wilson concludes that two new approaches to planning— "learning-adaptive" and general systems—are increasingly being used in lieu of the long-established, and less flexible, rational and incremental approaches, and that these might eventually achieve a beneficial new synthesis in both federal policy practice and social science theory. He argues that the twin questions of a planned versus a planning society and of who will plan for whom are inexorably emerging as key issues in U.S. public policy. Along with its companion volume—National Planning in the United States: An Annotated Bibliography, also published by Westview—this book provides extensive new interdisciplinary research material and integrative perspectives on current planning challenges.

The subject of Public Policy has assumed considerable importance in response to the complexity of economic downturns, social upheavals, political crises, institutional weaknesses and technology. It is concerned not only with the description but also with the developing scientific knowledge about the forces shaping public policy. The textbook, now in its second edition, continues to provide an in-depth study of the various approaches for policy formulation, implementation and evaluation. It addresses issues in policy analysis, and explains the forces that influence the functioning of executive, legislature, judiciary, civil society and administration. The book excellently reviews and evaluates the public policy literature, and exemplifies the author’s long teaching and research experience in Panjab University. The book is primarily intended for postgraduate students of Political Science and Public Administration for their courses in Public Policy and Policy Analysis, besides meeting the requirements of candidates offering public administration subject for the civil services examination. It will be equally useful for policymakers, planners and bureaucrats concerned with policy management. NEW TO THIS EDITION : Updation of the chapter Policy Approaches and Models with the inclusion of the topic ‘Public choice model of policy-making’ Addition of the two new chapters – Power Approaches to Policy Making and Strategic Planning Approach for Improving Public Policy – to study the subject in detail.