"Or, a tale about why it's amazing that governments get so little credit for their many everyday and extraordinary achievements as told by sympathetic observers who seek to create space for a less relentlessly negative view of our pivotal public institutions."

Never has good policy been so important. From unemployment and a lack of affordable housing to regulating cryptocurrencies and protecting against cybersecurity threats, the challenges we face are complex and global. The text explains how policymaking works: from the emergence of policy ideas to deciding between cutting-edge solutions, from evaluating policies to improving policymaking practices, using examples from around the world. Open up the black box of government to see where policies are made. This introductory text takes you beyond theory and into the messy world of policymaking, offering a toolkit for making better policy. Drawing from insights earned through years of interactions with policymakers and extensive teaching experience, Boin and Lodge offer a comprehensive introduction to the inner workings of government and how to produce policies that address societal problems of today and tomorrow. The Politics of Policymaking teaches you the connections between policies, their effects, and the society they impact. It explores the interplay between citizens, policymakers and politicians, and the intricate web of policy decisions. Reflective questions help to engage readers with the key themes and to reflect on the challenges of policymaking in practice. A global perspective enables you to learn from diverse viewpoints and see examples from around the world. Timely and cutting-edge, this book tackles contemporary policy issues—platform economies, climate change, and more - while delving into crucial theoretical tools like political legitimacy and reform. An assignment feature provides you with the opportunity to consolidate your learning and put it into practice. This text is an essential companion for any undergraduate or postgraduate student of Politics, International Relations, and Public Administration and for anyone aspiring to work in public policy. Arjen Boin is Professor of Public Institutions and Governance at Leiden University, the Netherlands. Martin Lodge is Professor of Political Science and Public Policy at London school of Economics and Political Science.

Presenting extensive coverage of key theoretical and policy issues within the field of health care research, this forward-looking Research Handbook contends that students of health care need to take policy more seriously.

Following the extensive global impact of COVID-19, this forward-looking Research Handbook examines the pandemic from a public management perspective, exploring the roles and responses of public managers and considering how public organisations will be reshaped in the future.

This book provides a comprehensive analysis of public administration in Finland. Many of the basic structures of Finnish public administration have remained intact during the country’s relatively short independence of 100 years, but Finland has been able to tackle major turbulence ranging from wars and financial crises to the Covid-19 pandemic. Finland has also had to adjust to greater European integration, a new constitution, an ageing population, increased globalization of markets, and climate change. Chapters in this volume examine a wide range of themes pertinent to Finnish public administration, including government, regionalisation, health care policy, performance management, budgeting, and higher education policy. Placing these themes within the wider context of Nordic administrative developments, the book showcases public administration in Finland as pragmatism in action. It will appeal to students and scholars of public administration, public management, public policy and Nordic studies.

The definition of a healthcare system evolves continuously, becoming broader and more complex with each rendering. Healthcare systems can consist of many different elements, including but not limited to: access to comprehensive medical care, health promotion, disease prevention, institutional framework, financing schemes, government responsibility over health, etc. In light of its broad classification of healthcare, this book focuses on a wide spectrum of health-related issues ranging from risk factors for disease to medical treatment and possible frameworks for healthcare systems. Aging populations, increasing costs of healthcare, advancing technology, and challenges created by the COVID-19 pandemic require an innovative conceptual and methodological framework. By combining the experience and effort of researchers from a variety of fields including mathematics, medicine and economics, this book offers an interdisciplinary approach to studying health-related issues. It contributes to the existing literature by integrating the perspective of treatment with the economic determinants of health care outcomes, such as population density, access to financial resources and institutional frameworks. It also provides new evidence regarding the pharmaceutical industry including innovation, international trade and company performance. Contributors are: Sayansk Da Silva, Joe Feinglass, Scott W. Hegerty, Joseph E. Hibdon, Jr, Arkadiusz Michał Kowalski, Małgorzata Stefania Lewandowska, Dawid Majcherek, Ewelina Nojszewska, Izabela Pruchnicka-Grabias, Agata Sielska and Julian Smółka.

The world today is more unequal than it has ever been before. Therefore, global inequalities represent a crucial issue of the contemporary global economy. This volume carries the title ‘Geopolitics, Discrimination, Gender, & Immigration’. It contains eleven selected papers which touch upon the topic of inequalities from various perspectives. The scope of the discussion in the papers is wide and it opens possibilities for further research in problems that are directly or indirectly related to inequalities of opportunity, gender issues, immigration and global policies.