Reconsidering Policy: Complexity, Governance and the State

Description

This book makes an original contribution to the literature on public policy by reconsidering fundamental concepts that form the basis of policy development, and offers suggestions for improved policy practice considering contemporary circumstances and the implications of governance and the role of the state. For nation-states, the contexts for developing and implementing policy have become more complex and demanding. Yet policy studies have not fully responded to the challenges and opportunities represented by these developments. Governance literature has drawn attention to a globalising and network-based policy world, but politics and the role of the state have been de-emphasised. This book addresses this imbalance by reconsidering traditional policy-analytic concepts, and re-developing and extending new ones, in a melded approach defined as systemic institutionalism. This links policy with governance and the state and suggests how real-world issues might be substantively addressed.

Kate Crowley is Associate Professor at the University of Tasmania. She is widely published on green politics and environmental policy, and has chaired a number of policy advisory councils. Jenny Stewart is a Visiting Fellow in the School of Business, University of New South Wales Canberra. She has published across a wide range of practical and theoretical policy problems and issues. Adrian Kay is an Honorary Professor at the Australian National University. His research lies at the intersection of international and comparative public policy, with an empirical focus on public health. Brian Head is Professor of Policy Analysis at the University of Queensland. He has held senior roles in government and is widely published on public policy, social and environmental policy.

"Offers a timely premise - that the needs of public policy have not been particularly well served by policy literature. Taking issue with common refrains like a need for governance, the book's chapters provide an expansive critical canvas for a sort of public policy soul-searching." International Journal of Public Administration