This work analyzes the implementation of controversial public policy. A single, overarching model provides the framework for testing competing theories, ranging from Max Weber's bureaucracy theory and Woodrow Wilson's theory of administration to more recent ideas on how the legislature controls the bureaucracy. The model combines ideas about policy implementation drawn from different disciplines: political science, public administration, sociology and economics. The author uses a novel empirical test design to measure agency performance and deviations from political decisions taken in three Dutch local authorities. In contrast to more conventional implementation studies, this work adopts a `few variables, many cases' approach. The model and empirical tests, which are fully clarified in the book, together offer a novel framework for the analysis of complex implementation processes. A previous version of the book (written in Dutch) was awarded the prestigious Van Poelje prize of the Dutch Association for Public Administration and the 1996 annual award of the Dutch Political Science Association.

Americans Osborne and Plastirik (1997) have proposed conquering social inequities and bureaucratic inadequacies by simply banishing bureaucracy! Noting that the Dutch reputation for consensus offers lessons for the rest of the world, the author field tests a general model of agency behavior in three local Dutch examples of how controversial social renewal policy proposals and programs are transformed in the complex implementation process. Appendices provide the mathematical derivation of this so-called simple implementation model; overviews of selected policy issues and performances; a list of actors involved in the process and their characteristics; and policy documents and Dutch reports on social renewal. This is a revised, updated, and translated version of a 1996 book. Torenvlied is at Utrecht U., The Netherlands.
Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Includes bibliographical references (p. [275]-286) and index.