Synopses & Reviews
AMERICAN PUBLIC POLICY is an introductory undergraduate text that engages students' interest with its unique emphasis on specific, substantive issues of public policy. This text analyzes American public policies in a historical context that allows students to evaluate, analyze, and debate whether established policies are successful or if alternative policies could better serve the American public. The discussion kindled by AMERICAN PUBLIC POLICY educates students on the practical methods of public policy analysis while allowing them to apply their knowledge to real life policies.
Synopsis
Learn the practical methods of public policy analysis so you can apply them to real life policies with AMERICAN PUBLIC POLICY. This textbook focuses on specific, substantive issues of public policy and analyzes American public policies in a historical context so you can evaluate, analyze, and debate whether established policies are successful or if alternative policies could better serve the American public.
About the Author
Clarke E. Cochran is Professor of Political Science and Adjunct Professor in the Department of Health Organization Management at Texas Tech University. He specializes in religion and politics, political philosophy, and health care policy. Dr. Cochran received his PhD from Duke University in 1971 and has taught at Texas Tech since 1970. He is the author of four books and numerous journal articles. He has served as Chair of the Religion and Politics Section of the American Political Science Association and Chair of Christians in Political Science. He has won the President's Award for Excellence in Teaching. Dr. Cochran held the position of Research Fellow in the Erasmus Institute at the University of Notre Dame (1998-1999) and the Shannon Chair in Catholic Studies at Nazareth College (Spring 2001). His current research interests include religious institutions and health care policy, Catholic social theory and health care reform, church and state controversies, and liberalism and religious participation in politics.Dr. Mayer is Professor of Political Science at Texas Tech University. He received his PhD from the University of Texas. His current research interests include party system change, especially in the weakening of mainstream parties of the moderate left and right, and the emergence of populist parties of identity. These include nationalist parties of the extreme right as well as parties of subcultural defense and other parties of identity that do not classify on the left-to-right axis. Dr. Mayer has published several works on the state of the discipline and a methodological critique of the comparative politics field. He is in the planning stages of a sequel to his previous book in this area, COMPARATIVE POLITICAL INQUIRY: A METHODOLOGICAL SURVEY. In addition to AMERICAN PUBLIC POLICY, he is the author or coauthor of four other books: COMPARATIVE POLITICAL INQUIRY; POLITICS IN INDUSTRIAL SOCIETIES REDEFINING COMPARATIVE POLITICS; and COMPARATIVE POLITICS: NATIONS AND THEORIES IN A CHANGING WORLD, 2e. He is also the author of numerous articles.T. R. Carr is currently Professor and Department Chair of Public Administration and Policy Analysis at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. He teaches primarily in the areas of quantitative methods and policy analysis. In addition to AMERICAN PUBLIC POLICY, he has published chapters and articles focusing on public management issues. He is active in academic and professional associations and has served in numerous offices in state and local chapters of the American Society for Public Administration. He also serves as Mayor of Hazelwood, Missouri, and is engaged in activities sponsored by the National League of Cities and state and local municipal leagues.N. Joseph Cayer is Professor of Public Affairs at Arizona State University. He received a PhD from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and a BA and MPA from the University of Colorado, Boulder. He also has taught at Lamar University; the University of Maine, Orono; and Texas Tech University. He is the author or coauthor of seven books and numerous chapters and articles on public management and policy, with an emphasis on issues of human resources management in the public sector. Books he has authored or coauthored include PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION: SOCIAL CHANGE AND ADAPTIVE MANAGEMENT, AMERICAN PUBLIC POLICY: AN INTRODUCTION, MANAGING HUMAN RESOURCES, HANDBOOK OF TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT FOR THE PUBLIC SECTOR, and SUPERVISION FOR SUCCESS IN GOVERNMENT.
Table of Contents
1. Issues and Public Policy: An Introduction. 2. Intergovernmental Policies: A New Federalism? 3. The Economy: Changing Government-Business Relationships. 4. Economic Issues: Taxing, Spending, and Budgeting. 5. Energy and Environmental Policies: Policy Complacency. 6. Crime and Criminal Justice: Dilemmas of Social Control. 7. Income Support: Security, Work, or Dependency? 8. Health Care: Unlimited Needs, Limited Resources. 9. Education: Conflict in Policy Direction. 10. Legal and Social Equality: The Struggle Against Oppression and Bigotry. 11. Immigration Policy: The Barely Open Door. 12. Foreign Policy: The New Global Challenges. 13. Private Morality and Public Policy: Family Values, Social Issues, and the Open Society. 14. The Continuing Policy Debates: A Conclusion.