Customer Reviews

Public Policy Making, Fourth Edition

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The book is up-to-date with most of the current litterature on the subject. A good balance between theory (which is the back bone of the book) and illustrative examples. Staying clear of the awful example set by "Understanding Public Policy" by Dye, professor Anderson shows how you can analyze, although not neccessarily predict, policymaking. A very useful annotated biography is included. I also appreciated the commonsensical, reflective tone throughout the book. Anderson seems to be a rather wise and thoughtful man.

However, the book is not particularly original. Anderson says more or less the same thing as most other current analysts in the field, and if you are familiar with public policy-litterature, you have heard it all before. His debt to scholars like Baumgartner and Jones is quite large.

Oh, but you were going to use it for teaching? Well, Anderson is a good writer, so the book would be o.k. for introductory classes. But remember, it is fairly basic stuff.

And one more thing, it is all-american. Few words are wasted on comparing different political systems. That is a pity, since international comparisons would highlight the great importance of political institutions.

To wrap it up: a good introductory book for an american audience not familiar with analysis of public policymaking. For an international audience, look elsewhere.

Used as part of my class in Public Policy and Public Administration, this book is written well enough that it's not nearly as dry as other things we were assigned in the program. It's not chock full of theoretical jargon, and offers enough useful, thoughtful cases to be more easily understood than most. Still, for a novice with an interest in how policies are made, I would strongly recommend choosing a book by someone with a great deal of experience in government writing about their experiences- without the accompanying course I took this would have been of little value. Still, its recency is helpful, and the author writes well enough to be almost enjoyable.

The book was ok, it only had way too much highlighter in it, more than I expected and it confuses me a bit when I study, but the rest was more than fine.