Implementing public policy

Politics and government

Print length: 181 pagesCongressional Quarterly Press, 1980

Description

Why do government decisions so often produce results unlike those their designers intended? George C. Edwards III treats implementation as a distinct stage of policymaking, examining the distance between an adopted directive and its execution by public agencies. His framework centers on four pressures: how clearly decisions are communicated, whether implementers possess adequate resources, whether their attitudes support the policy, and how bureaucratic structures shape action. Examples from government programs show these forces interacting rather than operating in isolation. Written as a systematic introduction, the book gives students of politics and administration a vocabulary for diagnosing delay, inconsistency, resistance, and failure after the public debate over a policy appears to have ended.

Reading profile

About this profile

Collected’s assessment, not reader ratings. Complexity runs from 1 (least demanding) to 5 (most demanding).

Writing: How much attention the sentences and language require.
Ideas: How much interpretation or abstract reasoning the book asks of you.
Structure: How much you need to keep track of speakers, timelines and connections.
Background knowledge: Prior knowledge needed to follow the book, beyond what it explains.
Emotional intensity: Emotional pressure, from gentle (1) to intense (5). Separate from difficulty.

Writing style

Academic · Direct · Technical

Pace

Measured

Tone

Cerebral · Detached · Earnest

Structure

Argumentative

Focus

Argument · Ideas · Information

Emotional intensity

1 / 5

Reading complexity

1–5 · higher means more demanding

Writing: 4 / 5
Ideas: 4 / 5
Structure: 3 / 5
Background knowledge: 3 / 5

Themes

CommunityPolitics and ideologyPowerWork

About George C. Edwards III

George C. Edwards III writes systematic studies of government that turn broad questions about power and policy into sets of interacting institutional conditions. His academic prose defines a problem, separates its components, and tests the framework against government practice. Implementing Public Policy follows an adopted directive into the agencies charged with carrying it out, tracing how communication, resources, officials’ dispositions, and bureaucratic structure produce delay or divergence from stated aims. Presidential Leadership applies a similarly conditional method to presidential influence. Formal authority, rhetoric, and bargaining operate within circumstances shaped by Congress, the bureaucracy, public support, party alignment, and timing. Edwards favors practical analytical frameworks over portraits of individual will.

Book details

For the print edition listed above.

Publisher: Congressional Quarterly Press
Language: English
ISBN: 9780871871558

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