Management Sciences and Policy Sciences

Policy Sciences are making challenging “revolutionary” claims, and these are critically reviewed. Note is taken of the limited domain of the field, to public policy making, and the advisability for such a basis for differentiating this professional subgroup is questioned. There is an attempt to distinguish between the various schools and antecedents of Policy Sciences. In this paper a technological perspective is taken. What are the differentiating skills and technologies Policy Sciences promises to bring to its clients? Is intersector awareness, interdisciplinarity, and the application of the behavioral sciences a Policy Sciences monopoly or the natural development of systems technologies in a changing environment? The negative mode of comparison of Policy Sciences with Systems Analysis and Systems Engineering as a basis for building this new profession is criticized as inadequate and misleading. An analogy is made, between the checkered history of Operations Research, and Policy Sciences, with the implication that many of the same mistakes are being made. Policy Science perspectives that exclusively emphasize public top level policy making are criticized as too limited. The lack of and need for Policy Science analysis of the strategies for attempting to introduce and integrate Policy Sciences into institutions is pointed out. The potential contributions and role of Policy Sciences are analyzed and related to existing and developing Management Science perspectives. A plea is made for unity in place of competition.     

From Three Mile Island to Fukushima: the impact of analogy on attitudes toward nuclear power

Policy Sciences - Policy scholars are paying increasing attention to the role of language in policy debates, with particular emphasis on narratives. Policy narratives serve as strategic tools that,...     

Civic Engagement and Public Policy Making in America

Larry N. Gerston, Public Policymaking in a Democratic Society: A Guide to Civic Engagement
Thomas A. Birkland, An Introduction to the Policy Process: Theories, Concepts, and Models of Public Policy Making
Mark E. Rushefsky, Public Policy in the United States: At the Dawn of the Twenty-First Century     

REVIEWS

Books reviewed in this article:
Review Essay Interpretive Policy Analysis Frank Fischer
Review Essay Interpretive Policy Analysis Maarten A Hajer & Hendrik Wagenaar eds
Review Essay Interpretive Policy Analysis Dvora Yanow
Review Essay Interpretive Policy Analysis Dvora Yanow
Australia's Choices: Options for a Prosperous and Fair Society Ian Marsh ed.
Government Failure: A Primer in Public Choice Gordon Tullick, Arthur Seldon and Gordon L Brady
Civil Service Systems in Anglo-American Countries John Halligan ed.
The Decline of the Tea Lady: Management for Dissidents Jenny Stewart     

Book Reviews

Books reviewed in this article: Governance Stories Mark Bevir and R.A.W. Rhodes Administering Welfare Reform: International Transformations in Welfare Governance Paul Henman and Menno Fenger (eds) Health Policy and Politics: Networks, Ideas and Power Jenny Lewis The Longest Decade George Megalogenis Globalisation, Policy Transfer and Policy Research Institutes Stella Ladi     

Book Reviews

Book reviewed in this article:
Richard Rose: Ordinary People in Public Policy: A Behavioural Analysis .
Bernt Aardal & Henry Valen: Velgere, partier og politisk avstand (Voters, parties, and political distance) .
Ebba Dohlman: National Welfare and Economic Interdependence: The Case of Sweden's Foreign Trade Policy .
David Arter: Politics and Policy-Making in Finland .
Arthur Gould: Conflict and Control in Welfare Policy.
Carol M. Mueller (ed.): The Politics of the Gender Gap. The Social Construction of Political Influence .
Christopher Coker: Reflections on American Foreign Policy Since 1945 .     

Book Reviews

Book reviewed in this article:
F. A. LARCOMBE, The Advancement of Local Government in New South Wales 1906 to the Present .
HUGH V. EMY, The Politics of Australian Democracy .
BERNARD SCHAFFER and ELIZABETH O'KEEFE, People and Agencies
D. M. FENBURY, Practice Without Policy: genesis of local government in Papua New Guinea .
R. G. S. BROWN, Reorganising the National Health Service: A Case Study of Administrative Change .
HUGH V. EMY, Public Policy: Problems and Paradoxes .
WOLFGANG KASPER, Issues in Economic Policy .
I. K. F. BIRCH, Forming Australia's Education Policy .     

POLICY LEARNING

The Comparative History of Public Policy. Edited by Francis G. Castles Trends in British Public Policy: Do Governments Make any Difference? Brian W. Hogwood Public Policy in Britain. Martin Burch & Bruce Wood     

Book Reviews

Books reviewed:
Meredith, Edwards with Cosmo, Howard and Robin, Miller Social Policy, Public Policy: From Problem to Practice
John, Wanna; Joanne, Kelly and John, Forster Managing Public Expenditure in Australia
Adam, Jamrozik Social Policy in the Post-welfare State: Australia on the Threshold of the 21st Century
Michael, Keating; John, Wanna and Patrick, Weller Institutions on the Edge: Capacity for Governance     

BOOK REVIEWS

Book reviews in this article:
Eleanor P. Wolf, Trial and Error: The Detroit School Segregation Case .
Robert A. Dentler and Marvin B. Scon, Schools on Trial: An Inside Account .
John Brigham and Don W. Brown (eds.) Policy Implementation .
George C. Edwards III, Implementing Public Policy .
Robert T. Nakamura and Frank Smallwood. The Politics of Policy Implementation .
Randall B. Ripley and Grace A. Franklin, Bureaucracy and Policy Implementation .
Laurence Rutter, The Essential Community: Local Government in the Year 2000 .
Hadley Arkes, The Philosopher in the City: The Moral Dimensions of Urban Politics .     

Seeking to Inspire Public Policy Analysts

The 1997 Public Policy Network Conference was held at Melbourne University's Centre for Public Policy. John Chesterman, one of the organisers, provides a taste of the debates.
The 1998 Public Policy Network Conference will be held at Victoria University, Wellington, on 29 and 30 January. Enquires or offers of papers may be forwarded to Dr RJ Gregory (e-mail Bob.Gregory@vuw.ac.nz ).     

Book Reviews

Advice and Consent: The Development of the Policy Sciences. By PETER DE LEON.
The Reach and Grasp of Policy Analysis: Comparative Views of the Craft. By RICHARD HOFFERBERT.
Governing Education: A Sociology of Policy Since 1945. By ANDREW McPHERSON and CHARLES D. RAAB.
Privatising the World. By OLIVER LETWIN.
La France Face au Sud: Le Miroir Brise. By JACQUES ADDA and MARIE-CLAUDE SMOUTS.
The President and Civil Rights Policy: Leadership and Change. By STEVEN A. SHULL
The Political Limits of Environmental Regulation: Tracking the Unicorn. By BRUCE YANDLE.
L'Etat en Amerique. Edited by MARIE-FRANCE TOINET.     

Contingency factors explaining policy adoption: body-worn camera policy across US states

Policy Sciences - Policy researchers suggest that governments respond to societal problems with public policy. However, empirical evidence is mixed regarding the effect of problem severity on state...     

Designing policy for the long term: agency,policy feedback and policy change

Policy Sciences - Policy feedback research faces a potential pivot point owing to recent theoretical and substantive advances. Concerted attention now spans new scientific communities, such as...     

Heated policy: policy actors’ emotional storylines and conflict escalation

Policy Sciences - Policy conflict is gaining attention in policy studies. In this paper, we explore the relation between emotional storylines and policy conflict escalation in the case of the Dutch...     

Linking throughput and output legitimacy in Swiss forest policy implementation

Policy Sciences - Policy scholars typically assume that implementing actors should follow democratically decided rules in linear, predictable ways. However, this assumption does not factor...     

Ghastly science

as well as Professor of Urban affairs and Public Policy at the University of Delaware. He is Co-Editor of the series, Energy Policy Studieswith Daniel Rich, and Editor of Energy and Cities.Other edited work includes The Solar Energy Transition: Implementation and Policy Implications,(with Daniel Rich, Allen M. Barnett, and Jon M. Veigel).     

The importance of policy design fit for effectiveness: a qualitative comparative analysis of policy integration in regional transport planning

Policy Sciences - Policy design has returned as a central topic in public policy research. An important area of policy design study deals with effectively attaining desired policy outcomes by...     

Big field,small potatoes: An empirical assessment of EPA's self‐audit policy

Environmental self‐auditing is said to deserve and require encouragement. Although firms can audit themselves more cheaply and effectively than regulators, they are deterred for fear that information they uncover will be used against them. To reduce this disincentive, the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) Audit Policy lowers punitive fines when firms promptly disclose and correct self‐discovered violations. While some contend that the Audit Policy is inadequate, EPA touts its success based on the policy's track record. Our examination of that track record leads us to question EPA's claim. Comparing the violations in these cases with those detected by standard EPA enforcement suggests that the typical self‐audited violation is relatively minor. Cases arising under the Policy are more likely to concern reporting violations and less likely to concern emissions. The relative insignificance of self‐audited violations raises a number of policy questions, including whether the Audit Policy should be revised to play a larger role in enforcement. © 2004 by the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management.