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Public Policy: Politics, Analysis, and Alternatives cover

Political Science

Political Science

Public Policy: Politics, Analysis, and Alternatives

Michael E. Kraft; Scott R. Furlong

A textbook that connects the politics of policymaking with the tools of policy analysis. Kraft and Furlong explain how American public policy is made, introduce the criteria and methods analysts use to assess alternatives, and then apply both perspectives to major substantive areas such as economic, health, welfare, education and environmental policy.

Prerequisites: An introductory course in American government is helpful but not strictly required.

Difficulty Level
Intermediate
Academic Level
Undergraduate
public policypolicy analysispolicymaking processevaluationamerican politicsTextbook

01 / Reading Guide

Reading Guide

Citation

Kraft, M. E., & Furlong, S. R. (2023). Public Policy: Politics, Analysis, and Alternatives (8th ed.). CQ Press.

Chapter Summary

The eighth edition has 13 chapters in four parts and runs to about 570 pages. In Chapter 1 the authors state three goals: to give readers a fuller understanding of public policy and how governments make it, to encourage them to look ahead to the implications of policy choices, and to foster critical thinking about policy alternatives. Policy analysis concepts are therefore introduced throughout. Each chapter opens with learning objectives and a vignette and ends with discussion questions, suggested readings, suggested websites and keywords. Chapter titles and section headings below follow the publisher's table of contents.

Part I: The Study of Public Policy (Chapters 1–3)

Chapter 1, Public Policy and Politics, defines public policy and its basic concepts, explains why it is worth studying, describes the contexts in which policy is made and the reasons for government involvement (political, moral or ethical, and economic, including market failure), and introduces policy analysis. The sample chapter opens with amusement-ride safety as an example of a gap in regulation, and it introduces four criteria for judging policies: effectiveness, efficiency, equity and political feasibility. Chapter 2, Government Institutions and Policy Actors, traces the growth of government, then examines federalism, the separation of powers and informal actors such as interest groups, organising the discussion around "policy capacity"; its opening vignette is the COVID-19 pandemic. Chapter 3, Understanding Public Policymaking, surveys theories of politics and public policy, the policy process model, the instruments of policy and policy typologies.

Part II: Analyzing Public Policy (Chapters 4–6)

Chapter 4, Policy Analysis: An Introduction, covers the nature of policy analysis, the steps in the process, its types and how to decide what kind of analysis is needed. Chapter 5, Public Problems and Policy Alternatives, deals with problem analysis, finding information, constructing alternatives and thinking creatively about policy action. Chapter 6, Assessing Policy Alternatives, sets out evaluative criteria and the methods for applying them: economic approaches (Chapter 1 mentions cost-benefit analysis and risk assessment), decision-making and impacts, political and institutional approaches, and ethical analysis. The authors describe this part as a departure from other policy texts in its thorough coverage of policy analysis.

Part III: Issues and Controversies in Public Policy (Chapters 7–12)

Chapter 7, Economic and Budgetary Policy; Chapter 8, Health Care Policy; Chapter 9, Welfare and Social Security Policy; Chapter 10, Education Policy; Chapter 11, Environmental and Energy Policy; Chapter 12, Foreign Policy and Homeland Security. According to Chapter 1, each of these chapters follows the same format: the nature of the problem, background on policy development, different perspectives on policy change, and how to assess the issues. Each ends with a "Focused Discussion": fiscal policy and economic recovery; preventive health care; addressing poverty; higher education affordability, cost and value; climate change and energy alternatives; and civil liberties in an age of terrorism.

Part IV: Conclusions (Chapter 13)

Chapter 13, Politics, Analysis, and Policy Choice, returns to policy analysis, citizen participation and policy change, reviews public policies and their impacts, and emphasises the role of citizen participation in policy choices.

Key Concepts

Part I: Policy and Politics

  • Public policy: defined by the authors as a course of government action or inaction in response to public problems; they distinguish policy outputs (formal actions) from outcomes (actual effects).
  • Rationales for intervention: political reasons, moral or ethical reasons, and economics and market failures.
  • Policy capacity: a government's ability to identify, assess and respond to public problems, the theme of Chapter 2.
  • Policy process model: the stages through which policy is made.
  • Policy instruments and typologies: the tools governments use, and ways of classifying policies.

Part II: Policy Analysis

  • Problem analysis: understanding the nature, causes and possible solutions of a public problem.
  • Effectiveness, efficiency, equity and political feasibility: the four main criteria for judging policies, to which ethical acceptability and consistency with political values can be added.
  • Economic approaches: methods such as cost-benefit analysis and risk assessment.
  • Ethical analysis: assessing policies by ethical standards.

Parts III–IV: Policy Areas and Choice

  • Focused Discussion: a closing exercise in each substantive chapter that applies the analytical tools to one controversy.
  • Citizen participation: the role of citizens in policy choices, the theme of the final chapter.

Critical Analysis

Strengths

  • Politics and analysis together. The book joins an account of how US policy is made (Part I) to a practical introduction to analysing it (Part II), and then applies both in Part III. The publisher's description stresses that students learn both to question analysts' assumptions and to see how analysis is used in political argument.
  • Explicit evaluative criteria. Chapter 1 introduces effectiveness, efficiency, equity and political feasibility, notes that they are not exhaustive and may carry different weight in different areas, and Chapter 6 returns to them in full. Students gain a framework they can apply to any policy.
  • Practical skills features. "Working with Sources" boxes direct students to real information sources, such as interest-group websites, and "Steps to Analysis" boxes suggest how to interpret policy studies. The Chapter 1 box asks who conducted a study, whether it presents objective information and whether the information appears valid.
  • Consistent policy chapters. The common format of Part III and its Focused Discussions makes comparison across policy areas straightforward. The publisher's new-edition notes mention updated cases on COVID-19, immigration, gun violence and election integrity.

Limitations

  • United States only. Institutions, actors and policy areas are those of the US federal system, so students elsewhere will need comparative material.
  • Theories in brief. Theories of the policy process occupy part of a single chapter (Chapter 3); readers who need the frameworks in depth must go to specialist texts.
  • Topical material dates quickly. Part III depends on current data and recent events (this edition assesses the transition between the Trump and Biden administrations), and the authors themselves warn that web addresses will need updating.

Where It Fits in the Course

Kraft and Furlong is the course's main textbook for combining the policy process with policy analysis. Two shorter or gentler books come before or beside it: Dye's Understanding Public Policy presents competing models of the policy process and applies them to US policy areas, and Theodoulou and Roy's Public Administration: A Very Short Introduction covers the administrative side that Kraft and Furlong touch on through implementing agencies. Birkland's An Introduction to the Policy Process is the closest companion: it gives fuller treatment of agenda setting, policy design, implementation and theories of the policy process, while Kraft and Furlong offer more on analysis and on substantive policy areas.

Two books go further. Kingdon's Agendas, Alternatives, and Public Policies develops the multiple streams account of how issues reach the agenda and should follow Chapter 3. Weible's edited Theories of the Policy Process is a graduate-level survey of the main frameworks, for students who want to go beyond Chapter 3's overview.

How to Use This Book

The book suits undergraduates in political science, public administration and related fields; an introductory course in American government helps but is not essential.

A practical plan:

  • Read Part I in order. Chapters 1–3 give the vocabulary, the institutions and the models the rest assumes.
  • Treat Part II as the methods core. Work through Chapters 4–6 carefully, especially the evaluative criteria in Chapter 6, and practise them on a policy in the news.
  • Choose Part III chapters to fit the course. They follow a common format and can be read in any order after Part II; use each Focused Discussion as a seminar exercise.
  • Finish with Chapter 13.

Use the "Working with Sources" and "Steps to Analysis" boxes as assignments: find the sources they mention, check the data and apply the four criteria. Answer the discussion questions at the end of each chapter, and update the policy chapters with current data, since figures and web addresses change quickly.