Policy (Concepts in the Social Sciences) - Softcover

"This 3rd edition, like the previous ones, offers students an excellent guided tour of the field of policy studies. The major strands of thinking and research are introduced as answers to a set of straightforward, commonsense questions, written in highly accessible, non-technical, easy to grasp prose.
Yet, this edition has more to offer. Colebatch systematically reflects on the paradigmatic struggles over the meanings of 'policy' – as problem solving and authoritative choice in the corridors of power, as bargaining and negotiation in multilayered governance networks, and as political sense-making through collective puzzling. Asking how 'policy' works in practice, the author demonstrates the myriad ways in which these meanings permeate and colour each other. In doing so, Colebatch restores intellectual unity to a field that appears fragmented to many academic observers and practitioners."
Professor Robert Hoppe, University of Twente, The Netherlands

"This third edition of Hal Colebatch's volume, Policy, is a very accessible book that has the ability to meet the needs of a broad range of readers. The book provides a range of examples of the illusive world of policy; these examples travel the globe and allows the work to move beyond the original Australian focus in the first edition. The nine questions that serve to organize the volume are useful and provide access to the ever-growing literature in the policy field."
Dr Beryl A. Radin, School of Public Affairs, American University, USA