A Brief History of Public Policy since the New Deal
By (Author) Andrew E. Busch
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
10th September 2019
United States
Tertiary Education
Non Fiction
Politics and government
320.60973
Paperback
248
Width 153mm, Height 228mm, Spine 10mm
299g
A Brief History of Public Policy Since the New Deal traces the development of national domestic policy from the Great Depression through the early Trump years. A chronological look that illuminates the cumulative effects of policy change, the book also focuses on themes such as the interplay of ideas, events, politics, and people; models such as incrementalism, multiple streams, and punctuated equilibrium; the importance of foreign policy issues to the development of domestic policy; and features including the importance of problem definition and the law of unanticipated consequences. Following the narrative, each chapter includes a summary of seven key policy areas: economic policy, social welfare, civil rights, environmental and education policy, moral/cultural issues, and federalism. The material is organized by eras identified by presidencies and by whether the era represented a burst of policymaking, made possible because key inputs of ideas, events, politics, and people aligned for change, or a rough equilibrium. Although presidencies are used to define eras, the role of all the institutions are given their due.
Too often courses in American politics ignore the public policies that are the very stuff about which political forces contend. This book provides a comprehensive and insightful narrative about the actual course of public policy since the New Deal and therefore enables students to understand how policy and politics interact. I plan to use it in my American Politics course. -- Marc Landy, Boston College
Ahistorical discussion of public policyunfortunately now widespreadis uniformed discussion. Andrew Busch rectifies this shortcoming with a balanced, thorough and incisive analysis of the variable course of US domestic policy since 1932. Its essential reading for both scholars and students of American public policy and a welcome addition to many classrooms. -- Steven E. Schier, Carleton College
Andrew E. Busch is Crown Professor of Government and George R. Roberts Fellow at Claremont McKenna College. He is coauthor of several R&L books including The Imperial Presidency and the Constitution, Defying the Odds: The Elections of 2016, and After Hope and Change: The 2012 Elections and American Politics.