A Practical Guide for Policy Analysis

Eugene Bardach has been teaching graduate-level policy analysis workshop classes since 1973 at the Goldman School of Public Policy, University of California, Berkeley, in which time he has coached some five hundred projects. He is a broadly based political scientist with wide-ranging teaching and research interests. His focus is primarily on policy implementation and public management, and most recently on problems of facilitating better interorganizational collaboration in service delivery (e.g., in human services, environmental enforcement, fire prevention, and habitat preservation). He also maintains an interest in problems of homeland defense, as well as regulatory program design and execution, particularly in areas of health, safety, consumer protection, and equal opportunity. Bardach has developed novel teaching methods and materials at Berkeley, has directed and taught in residentially based training programs for higher-level public managers, and has worked for the Office of Policy Analysis at the US Department of the Interior. He is the recipient of the 1998 Donald T. Campbell Award of the Policy Studies Organization for creative contribution to the methodology of policy analysis, and is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. This book is based on his experience teaching students the principles of policy analysis and then helping them to execute their project work.Eric M. Patashnik is the Julis-Rabinowitz Professor of Public Policy, a professor of political science, and chair of the Political Science Department at Brown University. He is also a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and a fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration. He previously served as director of Brown’s Master of Public Affairs program. Before coming to Brown, Patashnik held faculty positions at the University of Virginia (UVA), UCLA, and Yale University. During his time at UVA, he served as associate dean and acting dean at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy. Patashnik’s research focuses on the politics of American national policymaking, especially health policy, the welfare state, and the reform process. He is the author or editor of nine books. Patashnik has twice won the Louis Brownlow Book Award of the National Academy of Public Administration and has also won the Don K. Price Award of the American Political Science Association. Patashnik received his master of public policy and doctoral degrees from the University of California, Berkeley. Earlier in his career, Patashnik was a legislative analyst for the US House Administration Subcommittee on Elections.

This is an excellent introductory text. It is accessible enough to use with my undergraduate students, but rigorous enough for graduate students. It does an excellent job walking students through the weeds of policy analysis. It is a good match for my course because it is able to teach students some of the practical challenges of policy analysis in a way that nicely complements the more theoretical approach of the rest of my course.

• PART I THE EIGHTFOLD PATHPART II ASSEMBLING EVIDENCEPART III HANDLING A DESIGN PROBLEMPART IV “SMART (BEST) PRACTICES” RESEARCH: UNDERSTANDING AND MAKING USE OF WHAT LOOK LIKE GOOD IDEAS FROM SOMEWHERE ELSEAPPENDIX A SPECIMEN OF A REAL-WORLD POLICY ANALYSISAPPENDIX B THINGS GOVERNMENTS DOAPPENDIX C UNDERSTANDING PUBLIC AND NONPROFIT INSTITUTIONS: ASKING THE RIGHT QUESTIONSAPPENDIX D TIPS FOR DOING POLICY ANALYSIS IN A POLARIZED AGEAPPENDIX E TIPS FOR WORKING WITH CLIENTSAPPENDIX F SUGGESTIONS FOR INCORPORATING “BIG DATA” AND RIGOROUS SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE INTO POLICY ANALYSIS