Lewis G. Irwin – författare

This rigorous but very accessible guide to the main concepts and techniques of policy analysis is intended for students and in-service professionals who want to become more efficient and effective in their work. The book equips readers with a structured and disciplined step-by-step approach to decision making, defining issues and applying the powerful techniques of policy analysis - always in the context of uncertainty and limited discretion. Each chapter concludes with notes and a list of supplementary sources for further reading.

This rigorous but very accessible guide to the main concepts and techniques of policy analysis is intended for students and in-service professionals who want to become more efficient and effective in their work. The book equips readers with a structured and disciplined step-by-step approach to decision making, defining issues and applying the powerful techniques of policy analysis - always in the context of uncertainty and limited discretion. Each chapter concludes with notes and a list of supplementary sources for further reading.

Examines the growth of obstacles to legislative success since the 1960s in the U.S. House of Representatives.How do laws come into being in today's Congress? Is public policy made the same way now as it was in the past? In seeking to convert an idea into law, would contemporary legislative actors identify key participants, chamber procedures, strategies, or legislative products differently than their counterparts in the 1960s? Through a comparison of the events that led to the passage of six laws from the 1960s and the 1990s, this book answers these and related questions.Irwin argues that the interpersonal "glue" that held 1960s-era legislators together has been weakened, diminishing the strength of a resource once available to aid would-be legislative champions. This is evidenced by the House being a much less civil and congenial institution today than it was in the 1960s. Consensus building, too, has given way to a war of attrition, leading to a marked increase in contextual impediments to the realization of legislative success. This does not mean, however, that the underlying ingredients of legislative success have changed, only that, in sum, there is a distinct "chill" in the House as members pursue their business.