Public administration and policy analysis education have long emphasized tidiness, stages, and rationality, but practitioners frequently must deal with a world where objectivity is buffeted by, repressed by, and sometimes defeated by value conflict. Politics and policy are "messy" and power explains much more about the policy process than does rationality. Public Policy Praxis, now in a thoroughly revised fourth edition, uniquely equips students to better grapple with ambiguity and complexity.

By emphasizing mixed methodologies, the reader is encouraged, through the use of a wide variety of policy cases, to develop a workable and practical model of applied policy analysis. Students are given the opportunity to try out these globally applicable analytical models and tools in varied case settings (e.g., county, city, federal, international, plus urban and rural) while facing wide-ranging topics (starving farmers and the red panda in Nepal, e-cigarettes, GMOs, the gig economy, and opioid abuse) that capture the diversity and reality of public policy analysis and the intergovernmental and complex nature of politics. The fourth edition expands upon its thorough exploration of specific tools of policy analysis, such as stakeholder mapping, content analysis, group facilitation, narrative analysis, cost-benefit analysis, futuring, and survey analysis...

This revised and updated second edition introduces students of violent conflict to a variety of prominent theoretical approaches, and examines the ontological stances and epistemological traditions underlying these approaches. Theories of Violent Conflict takes the centrality of the group as an actor in contemporary conflict as a point of departure, leaving us with three main questions. What makes a group? Why and how does a group resort to violence? Why and how do or dont they stop? The book...

This new Routledge Handbook offers a comprehensive, state-of-the-art overview of the meanings and uses of the term peacebuilding, and presents cutting-edge debates on the practices conducted in the name of peacebuilding. The term peacebuilding has had remarkable staying power. Other terms, such as conflict resolution have waned in popularity, while the acceptance and use of the term peacebuilding has grown to the extent that it is the hegemonic and over-arching term for many forms of mediatio...

Principles of Comparative Politics by William R. Clark, Matt Golder, and Sona N. Golder offers a view into the rich world of comparative inquiry, research, and scholarship. The Fourth Edition of this groundbreaking book gives readers meaningful insight into how cross-national comparison is actually conducted and why it matters.

This accessible introduction to the system of public administration uses a clear, country by country analysis to the contemporary system of public administration and management in a number of significant countries. This text examines the extent to which new public management, politicians and public opinion can influence bureaucracies in various countries; in addition, it explores the role of public administration systems within the wider political systems and democratic frameworks of their st...

Cultural Globalization: A User's Guide is a personal and engaging journey through theories of culture and globalization. Drawing on extensive examples and interdisciplinary research, Wise explores concepts of culture, territory and identity in order to give students a new perspective on issues of globalization. Includes numerous examples from Asian, European, and North American youth culture and popular music. Draws on interdisciplinary research from the fields of anthropology, cultural studi...

Drawing on mainstream and critical theoretical approaches, International Organizations offers a comprehensive examination of international organizations' political and structural role in world politics. This text details the types and activities of international organizations and provides students with the conceptual tools needed to evaluate their effectiveness. Surveying key issue areas from international and human security to trade and the environment, International Organizations looks at p...

This textbook offers a systematic and up-to-date introduction to politics and society in the Middle East. Taking a thematic approach that engages with core theory as well as a wide range of research, it examines postcolonial political, social and economic developments in the region, while also scrutinising the domestic and international factors that have played a central role in these developments. Topics covered include the role of religion in political life, gender and politics, the Israel-...

In this essential guide, the team of expert authors explore the politics of a range of European countries, providing insight into everything you need to know on the subject, from the fundamentals of democratic politics, institutions, and practices of government, to key contemporary challenges.