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While civics textbooks describe an idealized model of "how a bill
becomes law;" journalists often emphasize special interest lobbying
and generous campaign contributions to Congress; and other
textbooks describe common stages through which all policies
progress, these approaches fail to convey-much less explain-the
tremendous diversity in political processes that shape specific
policies in contemporary Washington. Bridging the gap between
textbook models of how public policy should work, and how the
process actually works in contemporary Washington, Pathways of
Power provides a framework that integrates the roles of political
interests and policy ideals in the contemporary policy process.
This book argues that the policy process can be understood as a set
of four distinctive pathways of policymaking-pluralist, partisan,
expert, and symbolic-that draw upon different political resources,
appeal to different political actors, and elicit unique strategies
and styles of coalition building. Revealing the strategic behavior
of policy actors who compete to shift policies onto pathways that
maximize their resources and influence, the book provides a fresh
approach to understanding the seeming chaos and volatility of the
policy process today. The book's use of a wide universe of major
policy decisions and case studies, focused on such key areas as
health care, federal budgeting, and tax policy, provides a useful
foundation for students of the policy process as well as for policy
practitioners eager to learn more about their craft.
While civics textbooks describe an idealized model of "how a bill
becomes law;" journalists often emphasize special interest lobbying
and generous campaign contributions to Congress; and other
textbooks describe common stages through which all policies
progress, these approaches fail to convey-much less explain-the
tremendous diversity in political processes that shape specific
policies in contemporary Washington. Bridging the gap between
textbook models of how public policy should work, and how the
process actually works in contemporary Washington, Pathways of
Power provides a framework that integrates the roles of political
interests and policy ideals in the contemporary policy process.
This book argues that the policy process can be understood as a set
of four distinctive pathways of policymaking-pluralist, partisan,
expert, and symbolic-that draw upon different political resources,
appeal to different political actors, and elicit unique strategies
and styles of coalition building. Revealing the strategic behavior
of policy actors who compete to shift policies onto pathways that
maximize their resources and influence, the book provides a fresh
approach to understanding the seeming chaos and volatility of the
policy process today. The book's use of a wide universe of major
policy decisions and case studies, focused on such key areas as
health care, federal budgeting, and tax policy, provides a useful
foundation for students of the policy process as well as for policy
practitioners eager to learn more about their craft.
This collection of articles looks beyond the often-explored
lobbying activities of trade associations to examine and account
for the increasing political involvement of individual business
firms during the 1970s and 1980s. Unlike much of the literature on
business-government relations, this volume is aimed at practicing
public affairs managers and business executives, the teachers who
prepare them for their profession, and management and public policy
scholars.
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