The editors and the contributors have produced what can only be described as the definitive guide to the growing field of critical policy studies. It is comprehensive and well written and will be welcomed by all students and practitioners of public policy and policy analysis. No personal or institutional library would be complete without it!' - Wayne Parsons, Cardiff University, UK 'This comprehensive Handbook, with contributions from leading figures in the field, is a valuable source of information on practical and theoretical aspects of critical policy studies, its argumentative and deliberative turn and its methods of analysis which is likely to stimulate further debate on the big issues in the study and analysis of policy.'BR>- Norman Fairclough, Lancaster University, UK 'The field of critical policy studies goes from strength to strength, and this Handbook provides a much-needed review that will be essential reading for scholars, students and practitioners. It is at the same time a critical introduction for those new to the field (including those coming from more conventional approaches to public policy), a comprehensive reference book for people in the field and a guide to emerging issues and challenges in the study of the communicative practice of public policy.' - John Dryzek, University of Canberra, Australia Critical policy studies, as this volume illustrates, challenges conventional approaches to public policy inquiry with its focus on discursive politics, policy argumentation and deliberation, and interpretive modes of analysis. Assembling the voices of established and emerging scholars, the Handbook of Critical Policy Studies fills a major gap in the policy literature. Moving beyond the false neutrality of empiricism and positivism, this Handbook highlights the responsibility of inquirers to take account of social and political context - including present conditions, past trends and prevailing power relationships - to advance inquiry that relies not only on experts but also on citizens in a manner supporting and encouraging democracy. Not only does this call for a reconsideration of the interplay of qualitative and quantitative methods but also for robust attention to the role of values. Accessible to scholars, practitioners and students alike, the book offers a compilation of new critical work that both assesses past developments and appraises emerging issues. Contributors: H. Am, M.R. Banjade, M. Barbehoen, K. Braun, V. Dubois, A. Durnova, L. Elgert, S.A. Ercan, S.S. Fainstein, F. Fischer, S. Griggs, D. Howarth, H. Ingram, B. Jessop, S. Jin Park, W. Lamping, R.P. Lejano, E. Loevbrand, T.W. Luke, R.F. Mendonca, S. Munch, H.R. Ojha, M. Orsini, S.J. Park, S. Paterson, D. Plehwe, T. Saretzki, F. Scala, V.A. Schmidt, A.L. Schneider, K.K. Shrestha, H. Strassheim, J. Stripple, N.-L. Sum, D. Torgerson, H. Wagenaar, D. Yanow

The editors and the contributors have produced what can only be described as the definitive guide to the growing field of critical policy studies. It is comprehensive and well written and will be welcomed by all students and practitioners of public policy and policy analysis. No personal or institutional library would be complete without it!' - Wayne Parsons, Cardiff University, UK 'This comprehensive Handbook, with contributions from leading figures in the field, is a valuable source of information on practical and theoretical aspects of critical policy studies, its argumentative and deliberative turn and its methods of analysis which is likely to stimulate further debate on the big issues in the study and analysis of policy.'BR>- Norman Fairclough, Lancaster University, UK 'The field of critical policy studies goes from strength to strength, and this Handbook provides a much-needed review that will be essential reading for scholars, students and practitioners. It is at the same time a critical introduction for those new to the field (including those coming from more conventional approaches to public policy), a comprehensive reference book for people in the field and a guide to emerging issues and challenges in the study of the communicative practice of public policy.' - John Dryzek, University of Canberra, Australia Critical policy studies, as this volume illustrates, challenges conventional approaches to public policy inquiry with its focus on discursive politics, policy argumentation and deliberation, and interpretive modes of analysis. Assembling the voices of established and emerging scholars, the Handbook of Critical Policy Studies fills a major gap in the policy literature. Moving beyond the false neutrality of empiricism and positivism, this Handbook highlights the responsibility of inquirers to take account of social and political context - including present conditions, past trends and prevailing power relationships - to advance inquiry that relies not only on experts but also on citizens in a manner supporting and encouraging democracy. Not only does this call for a reconsideration of the interplay of qualitative and quantitative methods but also for robust attention to the role of values. Accessible to scholars, practitioners and students alike, the book offers a compilation of new critical work that both assesses past developments and appraises emerging issues. Contributors: H. Am, M.R. Banjade, M. Barbehoen, K. Braun, V. Dubois, A. Durnova, L. Elgert, S.A. Ercan, S.S. Fainstein, F. Fischer, S. Griggs, D. Howarth, H. Ingram, B. Jessop, S. Jin Park, W. Lamping, R.P. Lejano, E. Loevbrand, T.W. Luke, R.F. Mendonca, S. Munch, H.R. Ojha, M. Orsini, S.J. Park, S. Paterson, D. Plehwe, T. Saretzki, F. Scala, V.A. Schmidt, A.L. Schneider, K.K. Shrestha, H. Strassheim, J. Stripple, N.-L. Sum, D. Torgerson, H. Wagenaar, D. Yanow

Politics today is dominated by business news and the stock market. But those in support of green politics ask whether human profit should continue to be the bottom line of political deliberations or if it is time for the interests of the natural world to combine with or even displace the interests of business. In "The Promise of Green Politics" Douglas Torgerson offers a survey of different schools of ecological thought, discusses their implications for the larger political sphere, and advances a three-dimensional concept of politics that emphasizes ethics and discourse as well as strategy.
Arguing that the environmental movement has the potential to contribute to contemporary developments in political theory and social action by changing discursive practices both at the grassroots level "and" along the corridors of power, Torgerson draws on the theories of Hannah Arendt and others to advocate a performative type of political debate that values multiple opinions and is not always oriented toward reaching a single conclusion. Torgerson argues that in a world stuck in administrative and scientific gridlock, the theatrical, comic aspects of green politics are as important as other, more goal-oriented, aspects. Gestures of the carnivalesque--such as protestors sleeping in hammocks slung from trees targeted for destruction or funeral processions held for dying rivers--could be the key to the creation of what Torgerson refers to as a "green public sphere," one that promises a reconfiguration of the relationship between human creativity and the natural world. While offering a number of concrete policy suggestions, his focus remains on the complexity and heterogeneity of green thinking and on the transformative promise implicit in green politics. In creating new ways to speak about the environment, Torgerson argues, the green movement offers a creative way to reconsider many larger issues of political theory and action.
"The Promise of Green Politics" will serve as a gateway to new thinking about green politics and the emerging possibilities of a diverse and vital green public sphere. As such, it will be valued by those interested in environmental and public policy, political theory, social activism, and the future of political action.