There are few more sensitive or important policy areas in the world today, and that means this book is a hugely relevant and timely one. Written by practice-oriented political scientists from various universities in Europe and the rest of the world, this book is a testimony to both policy and the evolution of policy analyses over the last 25 years. On the basis of empirical observations all contributions have attempted to develop new conceptual perspectives for environmental policy analyses which furthermore can be generalized and applied to other policy fields.

By the end of the 1970s, contaminated sites had emerged as one of the most complex and urgent environmental issues affecting industrialized countries. The authors show that small and prosperous Switzerland is no exception to the pervasive problem of sites contamination, the legacy of past practices in waste management having left some 38,000 contaminated sites throughout the country. This book outlines the problem, offering evidence that open and polycentric environmental decision-making that includes civil society actors is valuable. They propose an understanding of environmental management of contaminated sites as a political process in which institutions frame interactions between strategic actors pursuing sometimes conflicting interests. In the opening chapter, the authors describe the influences of politics and the power relationships between actors involved in decision-making in contaminated sites management, which they term a "wicked problem." Chapter Two offers a theoretical framework for understanding institutions and the environmental management of contaminated sites. The next five chapters present a detailed case study on environmental management and contaminated sites in Switzerland, focused on the Bonfol Chemical Landfill. The study and analysis covers the establishment of the landfill under the first generation of environmental regulations, its closure and early remediation efforts, and the gambling on the remediation objectives, methods and funding in the first decade of the 21st Century. The concluding chapter discusses the question of whether the strength of environmental regulations, and the type of interactions between public, private, and civil society actors can explain the environmental choices in contaminated sites management. Drawing lessons from research, the authors debate the value of institutional flexibility for dealing with environmental issues such as contaminated sites.

Improving urban air quality has become a policy priority for the European Union, national governments and city authorities as more evidence comes to light of the harmful health effects of road traffic pollution. This book clearly illustrates how to work towards effective policies for improved urban air quality.The authors argue that designing and implementing successful policies is not just a matter of deciding on the most appropriate technological solutions. A process of institution building has to take place which works towards consensus among a variety of potentially divergent interests; from the police and highway authorities to business interests and citizens. Making use of policy network theory, this volume presents studies of attempts to build such coalitions, and the factors that have often frustrated them, in countries such as Canada, France, Italy and Switzerland. This book provides a major contribution to the theoretical and empirical understanding of the policies needed to combat road traffic pollution. The Politics of Improving Urban Air Quality will prove invaluable to scholars of environmental studies and public policy.

This book is an English version of a successful text* on public policy analysis originally written for policy practitioners in Switzerland and France. It presents a model for the analysis of public policy and includes examples of its application in everyday political-administrative situations. This English version introduces supplementary illustrations and examples from the United Kingdom. Structured and written accessibly for readers who may not have an academic background in the social sciences, Public Policy Analysis applies key ideas from sociology, political science, administrative science and law to develop an analytical framework that can be used to carry out empirical studies on different public policies. British scholars, practitioners and students are introduced all too rarely to ideas from the Francophone world, and this book will contribute to remedying that. It will be particularly relevant for students and practitioners of public administration.

By the end of the 1970s, contaminated sites had emerged as one of the most complex and urgent environmental issues affecting industrialized countries. The authors show that small and prosperous Switzerland is no exception to the pervasive problem of sites contamination, the legacy of past practices in waste management having left some 38,000 contaminated sites throughout the country. This book outlines the problem, offering evidence that open and polycentric environmental decision-making that includes civil society actors is valuable. They propose an understanding of environmental management of contaminated sites as a political process in which institutions frame interactions between strategic actors pursuing sometimes conflicting interests. In the opening chapter, the authors describe the influences of politics and the power relationships between actors involved in decision-making in contaminated sites management, which they term a "wicked problem." Chapter Two offers a theoretical framework for understanding institutions and the environmental management of contaminated sites. The next five chapters present a detailed case study on environmental management and contaminated sites in Switzerland, focused on the Bonfol Chemical Landfill. The study and analysis covers the establishment of the landfill under the first generation of environmental regulations, its closure and early remediation efforts, and the gambling on the remediation objectives, methods and funding in the first decade of the 21st Century. The concluding chapter discusses the question of whether the strength of environmental regulations, and the type of interactions between public, private, and civil society actors can explain the environmental choices in contaminated sites management. Drawing lessons from research, the authors debate the value of institutional flexibility for dealing with environmental issues such as contaminated sites.

Building on Knoepfel's previous book, Public policy analysis, this book offers a conceptually coherent view of ten public policy resources: force, law, personal, money, property rights, information, organisation, consensus, time and political support. The book demonstrates the interplay of the different resources in a conceptually coherent framework and presents numerous illustrations of ways of mobilising the resources and managing them in a sustainable way, resource exchanges and the role of institutions governing the interrelationships between actors and resources. The book will be valuable to postgraduate students as well as those working in policy programming and implementation across both public and private sectors and in non-governmental organisations.

This book is an English version of a successful text* on public policy analysis originally written for policy practitioners in Switzerland and France. It presents a model for the analysis of public policy and includes examples of its application in everyday political-administrative situations. This English version introduces supplementary illustrations and examples from the United Kingdom. Structured and written accessibly for readers who may not have an academic background in the social sciences, Public Policy Analysis applies key ideas from sociology, political science, administrative science and law to develop an analytical framework that can be used to carry out empirical studies on different public policies. British scholars, practitioners and students are introduced all too rarely to ideas from the Francophone world, and this book will contribute to remedying that. It will be particularly relevant for students and practitioners of public administration.