American Public Policy: Promise and Performance, 7th Edition
In this seventh edition of his classic introduction to the process and content of public policy in America, B. Guy Peters provides the background and context needed for any introductory course in the subject. Deftly handling such core topics as the governmental structures and procedures through which policy is designed and implemented, Peters also examines substantive policy areas—including health care, education, social security and welfare, energy and the environment, and defense and law enforcement—to give students a solid foundation as well as a real sense of the issues and tradeoffs facing today’s policymakers.
Students and instructors alike will appreciate the seventh edition’s updated material on the George W. Bush administration along with cases and material drawn from recent events and scholarship. In addition to analysis of the impact of Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath, the continuing efforts to implement results-based legislation such as the “No Child Left Behind” policy, and an expanded discussion of the changing role of ideology, this revision also includes valuable new material on the defense budget, earmarking in the budgeting process, and the President’s Tax Reform Commission. Showing students why such politically divisive issues as abortion, gay marriage, and school prayer are so unyielding to bargaining and compromise, Peters includes a unique and insightful chapter on social policy and the culture wars. Finally, updated graphics, tables, and charts throughout will ensure that students have access to the latest data in the field.
Issues for Debate in American Public Policy: Selections from CQ Researcher, 8th Edition
For coverage of the most important policy issues facing the United States--from stem cell research, to alternative energy sources, to the minimum wage--offer your students balanced and complete overviews of today’s foremost policy controversies. Each selection incorporates voices from those at the heart of the policy process: people from lobbies, business, nonprofits, think tanks, academia, and government. After extensively researching each issue, CQ staff writers provide substantial background as well as current analysis. The ideal reader to lay needed groundwork and start lively classroom discussion, Issues for Debate in American Public Policy allows students to view an issue from all sides while giving them a window into how policy is actually made and implemented.