Politics and Public Policy: Strategic Actors and Policy Domains

Getting beyond the traditional policy cycle discussed in most textbooks, the fully updated fourth edition of Politics and Public Policy offers a more comprehensive and realistic view of policymaking in the United States―one that looks beyond the jockeying between presidents and members of Congress, and explores the influence of corporate leaders, interest groups, bureaucrats, judges, and journalists. The book explores six distinct, yet connected, policy domains:

• Boardroom Politics (decisions by business leaders and professionals);
• Bureaucratic Politics (rule-making and adjudication by administrators);
• Cloakroom Politics (lawmaking by legislators);
• Chief Executive Politics (decision making by presidents, governors, mayors, and their advisers);
• Courtroom Politics (rulings by judges); and
• Living Room Politics (opinions expressed through the mass media, grassroots movements, political activists, and voters).

The authors’ unique framework prepares students to evaluate the strategies of various political actors within each domain.