Making Policy Making Law

The functioning of the U.S. government is a bit messier than Americans would like to think. The general understanding of policymaking has Congress making the laws, executive agencies implementing them, and the courts applying the laws as written—as long as those laws are constitutional. Making Policy, Making Law fundamentally challenges this conventional wisdom, arguing that no dominant institution—or even a roughly consistent pattern of relationships—exists among the various players in the federal policymaking process. Instead, at different times and under various conditions, all branches play roles not only in making public policy, but in enforcing and legitimizing it as well. This is the first text that looks in depth at this complex interplay of all three branches. The common thread among these diverse patterns is an ongoing dialogue among roughly coequal actors in various branches and levels of government. Those interactions are driven by processes of conflict and persuasion distinctive to specific policy arenas as well as by the ideas, institutional realities, and interests of specific policy communities. Although complex, this fresh examination does not render the policymaking process incomprehensible; rather, it encourages scholars to look beyond the narrow study of individual institutions and reach across disciplinary boundaries to discover recurring patterns of interbranch dialogue that define (and refine) contemporary American policy. Making Policy, Making Law provides a combination of contemporary policy analysis, an interbranch perspective, and diverse methodological approaches that speak to a surprisingly overlooked gap in the literature dealing with the role of the courts in the American policymaking process. It will undoubtedly have significant impact on scholarship about national lawmaking, national politics, and constitutional law. For scholars and students in government and law—as well as for concerned citizenry—this book unravels the complicated interplay of governmental agencies and provides a heretofore in-depth look at how the U.S. government functions in reality.

Time to share the burden:toward Institution-Focused Intervention; An agenda of substance:grassroots efforts to reduce alcohol and tobaco problems; Making more pie: local initiatives that increase resources and institutional accountability; Plotting a course: lessons from the front lines; taking policy:media and the message; Looking ahead: reflections and recommendations.

Thoroughly revised, reorganized, updated, and expanded, this widely-used text sets the balance and fills the gap between theory and practice in public policy studies. In a clear, conversational style, the author conveys the best current thinking on the policy process with an emphasis on accessibility and synthesis rather than novelty or abstraction. A newly added chapter surveys the social, economic, and demographic trends that are transforming the policy environment.

Many tools are on offer to politicians and other policy-makers when they seek to change policy outcomes. Often they choose to concentrate on one set of tools, but fail to see the costs as well as the benefits – and may not consider the available evidence regarding their effectiveness. This innovative new textbook clearly sets out the main tools of government, and provides an analysis of their efficacy when applied to public problems. Each chapter examines the relative benefits and costs of using a key tool that is available to improve policy outcomes, drawing on a diverse literature, a large number of empirical studies and a range of contexts. Areas covered include: governments and policy outcomes law and regulation public spending and taxation bureaucracy and public management institutions information, persuasion and deliberation networks and governance. Offering a clear and comprehensive evaluation, and highlighting the set of powerful tools commonly available, this text encourages students to consider the most effective combination in order to manage key issues successfully. Including a useful glossary of key terms, this book will be of great interest to all students of public policy, administration and management.

This unique memoir tells firsthand the stories of six dramatic public court cases, and shows how lawyers, sometimes fighting to make new precedent, and impartial judges who hear their arguments, are our best protection against inappropriate governmental actions. These are adventure stories, involving ordinary people attempting to protect themselves from actions by strangers or a public official that threaten to upend their lives: A male cadet soon to be commissioned learns that newly-coed West Point intends to expel him for “walking with” a female cadet. The family of the victims of three horrifying murders committed on an American military base seek justice after the government states it will not prosecute the probable murderer. Parents of a newborn baby with life-threatening medical conditions are sued by political zealots for custody of their child and the right to make her medical decisions. Other adventures involve the author, then 34, going to Washington to ask a sharply divided Supreme Court to invalidate his county’s 300-year -old charter in the first local reapportionment case in the nation; an emotional court confrontation between the White and Black populations of a local suburban community over zoning policies that it and most other American suburbs followed for many years; and New York’s high court missing an opportunity to prevent the 2007-2008 world financial crisis. These cases affected the lives of many, and became part of a long tradition of Constitutional law gradually changing to meet new conditions. The book is a clarion call to restore the courts’ impartility.

This volume combines academic and practitioner perspectives to critically consider contemporary policy making and highlight examples of good practice at all levels of government.

Laws exist to incentivize us to act in a certain manner, in accordance with the policies that our community has deemed right for us. And when we disagree with those laws, we must re-examine our policies, and thus our beliefs and ideas, to decide whether our community has changed. This is a book about law and public policy—about the ideas and the rules we build to implement those rules. While similar books have looked at public policy and public administration in an effort to explain how the government works, and others have considered the foundations of the legal system to understand the rulemaking institutions, this book takes a different approach. In this ground-breaking new textbook, author Kevin Fandl develops a complete picture of society, from idea to action -- by examining laws through the lens of policy, and vice versa. This holistic approach gives readers a chance to see not only why certain rules exist, but how those rules evolved over time and the events that inspired them. It offers readers an opportunity not only to see but also to participate in the process of forming the structures that shape our society. This textbook is divided into two sections. The first section provides readers with the tools that they will need to digest the policies and laws that surround them. These tools include a historical deep dive into the foundations of the governance structure in the United States and beyond, an important examination of civics and a reminder of the importance of engaging in the policymaking process, a careful breakdown of the institutions that form the backbone of the law and policy-making institutions in the United States, and finally critical thinking including practical tools to find reliable sources for news, research, and other types of information. The second section of the text is comprised of subject-matter analyses. These subject-based chapters, written by experts on the topic at hand begin with a historical perspective, followed by a careful examination of the key policies and laws that inform that field. Each chapter highlights key vocabulary, provides practical vignettes to add context to the writing, explores a unique global component to compare perspectives from communities worldwide, and includes a number of discussion questions and recommended readings for further examination. This textbook is tailored specifically for undergraduate and graduate students of public policy, to introduce them to the role of law and legal institutions as facilitators and constraints on public policy, exploring those laws in a range of relevant policy contexts with the help of short case studies.