Table of Contents

PART I. THE STUDY OF PUBLIC POLICY
Public Policy and Politics
What Is Public Policy?
Defining Basic Concepts
The Contexts of Public Policy
The Reasons for Government Involvement
Why Study Public Policy?
The Practice of Policy Analysis
Government Institutions and Policy Actors
Growth of Government
Government Institutions and Policy Capacity
Federalism
Separation of Powers
Informal Policy Actors and Policy Capacity
Improving Policy Capacity
Understanding the Politics of Public Policy
Theories of Politics and Public Policy
The Policy Process
Model Instruments of Public Policy
Policy Typologies
PART II. ANALYZING PUBLIC POLICY
Policy Analysis: An Introduction
The Nature of Policy Analysis
Steps in the Policy Analysis Process
Types of Policy Analysis
What Kind of Analysis Is Needed?
Public Problems and Policy Alternatives
Problem Analysis
How to Find Information
Constructing Alternatives
Creative Thinking about Policy Action
Assessing Policy Alternatives
Evaluative Criteria for Judging Policy Proposals
Using the Methods of Policy Analysis
Economic Approaches
Decision Making and Impacts
Political and Institutional Approaches
Ethical Analysis
PART III. ISSUES AND CONTROVERSIES IN PUBLIC POLICY
Economic and Budgetary Policy
Background
Goals of Economic Policy
Tools of Economic Policy
The Budget Process and Its Effect on Economic Policy
Economic Policy: Successes and Failures
Future Economic Issues and Challenges
Focused Discussion: How to Address the Budgetary Shortfall
Health Care Policy
Background
Major Government Health Care Programs
Rising Health Care Costs
Managed Care Organizations
Reducing Health Care Costs: Beyond HMOs
Quality of Care
Focused Discussion: Should There Be Greater Emphasis on Preventative Health Care?
Welfare and Social Security Policy
Background
Social Security
Welfare
Focused Discussion: We′ve Reformed Welfare, Now What? Addressing Poverty
Education Policy
Background
Problems Facing Education
Higher Education Issues
Education Policy Reforms
Focused Discussion: School Testing and Educational Quality
Environmental and Energy Policy
Background
The Evolution of Environmental and Energy Policy
From Consensus to Conflict in Environmental Policy
Major Federal Environmental Policies
Energy Policies
Focused Discussion: Climate Change and Energy Policy Alternatives
Foreign Policy and Homeland Security
Background and Policy Evaluation
Selected Issues in Homeland Security
Focused Discussion: Civil Liberties in an Age of Terrorism
PART IV. CONCLUSIONS
Politics, Analysis, and Policy Choice
Public Policies and Their Impacts
Policy Analysis and Policy Choices
Citizen Participation in Decision Making
Conclusions

About the Author

Michael E. Kraft is professor emeritus of political science

and public affairs at the University of Wisconsin–Green

Bay. He is the author of, among other works, Environmental

Policy and Politics, 8th ed. (2022), and coauthor of

Coming Clean: Information Disclosure and Environmental

Performance (2011), with Mark Stephan and Troy D. Abel.

In addition, he is the coeditor of Environmental Policy:

New Directions in the 21st Century, 12th ed. (2025), with

Barry G. Rabe and Norman J. Vig; Toward Sustainable

Communities: Transition and Transformations in Environmental Policy, 2nd ed. (2009), with

Daniel A. Mazmanian; and Business and Environmental Policy: Corporate Interests in the

American Political System (2007) and The Oxford Handbook of U.S. Environmental Policy (2013),

with Sheldon Kamieniecki. For over forty years, he taught courses in environmental policy and

politics, American government, Congress, and public policy analysis.

Scott R. Furlong is provost/vice president for academic

affairs at the State University of New York at Oswego as

of July 2017, after serving ten years as dean of the College

of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences and professor

of political science and public affairs at the University of

Wisconsin–Green Bay. His areas of expertise are regulatory

policy and interest group participation in the executive

branch, and he has taught public policy for over twenty

years. He is the author or coauthor of many book chapters

and coauthor of Rulemaking: How Government Agencies

Write Laws and Make Policy, 5th ed. (2019), with Cornelius

M. Kerwin. His articles have appeared in such journals as Public Administration Review, Journal

of Public Administration Research and Theory, Administration and Society, American Review of

Public Administration, and Policy Studies Journal.

 

Reviews

I have enjoyed using all editions of Kraft and Furlong’s Public Policy: Politics, Analysis, and Alternatives in my policy classes. It is by far the best textbook on the American public policy making process and on the history and politics of all the major domestic policies in the U.S. The authors combine academic knowledge about policy making with an impressive expertise about domestic policies. My students have found Kraft and Furlong′s book to be engaging timely, and highly readable
*James A. Thurber*

Public Policy’s emphasis on policy analysis is unique and encourages students to begin thinking as analysts. In a subtle way, it shifts the burden of evaluation to students and encourages them to become more active in the course. I also found the accompanying web site very helpful, most notably the online exercises which require the students to get involved in the issues in ways that a standard lecture format do not allow
*Robert Duffy*

Kraft and Furlong’s Public Policy: Politics, Analysis, and Alternatives is the core text in my introductory public policy course. It is written in language that is cogent and concise, and helps to establish a common universe of discourse among students with varied backgrounds in policy. One of its major strengths is the emphasis on critical thinking; the list of web sites in each chapter gives students sources for current and reliable information
*Cheryl Leggon*

Too rough.
*drupal*