Beyond the Policy Cycle

<p>It is common (and comforting) to see public policy as the result of careful craft work by expert officials who recognise a problem identify and evaluate possible responses and choose the most appropriate strategy the policy cycle'. The reality is more complex and challenging. Many hands are involved in policy-making not all of them official they are not all addressing the same problem they have different ideas about what would be a good answer and the process is rarely brought to a neat close by a clear decision. The development of policy can resemble firefighting with players rushing to react to demands for action in areas that are already in crisis or it can be a less frenetic process of weaving as they search for an outcome which reflects the concerns of all the stakeholders. Effective participation in the policy process calls for a clear understanding of this complexity and ambiguity.<br><br><i>Beyond the Policy Cycle</i> sets policy in this wider context. It recognises that participants in the process are drawn from both government and diverse areas outside government and looks not at a model' process but rather at how the game is played: how issues rise to prominence who is actually doing the work and exactly what it is that they are doing. <br><br>With detailed Australian case studies and examining the implications of recent trends in policy such as the outsourcing of service provision <i>Beyond the Policy Cycle</i> offers students and practitioners a critical and engaged look at the activity of policy that reflects the reality of the policy experience.</p>