'Paul Cairney has done the near impossible and made an outstanding textbook even better.

The public
policy landscape is always evolving and this second edition captures the new features, colours and dynam-
ics in rich and vivid detail. It should be the go-to work for experienced scholars and students alike.'

-
Allan McConnell, University of Sydney, Australia

'This volume stands as the essential guide for students who seek to understand the forces that shape
political decisions and the policy process. Clearly written and full of theoretical and empirical insights from
contemporary issues, I have no doubt this book will have a prominent place in policy scholars' reading lists.'
-

Claire A. Dunlop, University of Exeter, UK

'Rarely does a policy textbook title match its content better. Understanding Public Policy provides an
efficient introduction to complex policy theory that is accessible to new learners by demystifying (neces-
sary) policy jargon through plain language and current examples. Cairney's work incorporates the views
of top scholars across the policy process literature and around the world. New learners and experienced
readers will find the book a useful reference for understanding and researching public policy.'

Chris Koslá, Reed College, USA

-

'Paul Cairney's book is the essential work for any public policy course. It clearly maps out all the key
theories, and is packed with definitions and examples based on the latest research. It also offers a crucial
insight into how policy works, and what happens when theory meets reality. It is usable, lucid and very
well written.'
-
Ben Worthy, Birkbeck, University of London, UK
'Understanding Public Policy does what is says on the tin. It allows students, social scientists and those
involved in public policy to access, understand and apply the most important findings of contemporary
theories and empirical studies of the policy process. Cairney's volume delivers with crystal clear language,
powerful narratives, and a rich repertoire of examples.'
-

Claudio Radaelli, University College London (UCL), UK

'The value of Understanding Public Policy comes from the fact it is the only introductory text about public
policy that properly locates the subject within the larger theories and ideas of political science. This means
that policy and politics can be taught and understood simultaneously through a single high-quality source.
Understanding Public Policy remains an essential text for any social science student seeking to understand
the relationship between policy, politics and society.'
-

Alastair Stark, University of Queensland,Australia

'In the first edition of this text Paul Cairney showed us that the untamed study of public policy could be
conveyed in a way that is both accessible and useful, and yet also comprehensive and sophisticated. In this
second edition he extends these qualities. At this point it is safe to say that Cairney's aerial view of the
study of public policy is itself becoming a standard in the field.'
-
Michael D. Jones, Editor-in-Chief, Policy Studies Journal

'Cairney's second edition synthesizes the rich body of scholarship on public policy and policymaking to dis-
til lessons on the multifaceted factors that structure, influence and produce public policy. This book serves
as an essential resource for diagnosing the nature of policymaking while honouring its complexity and the
diversity of lenses through which we can explore it.'
-
Tanya Heiklála, University of Colorado Denver, USA
'Paul Cairney's book is exceptional in capturing the theoretical and conceptual complexity of the
approaches to understanding the policy process. Caimey's approach is unique in laying the foundation for
understanding these approaches. The book will be useful to both students of the policy process as well as
practitioners hoping to gain a lay of the land in policy studies.'
-

Sam Workman, University of Oklahoma, USA

Textbooks in Policy Studies

Series Editor: Paul Cairney, University of Stirling, UK

Editorial Advisory Group: Jennifer Curtin, University of Auckland, New Zealand; Jordi Diez, University
of Guelph, Canada; Claire Dunlop, University of Exeter, UK; Tanya Heikkila, University of Colorado
Denver, USA; Karin Ingold, University of Bern, Switzerland; Allan McConnell, University of Sydney,
Australia; Daniel Nahrstedt, Uppsala University, Sweden; Jale Tosun, Heidelberg University, Germany;
Chris Weible, University of Colorado Denver, USA.

There has never been a more important time in which to understand the dynamics of public policy. Key events
across the globe have prompted debate about political crisis, from 'post truth' and emotionally-driven politics
to the sense that international institutions or agreements are not well-equipped to solve pressing global crises
such as public health epidemics, poverty and climate change. Yet, a key feature of policy studies is the identi-
fication and explanation of policymaking stability and policy continuity, with salient issues gathering most of
our attention while most issues are processed out of the public spotlight. A major problem for democracy is
that few people know about the choices governments make in their name.

We need as many perspectives as possible on how such policy dynamics operate, and what effect they have
on developments in different regions and policy areas. Such developments will not be covered fully by
research monographs, with a limited focus and audience. We also need textbooks which combine academic
rigour with a broad analytical focus and an appeal to a wide audience. This series helps develop this focus
on research and learning, serving the global market of undergraduate, postgraduate and professional edu-
cation in public policy and related disciplines such as political science and social policy.

PUBLISHED

Anneliese Dodds
Comparative Public Policy (second edition)
Paul Cairney
UnderstandingPublic Policy (second edition)

FORTHCOMING

Christoph Knill and Jale Tosun

Public Policy: A New Introduction (second edition)

Madeleine Pill
Urban Policy and Politics

Alison Ritter
Drug Policy

PLANNED

Researching Public Policy

Global Public Policy

... and more

-

UDERSTADIG
PUBLIC POLICY

Theories and Issues

2nd edition

Paul Cairney

macmillan RED GLOBE

international
HIGHER EDUCATION @ pR E 55
© Paul Cairney, under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited 2011, 2020
All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication
may be made without written permission.
No portion of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted
save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence
permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency,
Saffron House, 6-10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS.
Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication
may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
Theauthor has asserted his right to be identified as the author of this
work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
This edition published 2020 by
RED GLOBE PRESS

Previous edition published under the imprint PALGRAVE

Red Globe Press in the UK is an imprint of Springer Nature Limited,
registered in England, company number 785998, of 4 Crinan Street,
London N1 9XW.

Red Globe Press® is a registered trademark in the United States,

the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries.
ISBN 978-1-137-54519-0 hardback
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A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.
 11-1
JLI.-JM
--

To be honest, when I wrote the dedication for the ß.rst edition, I did not antidpate so many
path dependent issues with the second edition. Still, here goes. For my still-lovely
partner Linda, our still-beautiful-but-not-really-children-anymore children,
Evie, Alß.e and Frankie, their partners (if applicable), our grandchildren
Charlie and Teddy, and our still-smelly-but-handsome dogs Coco and Mabel.
Contents

List of Figures xi
List of Tables xii
List of Boxes xiii
List of Abbreviations xv

Preface xvi

1 Introduction to Policy and Policymaking 1

Introduction: Why Should We Study Public Policy? 2
The General Approach of This Book 4
Simple Models Help Us Understand How Policy Is Not Made 5
Policymaker Psychology 6
Policymaking Complexity 6
The Power of 'the Centre' Is Limited 7
Policy Networks and Subsystems are Pervasive 7
Complex PolicymakingEnvironments Limit Policymaker Control 9
Ideas Matter 11
How to Analyse Policy and Policymaking 12
The Structure of the Book 13
Conclusion 15

2 What Is Policy and Policymaking? 16

Introduction: The Need to Define Policy and Policymaking 16
What Is Public Policy? 17
Measuring Public Policy 20
Narratives of Public Policy 22
Frameworks, Theories, Models, and Heuristics 24
What Is the Policy Cycle? 25
Agenda Settingand Policy Formulation 27
Implementation 28
Top-down and Bottom-upImplementation 30
Evaluation 32
Policy Maintenance, Succession, and Termination 33
Beyond the Policy Cycle 33
Conclusion 36

3 Power and Public Policy 37

Introduction: The Centrality of Power to Public Policy Studies 37
Definitions of Power 39
Three Dimensions of Power: Winning Key Decisions, Agenda Setting,
and Thought Control 40
The First Dimension: A Debate on Elitism and Pluralism 40
The 'Second Face' of Power 42

vii
viii Contents

The Third Dimension of Power 44

Observing the Unobservable 45
All Assessments of Power are Empirical and Normative 46
Beyond the Third Dimension: Foucault and Habermas 47
Power and Critical Theory: The Emancipatory Role for Research 48
Are Such Forms of Power 'Structural'? so
Where Does the Role of Power Stop and Ideas Begin? 52
Conclusion 53

4 Bounded Rationality and the Psychologyof Policymaking 55

Introduction: The Profound Importanceof Bounded Rationality 55
Comprehensive and Bounded Rationality 57
Bounded RationalityIs More ImportantThan Ever 58
Incrementalism 61
Is Incrementa/ism 'Universal' and Inevitable? 63
The Narrative Policy Framework 66
Social Construction and Policy Design 69
Is Social Construction and Policy Design 'Universal' and Inevitable? 72
Conclusion 73

5 Institutions and New Institutionalism 75

Introduction: Institutions Matter, but What are Institutions? 75
Identifying Formal and Informal Institutions 76
What Exactly Is an Institution? What Is Institutionalism? 79
Key Variants of New Institutionalism 81
Historical Institutionalism 81
Rational Choice Institutionalism 84
Normative and Sociological Institutionalism BS
Discursive and Constructivist Institutionalism 86
Feminist Institutionalism 88
Empirical vs. Network Institutionalism? Diverging and Converging Policy Styles 89
Conclusion 91

6 Structures, Environments, and ComplexSystems 94

Introduction: Structure and Agency in the Policy Process 94
Do Structural Factors Determine Policy and Policymaking? 96
The Economic Context: Marxism and Globalization 98
Inheritance before Choice, and Policy Succession 100
The EvolutionaryMetaphor: Context as a Policymaking Environment 101
The Policy Process as a ComplexSystem 104
Conclusion 108

7 Collective Action Problems in Public Policy 110

Collective Action Problems in Rational Choice and Game Theory 112
The Prisoner's Dilemma, Logic of Collective Action, and Tragedy of the Commons 113
Government as One Institutional Solution to Collective Action Problems 116
 Contents ix

Institutional Analysis and Development (!AD) Framework 117

Key Approaches in the IAD's Extended Family 119
Managing Common Pool Resources (CPRs) and Avoiding Tragedies 120
Social-Ecological Systems (SES) Framework 123
Polycentric Governance and Institutional Collective Action 125
Institutional Collective Action (ICA) 125
Institutional Complexity and the Ecology of Games 126
Conclusion 128

8 Multi-level Governance and Multi-centric Policymaking 130

Introduction: From One to Many 'Centres' of Policymaking 130
What Is Governance? 132
Global Governance 133
Governance as Systems Over Which the Central Government Has Limited Control 133
Governance as the Proposed or Actual Reform of the State 134
Governance as a Problem: The Westminster Model 135
Multi-level Governance (MLG) and the European Union (EU) 138
Empirical and Normative Visions: What MLG ls and Should Be 140
MLG and International Comparisons 142
Comparing Political Systems 142
Comparing Approaches to the Study of Political Systems 143
Comparing MLG and Policy Theories 144
Conclusion 145

9 Punctuated EquilibriumTheory 147

Introduction: The Profound Importance of Policymaker Attention 147
Why 'Punctuated Equilibrium' Theory (PET)? 149
PET's Original Focus: Agendas and Instability 150
Policy Subsystems, Monopolies, and Subsystems 150
Issue Networks and Subsystems 153
Agenda Setting and Attention 154
Problem Definition 156
Problem Definition, Policy Monopolies, and Venue Shopping 159
Case Studies of Punctuated Equilibrium: 'Some Issues Catch Fire' 160
From Case Studies to the 'General Punctuation Hypothesis' 162
Government Budgets: Hyper-incremental and Dramatic Policy Change 164
The Comparative Policy Agendas Project 166
Conclusion 168

10 The Advocacy Coalition Framework 170

Introduction: Coalitions, Policy-oriented Learning, and Policy Change 170
A Picture of the Advocacy Coalition Framework (ACF) 172
The Role of Beliefs to Address Bounded Rationality 174
The Role of Beliefs to Boost Cooperation and Help Actors Exercise Power 176
The Dynamics of 'Policy-Oriented Learning' 178
Policymaking Stability and Instability, Policy Continuity and Change 180
x Contents

The ACF Goes International: New Empirical Applications 181

Conceptual Revisions and New Directions 183
Conclusion 186

11 Ideas and Multiple Streams Analysis 188

Introduction: The Role of Ideas in Policymaking 188
Defining Ideas 190
Ideas as the Primary Source of Explanation:Viruses and Norms 191
Hall's Policy Paradigms and Third-Order Change 193
Multiple Streams Analysis (MSA) 195
A Garbage Can Model of OrganizationalChoice 195
The 'Window of Opportunity' 196
Why Are the Three Streams Separate and How Do They Come Together? 199
The Impressive Generalizabilityof MSA 202
Conclusion 205

12 Policy Learning and Transfer 207

Introduction: The Politics of Policy Learning 207
Policy Learning: What Does It Mean? What are the Main Types? 208
Approaches to the Study of Policy Transfer 213
Lesson-drawing 214
Policy Diffusion 214
Policy Convergence 215
Policy Transfer: Who Does It? 216
Why Transfer? Is It Voluntary? 218
Coercive Transfer: How Is It Manifest and Demonstrated? 219
What Is Transferred? What Makes Policy Transfer Distinctive? 220
What Does 'Successful' Policy Transfer Mean? 222
How to Encourage 'Evidence-based' Policy Learning and Transfer 223
Conclusion 226

13 Conclusion: Policy Theory as Accumulated Wisdom 227

Introduction: CombiningTheoretical Insights Is Useful but Tricky 227
Defining Policy and Tellinga Story of Policy Change 229
A Theory-based Story of Policymaking 231
The Politics of Evidence-based Policymaking 235
Using Multiple Theories: Three CautionaryTales 236
Policy Theory beyond the 'West' or Global North 241
Conclusion 245

Bibliography 248
Index 289
 ,,

List of Figures

2.1 The generic policy cycle 27

2.2 Key elements of policy choice in a complex policymakingenvironment 35
9.1 A broad picture of the general punctuationhypothesis in action 165
10.1 The advocacy coalition framework flow diagram 173
12.1 The Dolowitz and Marsh policy transfer continuum 218
13.1 An image of the policy process 232

xi

I .111111111111
 List of Tables

4.1 Social construction and power %1.

5.1 Lijphart's majoritarian-consensusdichotomy 90
7.1 The prisoner's dilemma 114
7.2 Factors essential to self-organizationin social-ecological systems 124
8.1 Westminster model versus multi-level governance 135
8.2 Types of multi-level governance !41
9.1 Typologyof policy networks 1511

-
-
--r ,;

II ll(ffi
List of Boxes

2.1 Definitions and descriptionsof public policy 18

2.2 'Evidence-based' policy and policymaking 19
2.3 Policy tools: their use and potential abuse 21
2.4 Types of policy problems 22
3.1 Discussions of power 39
3.2 The semi-sovereign people: A realist's view of democracy 43
3.3 Power and systematic luck 51
4.1 Cognitivebiases and fast and frugal heuristics 60
4.2 The meaningof incrementalism 61
4.3 Heresthetic and the manipulation of choice 65
4.4 Narrative versus frames 67
4.5 NPF positivism vs. interpretivist postpositivism 68
5.1 Descriptions of institutions and new institutionalism 78
5.2 Key questionsfor new institutionalism 80
5.3 Path dependence and immigration 83
6.1 Structural factors and policy conditions 96
6.2 Japan's nuclear policy 98
6.3 The policy environment and 'evidence-based policymaking' 103
6.4 Are complexsystems theories deterministic? 107
7.1 Nudge theory and behavioural public policy 112
7.2 Collective action during repeated games 115
7.3 Key Institutional Analysis and Development(IAD) terms 118
8.1 Empirical and conceptual descriptions of multi-level governance 132
8.2 Can Westminster take back control after Brexit? 137
8.3 The normative debate: Should power be concentrated in the 'centre'? 140
9.1 The changing world of policy networks and group-governmentrelations 152
9.2 Participationin American politics: The dynamics of agenda building 155
9.3 Up and down with ecology: The 'issue attention cycle' 159
9.4 Key terms for statistical analysis 166
10.1 Policy Conflict Framework (PCF) 178
10.2 The case of hydraulic fracturing in ten countries 182
11.1 Key quotationson ideas and interests 190
11.2 Ideas and the case study of tobacco 193
11.3 Policy entrepreneurs and 'evidence-based policymaking' 200
11.4 The comparative applicationof multiple streams analysis (MSA) 203
12.1 Individual and collective learning: Lessons from the advocacy coalition
framework (ACF) 210
12.2 The mechanisms, products, and facilitators of policy learning 212
12.3 Examples of widespread policy convergence, diffusion, or transfer 215
12.4 The policy transfer window 221

xiii
 xiv List of Boxes

12.S Richard Rose's 'ten steps in lesson-drawing' 224

13.1 What is policy, how much has it changed, and why? 230
13.2 Theory-informedpolicy analysis and the 'practical lessons' agenda 234
13.3 Ways to compare theories of the policy process 240
13.4 Theories and applications in China and India: Possibilities and problems 243

'\ i
:,

.
I

l'

•
I
List of Abbreviations

ACF Advocacy Coalition Framework

CPR Common Pool Resource
DSH Dye-Sharkansky-Hofferbert (approach)
EBP Evidence-based Policy
EBPM Evidence-based Policymaking
EG Ecology of Games
EU European Union
GDP Gross Domestic Product
IAD Institutional Analysis and Development(framework)
ICA Institutional Collective Action
IGR Intergovernmental Relations
IMF International Monetary Fund
MLG Multi-level Governance
MSA Multiple Streams Analysis
NPF Narrative Policy Framework
NPM New Public Management
OECD Organisation for Economic Co-operationand Development
PCF Policy Conflict Framework
PET Punctuated Equilibrium Theory
PFT Policy Feedback Theory
RCT Randomized Control Trial (note: the first edition used RCT to denote Rational
Choice Theory)
SCPD Social Construction and Policy Design
SES Social-Ecological Systems
UK United Kingdom
USA United States of America
WM Westminster model

xv
Preface

In the first edition of this book, I started by moaning that most of my colleagues do not
really appreciate the study of public policy. Well, things have changed since then. I have
noticed a major increase in attention to policy studies from scholars in many disciplines
and practitioners in many organizations. For me, this interest has come from countries
like the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the UK, as well as several EU mem-
ber states and organizations like the European Commission, in which academics and
practitioners are interested in the 'impact' of research on policy. When they want to take
some insights from policy theories, where do they look? The field of policy studies, as a
whole, is huge and unwieldy. However,if we can synthesizeand explain their insights con-
cisely, they offer profoundly important ways to understand the dynamics and effects of
policymaking.
I've tried to help out by writing about policy theories in a collection of complementary
ways, such as by combining this book with a series of blog posts (and podcasts) which
explain key concepts in the original 1000 words series (https://paulcairney.wordpress.
com/1000-words/) and the newer 500 words series (https://paulcairney.wordpress.
com/SOO-words/). Each post gives you the basics and helps you navigatea chapter or sec-
tion in this book, and then the book introduces you to a much larger literature. You can
then choose how far to go to find and use insights from policy theories (although I recom-
mend strongly that you read the source material to gain a full understanding).
I have also tried to help by generatingan overall sense of what the literature adds up
to, and how it might inform people who do not have the time to study it all the time. For
example, the second edition now has a greater focus on the highly popular but problem-
atic idea of 'evidence-based policymaking' (EBPM). I use policy theory to show why 'the
evidence' will always be one of many influences on policy. So, if you do not want to jump
into the study of many theories, you can begin with the study of an overarchingtopic like
EBPM and learn how policy theory fits in (there is also a blog page devoted to this subject
https:/ /paulcairney.wordpress.com/ebpm/).
However, there is still a long way to go before I'm fully satisfied with Understanding
Public Policy. In particular, the first edition relied too much on white male (usually US and
UK) authors, reinforcing a general tendency of political science scholars to undervalue
women and send 'a very clear message to students about who (white male elites) and what
(institutions) are important in political science' (Amy Atchison, 2017). There are useful
discussions taking place about how to modify the ways in which we redesign scholarship
for teaching and learning. Some focus on syllabus/module design: Raul Pacheco-Vega
(2015) on including 'under-representedscholars', Manjeet Ramgotra (2015) on how to
include women and non-white men in curricula, Shannon Morreira and Kathy Luckett
(2018) on 'Questions academics can ask to decolonise their classrooms', and Alice Evans
(2018) on a tendency to 'venerate men as knowledgeableauthorities'. A special issue of
Political Studies Review also includes reflections on 'decolonisingthe curriculum' by Neema
Begum and Rima Saini (2019) and AkwugoEmejulu (2019).

xvi
 Preface xvii

I think it will take many editions, over my entire career, before I address these issues
really well, and in this opening discussion I am making a commitment to do so. In the
- -

meantime, I have addressed them quite well in the second edition, by:

•
Giving more respect to key literatures that should have appeared more in the first
edition, including Social Construction and Policy Design, led by Anne Schneider and
Helen Ingram, and the Institutional Analysis and Development framework, led by Elinor
Ostrom.
•
Giving more respect to individual pieces of work with high impact in the field, such as
by Carol Bacchi and, now that I focus more on the use of evidence and evaluation, Carol
Weiss.
•
Expandingon key approaches that only got a little nod in the first edition, including
feminist institutionalism, to which my introduction was via Fiona Mackay and Meryl
Kenny, and policy learning which has been taken forward in important ways by Claire
Dunlop, usually as part of a dream team -
with Claudio Radaelli that has done a
-

phenomenalamount of work in this field.

•
Relying slightly less on a notional divide between the study of public administration
and public policy, and connecting to similar debates on feminist research in the former
(albeit as part of a 'new conversation';Carey et al., 2018).
•
Relying less on the excuse that most of the 'big' US policy theories were founded and
taken forward by men, such as multiple streams analysis initiated by John Kingdon
and advanced by Nikolaos Zahariadis. By being a little less lazy and by noting a rapid
-

rise of interest in this theory -

I have incorporated key insights from more people,
such as Ása Knaggärd on the 'problem broker' and Nicole Herweg and colleagues on
comparativeapplications.
•
Thinking more about the links between comparable literatures that are or are not
necessarily 'badged' as public policy. For example, in Chapter 3 on power, I discuss
work by scholars including Akwugo Emejulu (who signed my copy of one of her books!),
Sarah Ahmed, Sarah Childs, and Elizabeth Evans who engage with concepts that
you will find discussed a lot in this book, including path dependence, norms, ideas,
and power. Further, Chapter 3 has an expandedsection on the relationship between
decolonization,power, and knowledgeclaims, which connects issues of power and ideas
to the expandedfocus on 'evidence-based policymaking'.
•
Reflectingthroughout on the simple but profound maxim: the way we understand the
world has a major effect on the ways in which we engage, and whose interests we seek
to serve (Guerrina et al., 2018: 253).
•
Redesigning my MPP module guides/syllabusto provide a less narrow reading list (see
the MPP page on my blog).

Overall, here are the changes from the first edition: more on policy formulation and tools
(Chapter 2), power, knowledge, and inequality (Chapter 3), the psychology of policymak-
ing, and the NPF and SCPD (Chapter 4), feminist institutionalism (Chapter 5), complexity
theory (Chapter 6), the IAD, polycentric governance, and ecology of games (Chapter 7), the
links between MLG and polycentric governance (Chapter8), new developmentsin PET, the
ACF, and MSA (Chapters 9-11), and policy learning and 'evidence-based' policy transfer
(Chapter 12). You will need to read the book to understand the abbreviations! I also spend
xviii Preface

more section in most chapters, on three key themes: what is

time in the conclusion, and a
the story of each theory (or multiple theories), what does policy theory tell us about issues
like 'evidence-based policymaking' and how 'universal' are policy theories designed in the
Global North? I then return to the Global North-Global South question in the conclusion.
To make space for these new discussions, I've spent a bit less time on incrementalism (the
old Chapter 5) and combining multiple theories (the old Chapter 13) but you can read
more on the latter in Cairney (2013a) and Heikkila and Cairney (2018).
In the first edition, I thanked many people for helping with key points and comment-
ing drafts, with Allan McConnell winning first prize. Allan holds on to that prize for
on
the second edition. He gave me some valuable comments on the penultimate draft, which
made it a joy to completethe final draft. Allan also showed me around Sydney in 2018, and
he and Iris Kirkpatrick took me out to a memorable dinner. It was called a 'dégustation',
which means loads of small courses (taster versions of full meals) with drinks to match
(the veggie/teetotal version, with herb drinks, was a lot nicer than you might think). In
fact, let's say it was 13 courses so that I can suggest you treat this book like a huge and
tasty collection of small meals.
I asked for less advice for the second edition as a whole, but still owe a debt to the many
people who helped with individual chapters. My new co-author buddies Chris Weible and
Tanya Heikkila have influenced (a lot) the way I think, but I can't really blame them for
anything specific. The following people kept me right on key chapters or concepts: Tanya
Heikkila (Chapter 7, IAD), Mike Jones (my story of the NPF), Chris Weible (Chapter 10,
ACF), Claire Dunlop (Chapter 12, policy learning), Mark Lubell (EG), Andrew Hindmoor
(rational choice), Serena (Seo Young) Kim and William Swann (ICA), Andrea Gerlak (the
IAD and learning), and Jon Pierce (SCPD). Fiona Mackay gave me some excellent,detailed
advice on how to write about feminist institutionalism in Chapter 5, including giving me
some text to use and identifying several gaps in my reading. I rewrote this text to take
responsibility for it, but Fiona's influence on this description remains. Chris Koski helped
with Chapter 9 (PET), but I feel like I already paid him back by featuring as a Scottish-
sounding spinning head on his PowerPoint presentation (the Cairneyval, which works
well if you pronounce my name incorrectly, like Barney, instead of to sound like hair). I
attended lectures by Sam Workman, Chris Weible, Jennifer Dodge, William Swann, and
Serena Kim at the IPPA Spring School in Denver (May 2019), and you will find bits and
pieces of those insights in the book. Sam really clarified some key points just before I was
about to revise Chapter9 for the last time (including that PET unlike most approaches in
-

this book tends to equate 'institution' with organization rather than the rules of organiza-
-

tions; see Chapter 5). Chris did the same for the ACF, allowing me to avoid repeatingan
embarrassing mistake in the way that I described internal/external 'shocks'. My co-author
and office-buddy Emily St Denny kept me right on new institutionalism, and hers is the
only PhD thesis that I have read solely out of interest (and to inform Box 5.2).
There is a lot of discussion of evidence and policy in the second edition, based heavily
on co-authored work with Kathryn Oliver and Adam Wellstead. I first heard Woodward's
phrase 'velvet triangle' from my co-author Kirstein Rummery.I included a quotation from
Keynes after hearing it in David Mair's presentations, and I have learned more generally
from David, Lene Topp, and Laura Smillie (at the European Commission Joint Research
Centre) during our collaboration on 'knowledge management for policy' (Topp et al.,
2018). Working with Ruth Mayne and her colleagues at Oxfam helped me think in dif-
ferent ways about policy studies (Mayne et al., 2018). I have drawn in Chapter 10 on
- -
 Preface xix

my contribution to an ECPR paper the ACF that I co-authored with Hannes Stephan
on
and Irina Timonina, and from the work I did with my main ACF co-author buddies Karin
Ingold and Manuel Fischer. I have also drawn in Chapter 12 on European Research
- -

Council Horizon 2020 funded work (as part of the IMAJINE project) on policy learn-
ing (with Michael Keating and Emily St Denny). My update to the EU section in chapter
8 is informed heavily by a paper co-authored with Andrew Glencross. In energy policy, I
learned (again) that people use the term 'system'very loosely (with Fiona Munro) and that
it is very difficult in practice to separate formal power and informal influence (with Nicola
McEwen, Aileen McHargh, and Karen Turner). Bethany McKechnie helped me produce
a very decent bibliography (while completing her MPP studies), and my hope is that she

thrives in the academy. The same goes for many of my former MPP students, but I don't
want to jinx their chances. Harriet Simons made sure that the index was a proper index.
I paid Bethany and Harriet £10 per hour, which is OK money if you don't try to spend it
outside the UK.
Of course, the danger with a long list is that I've likely not described someone really
important (and I was tempted to just list the name of every co-author ever), but it's tradi-
tional to remember one or two peoplejust as the book goes past the point of no return.
Iä like to dedicate the book to my friend and mentor, Grant Jordan, who died in 2017. He
wouldn't have read this book, but it would have been nice to keep up a tradition: he would
keep my signed books for a while before handing them back to me during a clear-out! More
importantly, his ideas generally as part of a dream team with Jeremy Richardson have
- -

been central to the way in which I understand the policy process. You can find a longer
tribute to Grant (by many people cited in this book) on my blog. Grant once told me a
story of trying to buy a parcel of land from his neighbour. The price? Whatever it would
cost his neighbour to fix his roof! He was focusing on what he needed from the process,
not what the process could reasonablyprovide. People often do the same thing with poli-
tics: they focus on what they want from a policymaking system (or express a 'functionalist'
imperative)rather than how it works. In contrast, this book focuses on how it works, and
invites you to wonder what to do with that knowledge.
I would also like to note the passing of Barry Hindess. I did not know him personally,
but, if you have read his work, you will see that some of his insights underpin a lot of my
discussion. Philosophy and Methodologyin the Social Sciences is a classic, and I read it (and
many more of his books) after browsing the library shelves (please contact me if you would
like more tales of the pre-Internet age). In Chapter 3, I also rely on his work to describe the
work of Jürgen Habermas.
Finally, I would like to thank Lloyd Langman at Red Globe Press for encouraging me
to write the second edition and not complaining too much when it was (*coughs*) a few
years behind schedule. However, Lloyd did not have to convince me of the value of these
kinds of textbooks. I know I'm biased (as a contributor to, and editor of, Red Globe Press's
Textbooks in Policy Studies series), but I hope you will still indulge my plea to praise the text-
book. Many colleagues describe their reluctance to write a textbook because it allegedly
takes too much effort for too little reward; our status depends too highly on the journal
article and monograph. I challengethis conclusion for four reasons. First, if you do it right,
you can write as a package: the immense reading for the textbook informs the literature
review that underpins any good piece of original research (and good textbooks incorpo-
rate new material). Second, almost all of my most-cited publications have been reviews of
the literature (including 'Standing on the shoulders of giants', based on the first edition's
xx Preface

conclusion). Third, while a very small number of people (think they) know their entire
field, most people benefit from these attempts at theoretical synthesis. This benefit is par-
ticularly high when you are trying to relay key insights to people in other disciplines, and
practitioners, who do not have the time to read the same material. We rely on each other
to make this stuff widely accessible, or accept that we are speaking to a very small group
of people. Fourth, people actually read textbooks. Many students and practitioners get in
touch with me to describe the usefulness of the first edition (and blog), and each moment
of feedback makes the writing worthwhile. I'd have to rack my brain to remember anything
as remotelypositive in relation to any article or grant application I've sent for peer review.
Of course, my story of public policy is potentially one of many. White male professors
in the Global North -
like me
-
seem the most likely to tell these stories of policymaking.

Therefore,my second commitment is to find ways to encourage and enable more voices in
this Textbooks in Policy Studies series.
Paul Cairney