Politics and Policymaking
Subtitle: In Search of Simplicity (Explorations in Public Policy)
Publisher: L. Rienner Publishers
Published: March 2002
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 225
ISBN-13: 9781588260840
Subjects: Management decision making; Political science & theory; Political structure & processes; Political Process - General; Public Policy - General; Public Policy - Social Policy; Political Science; Decision making; Policy sciences; Public administration; Politics/International Relations
Description: "Social scientists have constructed elaborate theories involving policymakers as rational actors and purporting to predict and explain policy outcomes. In contrast, this book paints a picture of policymakers who - coping with the uncertainty of constantly changing constraints - must simplify, taking shortcuts rather than surveying all of their options and pursuing carefully thought-out plans.".

"Sharkansky draws on wide-ranging examples to illustrate the conditions that make simplification the necessary constituent of political life as well as the various ways in which policymakers navigate the maze of possibilities they confront. While acknowledging the shortcomings of the approach, he demonstrates that, considered in context, simplifications may in fact be more rational and effective than traditional rational models of decisionmaking."--BOOK JACKET.