Policymaking under Adversity

This groundbreaking study systematically treats recent policymaking trends, starting with a reconsideration of salient theoretical issues of policymaking and its study, and culminating with a survey of current policy-related predicaments in various countries. Dror proposes that the task for social science research is to uncover underlying causes of policymaking inadequacies. Standard research methods, Dror states, have been unable to uncover the realities of important decisions made inside governments. In order to gain an understanding of pressing predicaments, he believes that policymakers need to examine the foundations of contemporary practices of present assumptions, and that they need a multiplicity of approaches to policymaking. This book supplements the earlier basic theory and models propounded in Dror's Public Policymaking Reexamined (Transaction, 1983) by dealing with current trends. As a guide to public policy literature and related works, it is invaluable to students and practitioners.