Public administration and public policy in Ireland. Theory and methods

Abstract:

The aim of this book is to assist students of Irish politics and public administration seeking to understand how policy is made. The contributions are comprised of a selection of Irish public policy topics explained and illustrated by Irish case studies.

The work follows a path of three thematic divisions. The first part deals with alternative theories for the location of power in the policy-making world, exploring such areas as elitism, pluralism, Marxism and feminism. Alternative approaches to the distribution of policy-making authority is the substance of part two which deals with corporatism, clientelism, policy network and institutionalism. Part three explores alternative modes of explaining policy change and considers the explanatory idioms offered by rational choice theories, policy transfer, Europeanisation and globalisation approaches.

The work will interest students of Irish politics and public administration for whom it is specifically designed.

Maura Adshead is Lecturer in Politics and Public Administration in the Department of Government and Society at the University of Limerick.

Michelle Millar is Lecturer in Public and Social Policy in the Department of Political Science and Sociology at the National University of Ireland, Galway.